Photo log of T-max winch service

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Anthony Forgey
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Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by Anthony Forgey »

I serviced a T-max 9500 winch yesterday and took some photo's and a couple of video clips of the process.

lets start....


Part 1

This is the winch. Its a T-max 9500. I have the 8500 on my vehicle and I've literally used it hundreds of times with no issues.

1 the winch.jpg
1 the winch.jpg (124.41 KiB) Viewed 8144 times
2 the winch.jpg
2 the winch.jpg (77.16 KiB) Viewed 8144 times

I disassembled it and it appears that it has hardly been used.

First things first. Check to see that the motor works by applying power






good, it works in one direction, now lets see if it works in the other





Great. The motor works fine.


The gearbox appears to have its original grease still in it in perfect condition.

3 gearbox.jpg
3 gearbox.jpg (110.13 KiB) Viewed 8144 times


The motor wasn't in the same condition and its clear that water stood in the winch for some time. The negative terminal connects at the bottom of the motor and was probably the point where the water escaped. It was badly rusted though. both the bolt and the hole in the housing. The bolt had to be replaced with a new one.


4 batt neg bolt rusted.jpg
4 batt neg bolt rusted.jpg (65.9 KiB) Viewed 8144 times
5 batt neg terminal rusted.jpg
5 batt neg terminal rusted.jpg (118.88 KiB) Viewed 8144 times



There is clear evidence of the corrosion from standing water inside the motor.


6 motor cover.jpg
6 motor cover.jpg (100.86 KiB) Viewed 8144 times
7 inside motor corrosion.jpg
7 inside motor corrosion.jpg (95.79 KiB) Viewed 8144 times


the brushes are in excellent condition. a sure sign that this winch has not been used much.


8 inside motor brushes good.jpg
8 inside motor brushes good.jpg (97.29 KiB) Viewed 8144 times


here's some of that corrosion


9 corrosion in housing 1.jpg
9 corrosion in housing 1.jpg (78.75 KiB) Viewed 8144 times
10 corrosion in housing 2.jpg
10 corrosion in housing 2.jpg (69.1 KiB) Viewed 8144 times


the commutator and armature look almost new but while its out I gave the commutator a light sand with a fine sandpaper


11 comutator and armature good.jpg
11 comutator and armature good.jpg (92.26 KiB) Viewed 8144 times
12 fine sanding of commutator.jpg
12 fine sanding of commutator.jpg (55.48 KiB) Viewed 8144 times


Because the earth cable bolt and hole were so corroded I re tapped the thread which will allow for a better electrical connection and will make it easier getting the new bolt in


13 re-tapping earth bolt hole.jpg
13 re-tapping earth bolt hole.jpg (115.87 KiB) Viewed 8144 times



Part 2 to follow
Last edited by Anthony Forgey on 23 Jun 2018 13:21, edited 1 time in total.
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Anthony Forgey
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by Anthony Forgey »

Part 2


I cleaned up the inside of the housing and removed the corrosion

14 cleaned up field coils and housing.jpg
14 cleaned up field coils and housing.jpg (62.72 KiB) Viewed 8139 times

A little trick I use to prevent the brushes from being pushed in. I spread them with nylon hose connector. It saves pain and suffering when you reassemble.

15 holding those pesky brushes in place.jpg
15 holding those pesky brushes in place.jpg (55.78 KiB) Viewed 8139 times

16 corrosion in the cover.jpg
16 corrosion in the cover.jpg (60.64 KiB) Viewed 8139 times


Sprayed the cleaned internals with some water displacement spray

17 inside housing sprayed with water displacement spray.jpg
17 inside housing sprayed with water displacement spray.jpg (63.6 KiB) Viewed 8139 times

So the inside is sorted. Now to make the outside look good. I sanded off the loose flaking paint areas and give the outsinde a good clean with methylated spirits. My meths ran out while i was doing this winch so I used Turpentine for the rest.

I tape off the terminals and clutch handle and spray.


18 spraypainting motor housing.jpg
18 spraypainting motor housing.jpg (73.03 KiB) Viewed 8139 times

Nice and neat with new nuts and star washers

19 sprayed housing with new nuts and star washers.jpg
19 sprayed housing with new nuts and star washers.jpg (62.23 KiB) Viewed 8139 times

As I mentioned, the gearbox looks almost unused. I took out the planetary gear sets and everything was perfect inside.

20 gearbox looks new.jpg
20 gearbox looks new.jpg (78.36 KiB) Viewed 8139 times

21 planetaries look new too.jpg
21 planetaries look new too.jpg (72.84 KiB) Viewed 8139 times


I cleaned up where there was some dirty grease around the bushing which connects to the cable drum and prepared the housing for painting. Again, sanding off all loose and flaking material and cleaning up with Meths/Turps.


22  gear housing preparing for paint.jpg
22 gear housing preparing for paint.jpg (94.23 KiB) Viewed 8139 times


Sprayed and looking good again


23 gear housing painted.jpg
23 gear housing painted.jpg (81.62 KiB) Viewed 8139 times


I cleaned and sanded the cable drum and gave it a coat of paint too


24 cable drum cleaned and painted.jpg
24 cable drum cleaned and painted.jpg (122.6 KiB) Viewed 8139 times


The clutch lever was starting to rust through the chrome so I used some metal polish to clean it up as best as I can


25 some metal polish for the clutch lever.jpg
25 some metal polish for the clutch lever.jpg (101.6 KiB) Viewed 8139 times

It did help it to look a lot better


26 clutch lever polished.jpg
26 clutch lever polished.jpg (116.04 KiB) Viewed 8139 times


Part 3 next....
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Anthony Forgey
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by Anthony Forgey »

Part 3


Good, now to turn attention to the Solenoid. The terminals are oxidised and dirty



27 Solenoid terminals.jpg
27 Solenoid terminals.jpg (92.94 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


Inside is dirty but in pretty good condition. No corrosion



28 inside solenoid box.jpg
28 inside solenoid box.jpg (88.83 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


The winch controller plug, however is not good at all. in fact while cleaning away some of the scale and corrosion, one of the pins crumbled. I'll show the fix for that in part 4.


29 badly corroded solenoid controller plug with broken terminal.jpg
29 badly corroded solenoid controller plug with broken terminal.jpg (94.42 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


I cleaned up and wire brushed the posts and gave the inside of the solenoid pack a spray with water displacing spray


30 solenoid pack cleaned and sprayed with Water displacement spray.jpg
30 solenoid pack cleaned and sprayed with Water displacement spray.jpg (116.69 KiB) Viewed 8138 times

A big issue with winches is that there needs to be good electrical contact, free of corrosion. The cables between the solenoid and the winch needed some attention here.

Here is the before and after. I filed the lugs to give a clean, flat contact surface.



Before

31 dirty lugs.jpg
31 dirty lugs.jpg (56.77 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


After

31 lug terminal filed clean.jpg
31 lug terminal filed clean.jpg (57.67 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


Then I cleaned all the cables and boots


32 all cables and boots cleaned.jpg
32 all cables and boots cleaned.jpg (73.65 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


Time to reassemble the winch



33 wich re-assembled.jpg
33 wich re-assembled.jpg (86.09 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


Connect the solenoid cables to the winch using new star washers for a good positive contact with no movement once tight


34 reconnecting winch power cables with new star washers.jpg
34 reconnecting winch power cables with new star washers.jpg (82.45 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


All connected


35 winch power cables reconnected.jpg
35 winch power cables reconnected.jpg (91.92 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


The winch cable was in very poor condition. you can see it in the first pics in part 1

I rolled it up and put it in a bucket and drenched it in oil overnight



37 steel cable in oil.jpg
37 steel cable in oil.jpg (114.36 KiB) Viewed 8138 times


Part 4 to come...
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Anthony Forgey
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by Anthony Forgey »

Part 4


Now I have to sort out that broken pin for the winch controller plug at the solenoid

38 the problematic multi pin connector.jpg
38 the problematic multi pin connector.jpg (82.41 KiB) Viewed 8106 times

The controller only needs 3 connections and there are 5 pins so I just use one of the unused pins and move the wires on the controller box as well as the corresponding cable in the winch controller plug

39 only 3 pins out of 5 used.jpg
39 only 3 pins out of 5 used.jpg (62.75 KiB) Viewed 8106 times

Here's the pin I'll use

40 spare pin to move cable.jpg
40 spare pin to move cable.jpg (58.21 KiB) Viewed 8106 times


Re-soldered to spare pin


41 soldered to new pin.jpg
41 soldered to new pin.jpg (60.66 KiB) Viewed 8106 times


Insulate with heat shrink


42 heat shrinked pin joint.jpg
42 heat shrinked pin joint.jpg (71.02 KiB) Viewed 8106 times


Now the plug on the controller side. minute screws removed and cable exposed


43 remote plug.jpg
43 remote plug.jpg (77.85 KiB) Viewed 8106 times


Found a pre-existing problem. One of the cables is loose. It happens to be the one I need to move anyway


44 a problem found.jpg
44 a problem found.jpg (46.05 KiB) Viewed 8106 times


Wire soldered on donor pin


45 wire moved on remote plug to new pin.jpg
45 wire moved on remote plug to new pin.jpg (38.86 KiB) Viewed 8106 times



I put it all back together and tested









Good. Everything is working. The winch and cable are ready to go back to the client



46 winch and cable complete and ready for customer.jpg
46 winch and cable complete and ready for customer.jpg (111.24 KiB) Viewed 8106 times





Some comments:


This winch is a good example of a case which is probably quite common: the winch is fitted but almost never used. When I received it it wasn't working. These things need to be used as part of their maintenance. It moves the grease around. It dissipates moisture. And, if you do use the winch frequently you'll know whether it's working or not.

There's loads of winch brand bashing and those who say only brand "X" is good enough. I wont argue the fact that some winches are better than others, but I'd rather have serviceable "lesser" brand than a broken brand "X" when I need to pull myself out of a difficult situation while offroading.

so,

Use your winch

or service it every so often. Probably once a year is fine for the average offroader.
Last edited by Anthony Forgey on 23 Jun 2018 13:16, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by hugejp »

:bravo:
Impressive!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Jy KAN met 'n DATSUN!
Anthony Forgey
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by Anthony Forgey »

hugejp wrote: 23 Jun 2018 09:53 :bravo:
Impressive!

thanks JP
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Anthony Forgey
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by Anthony Forgey »

Part 4 is now posted
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by iandvl »

Awesome post, thanks Anthony. I also do my own winch servicing, but just a single note applicable for Warn M - series winches.

Very similar to the auto locking hubs, the winch clutch mechanism (ie: where you engage or disengage the winch) is very sensitive to the lubricant you use. The Warn service manual mentions to use grease on the planetary gears and similar. But to use machine oil on the clutch. Otherwise it might battle to engage or disengage.
Ian de Villiers

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Anthony Forgey
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Re: Photo log of T-max winch service

Post by Anthony Forgey »

iandvl wrote: 24 Jun 2018 14:11 Awesome post, thanks Anthony. I also do my own winch servicing, but just a single note applicable for Warn M - series winches.

Very similar to the auto locking hubs, the winch clutch mechanism (ie: where you engage or disengage the winch) is very sensitive to the lubricant you use. The Warn service manual mentions to use grease on the planetary gears and similar. But to use machine oil on the clutch. Otherwise it might battle to engage or disengage.
Thank you Ian
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