I was fooling with the deuce the other day at the firehouse and was feeling brave enough to go figure out the winch. After considerable effort, I found that I could not get the winch to free wheel at all, no matter what I tried. I tried to engage the PTO in reverse to feed out some cable and it did but it felt like the PTO wasn't catching, and it had to be engaged and disengaged several times to get it to do anything. I followed the TM to the letter and wasnt having any luck. Also, the clutch handle on the winch doesn't move very far and I was wondering if this was normal- it doesn't really feel like its catching on anything and i'm not sure if it is supposed to or not. i was able to get the winch to unwind pretty far after a several attempts and then the drum seemed like it didnt want to engage to pull the cable back in. The shear pin is not broken, but there is a clanking sound everytime the PTO tries to grab. Instinct says to put the clutch in and then when the clutch is let back out the clanking goes away, but then the winch doesn't engage. It took about two hours of toying with it to finally get the cable wound back in and I figured i'd ask about it here. Any ideas?
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winch/pto problems? help!
- Thread starter msmith304
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Maybe your winch lever isn't engaging all the way. Mine was stuck, had to wd-40 it where it goes in the winch and smack it with a hammer to free it up(be carefull, don't hit too hard!)
Lever should move couple of inches at the end of the lever. Also there is a drag brake in the winch, to keep it from unspooling.
Dennis
Lever should move couple of inches at the end of the lever. Also there is a drag brake in the winch, to keep it from unspooling.
Dennis
rockman
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- Kingsport, TN
You have to ease the winch lever in gear while the clutch is held in.
dburt
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- NE Oregon & SW Idaho
My winch lever on the winch has to be moved in and out of gear with a pipe for added leverage when the pto is engaged and the clutch is out. This is only for when the winch is powered unloaded in or out, not when it is under load. When it is under load, you do not use the lever on the winch. That is why winch operation is really a two person job, one to watch the winch and load, and one in the truck running the clutch. It sounds like maby you aren't moving the lever out far enough. Or the small spring loaded catch that locks or unlocks the spool right under and to the front of the lever on the passenger side of the winch is not engaging when you put it into the lock posistion posistion, it could be sticking due to rust or being gummed up.
LanceRobson
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If you are referring to the clutch lever on the winch proper (not the PTO lever on the cab floor), it should move 3" or so.
If the drum is turning, the plunger lock is disengaging but you still might want to take a 3/4" wrench and pull whole the lock assembly out of the side of the gearbox and clean and grease it. It doesn't have a seal and most of them are rusty and sticky. If you pack it with grease from the inside, it plugs off one more place for water to get into the winch. Where is sits it won't get lubed unless you take it out once in a while and hand lube it.
As far as the PTO lever on the floor, it will travel a lot further going to the forward position to wind in than it will going to the rear position to wind out. There is very little lever travel from PTO neutral to PTO reverse (where it winds out under load) Make sure you close the lever lock door each time you put the lever in neutral. It's cheap insurance to prevent letting the clutch out while inadvertently having the PTO engaged.
Before going too far I suggest removing the six cap screws that hold the brake cover on the front of the drive shaft side worm gear housing and check the brake to make sure it's not corroded onto or hanging up on the brake drum. The adjusting screw is the 9/16" cap screw under the brake housing. Sometimes you need to loosen it quite a bit to get the crud out from under the brake band. You may need to use a drift punch on the end of the band to free it up.
Usually, the lever will engage easier if the drum is rotated by hand while trying to engage it.
I've worked on a few that needed rapping with a 3 pound hammer (rap, not thump) while slowly rotating the drum to get them to engage the first time or two. There are only two keys on the shaft for the clutch to engage with so be prepared to rotate the drum by hand, up to 180 degrees, to get the clutch to engage.
If you haven't already, drain the two winch housings and put fresh 80/90 wt in it. I usually flush them with dry cleaning solvent, acetone or MEK and let them dry out before refilling them. When the solvent evaporates it carries away any moisture that was in the housing.
Where the clutch slides on the drum shaft is above the level of the lube. It won't get any lube until the winch is run under power long enough for it to work around the gear box. You may want to over fill that side so the lube is above the shaft, work the winch for a few minutes and drain off the excess oil. That will lube it and can free it up a lot quicker.
There is a friction brake that is intended to stop the drum from free wheeling and causing a "bird's nest" backlash. It rubs on the outside of the drum on the clutch side. It adjusts with a big screw slot at the lower front edge of the clutch side gear box. It's a pain to get to but should provide just enough resistance to stop the drum from free wheeling when you stop pulling out on the cable. I've got some socket attachments with big straight slot screwdriver tips that make the friction brake adjustment easy. It's an awkward bugger to get a big enough screwdriver on, otherwise.
Both brakes drag all the time so they need periodic adjustment. The procedure is in the -10 TM.
Lance
dburt brings up a good point. The ball detent has a pretty stout spring and can rust up in it's bore. If you look down on the lever you'll see the shaft the lever clamps on. There is a bump to the side of that which houses the ball and spring. Soak it with penetration oil or PB Blaster every now and then. If it freezes up, it's strong enough to keep the lever from engaging.
If the drum is turning, the plunger lock is disengaging but you still might want to take a 3/4" wrench and pull whole the lock assembly out of the side of the gearbox and clean and grease it. It doesn't have a seal and most of them are rusty and sticky. If you pack it with grease from the inside, it plugs off one more place for water to get into the winch. Where is sits it won't get lubed unless you take it out once in a while and hand lube it.
As far as the PTO lever on the floor, it will travel a lot further going to the forward position to wind in than it will going to the rear position to wind out. There is very little lever travel from PTO neutral to PTO reverse (where it winds out under load) Make sure you close the lever lock door each time you put the lever in neutral. It's cheap insurance to prevent letting the clutch out while inadvertently having the PTO engaged.
Before going too far I suggest removing the six cap screws that hold the brake cover on the front of the drive shaft side worm gear housing and check the brake to make sure it's not corroded onto or hanging up on the brake drum. The adjusting screw is the 9/16" cap screw under the brake housing. Sometimes you need to loosen it quite a bit to get the crud out from under the brake band. You may need to use a drift punch on the end of the band to free it up.
Usually, the lever will engage easier if the drum is rotated by hand while trying to engage it.
I've worked on a few that needed rapping with a 3 pound hammer (rap, not thump) while slowly rotating the drum to get them to engage the first time or two. There are only two keys on the shaft for the clutch to engage with so be prepared to rotate the drum by hand, up to 180 degrees, to get the clutch to engage.
If you haven't already, drain the two winch housings and put fresh 80/90 wt in it. I usually flush them with dry cleaning solvent, acetone or MEK and let them dry out before refilling them. When the solvent evaporates it carries away any moisture that was in the housing.
Where the clutch slides on the drum shaft is above the level of the lube. It won't get any lube until the winch is run under power long enough for it to work around the gear box. You may want to over fill that side so the lube is above the shaft, work the winch for a few minutes and drain off the excess oil. That will lube it and can free it up a lot quicker.
There is a friction brake that is intended to stop the drum from free wheeling and causing a "bird's nest" backlash. It rubs on the outside of the drum on the clutch side. It adjusts with a big screw slot at the lower front edge of the clutch side gear box. It's a pain to get to but should provide just enough resistance to stop the drum from free wheeling when you stop pulling out on the cable. I've got some socket attachments with big straight slot screwdriver tips that make the friction brake adjustment easy. It's an awkward bugger to get a big enough screwdriver on, otherwise.
Both brakes drag all the time so they need periodic adjustment. The procedure is in the -10 TM.
Lance
dburt brings up a good point. The ball detent has a pretty stout spring and can rust up in it's bore. If you look down on the lever you'll see the shaft the lever clamps on. There is a bump to the side of that which houses the ball and spring. Soak it with penetration oil or PB Blaster every now and then. If it freezes up, it's strong enough to keep the lever from engaging.
Last edited:
wrench
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- bradford, pa
The other day we I was pulling a tree top across the road and the winch line doubled over itself and jammed against the rod on the bottom of the winch between the two housings. After some prying I got the cable free but there was gearlube leaking out the pass. side half. I didnt see any any cracks so I assume it is leaking past a seal but could something be broken inside???