December 2006 added strengthening, drain plugs and better seals. Rebuilt the motor.

July 2006 a 7.8 HP "Superduty" winch motor, 50mm cabling and a 200amp alternator should help make winching even easier.

December 2005. Upgraded to plasma rope and a sacrificial plastic fairlead at last. Goodbye to wire rope - Yay! Also in the photo you can see a little LED lite for night work...

The new winch - I coughed up and purchased a brand new (!) Warn 8274 - which will hopefully last better thn the previous winch. The bullbar required some modifications to fit - the centre bar had to be removed and some of the bullbar ground away. I located the control box inside the cab and re-wired the cables with welding cable. Let's see those solenoids get muddy now! A new centre bar was fabricated, and welded into place. The 8274 is FAST but has quite a bit of over-run - after you take your finger off the button it takes a while to wind down.

If you are fitting a winch, make sure you run the earth directly back to the battery. Warn earths to the bullbar, but that's not as good as a direct connection. Considering that a 12v will pull over 400 amps it pays to make sure you have a good earth on it!

The old winch - I wanted a winch but money was tight. I noticed a lot of vehicles with winches without ropes on them - obviously not being used. I approached the owner of a Pajero with a ropeless Warn XD9000 winch on the front, and she was happy to sell it for $300. I got a new rope from Marcel at Mamaku 4WD, wire ropes are easy to get in logging towns! (So are snig chains). As new winches were $1575 plus GST I was happy.
The winch survived about two years before it started to stick in gear (no freespooling) and a strip-down was in order. It was just in time! It was full of mud, rust, and crud that was starting to wear the gears. A good clean-out, a bit of sanding and some grease and it was ready for more.
The only other problem I have had is faulty solenoid connections. (Normally fixed by cleaning the terminals). I wired in a kill switch and second battery

Sept 2000. Opened the winch up, and found it was full of water! Needs a service, and a breather - perhaps pressurised from the air compressor?

August 2001. Think I might have killed the winch on Thompsons Track. Solenoids click, but the motor doesn't go. The winch technician reckons it's not worth saving - completely worn out. Guess it is really "warn"...(groan)