Winch question

[russ1688]

Hey all:

I have a Tabor 9000lb winch that was installed back in January. I've used it twice with great frustration. The first time I used it was during a vehicle revovery at the beginning of March. The winch stalled quickly and just didn't seem to pull its weight (pardon the pun). I also noticed that it only took about 10 - 15 secs for my volt gauge to drop to 9 volts, even when running at 2500 RPM. I have the stock battery but still thought it should hold up better than that.

Today, I hooked it up to a half-pallet of travertine sitting on my garage floor to slide it out. Couldn't even budge the pallet.

I've visually verified that the shop that installed it used #2 wire.

Anyone have any ideas what else to check or what else to do? I hate to simply pitch this one, but right now the heep is just carrying around a useless hunk of metal.

TIA for all advice.

[mingoglia]

If you're still frustrated in a week after I get back I'll come over your place (or you to mine) and I can take a look. I'd imagine you're just not spooling out enough cable. remember, best case scenario your 9k winch is a 4k or even a 3.5k winch if you're only spooling out several feet of cable before you begin winching. A 9k winch with 125' of cable is only a 9k winch on a 110-115' pull.

Think of a bicycle. When you move to a larger sprocket it gets harder to peddle... additional wraps on the winch drum is like a larger sprocket.

Mike

[GLEN REAMS]

when he used it to recover the car from butcher jones it was spulled out all the way

[mingoglia]

How's your battery? Are you running an Optima. Keep in mind that when winching it's all about the battery. Your winch is going to pull approximately 4 times the amount of power that your alternator can put out at high idle. Because of this, your battery will make or break you. A standard automotive battery just won't cut it on extreme pulls. you'll need a battery that can deliver 400amps for the duration of the pull (assuming you're pulling at it's capacity).

Mike

[russ1688]

I hadn't considered the fact that today I was only spooling about 20 feet. But, like Glen said, I was fully spooled out during the vehicle recovery.

I am still running the stock battery so perhaps an Optima Red-Top is in order before I look any further for problems.

[danno]

You might want to pick yourself up a snatch block. It will double the pulling power of the winch if you hook the snatch to the load and then loop the cable back around and connect to the bumper.

[TRLR8TDTJ]

I have a friend that had one and it was nothing but problems. I think one out of the 10 times he used it he didnt have a problem. He sold it and bought a warn x8000i and has not had a problem since. I dont know what warn did to those winches to make them cheaper. The quality shows they did something to them and they dont want their name on it.

Kyle

[azcharlie]

I know of a few guys who bought the Tabor and all they had were problems. Sell it and buy something else. I have a Mile Marker se9500 winch and I've been very happy with it.

[Fiveball]

yeah i think before replacing the battery as the main problem you should consider that trying to pull the pallet didnt work right away. I can understand if it started moving then slowed or stopped it would be an electrical issue. But that is not waht you have going on right now. I think it is a winch problem or spooling like others mentioned. Dont buy the battery just for troubleshooting. though it wouldnt hurt to have one in the future

[Jdemonto@Airpark Jeep Sales]

X@ on the battery..My warn powerplant ate my stock battery and it was 2yrs old. My friend gave me a used Optima Red-Top and its works like a charm!


Jason