- First Name
- Jeanette
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2022
- Threads
- 24
- Messages
- 235
- Reaction score
- 153
- Location
- Mid-Michigan
- Vehicle(s)
- Bronco
- Your Bronco Model
- Raptor
- Thread starter
- #1
Just sharing for awarness what I hope won't be a common occurence with the Warn Zeon XD winch platform.
My winch was installed on an ADD bumper on my Raptor last February-ish. It stays on year-around. It's not covered and the winch gets minimal use. My Bronco is my everday driver, in addition to going on trails that include water crossings (rarely to the top of the tires or over the front bumper), it is exposed to Michigan weather, and is not garage parked.
The XD product line is rated for IP68 submerssion (up to 1 meter) and IP69 spray. Guarantee I haven't been in water that deep (or my engine bay would be a lot cleaner) and the Bronco can't go fast enough in oncoming horizontal rain for that spray exposure. It gets hand washed and hasn't been stuck in standing water or other moisture that would keep the winch submersed in standing water for any period of time.
So here in lies the issue. In sub-zero degree weather on a snow ride, we pulled out my winch line for a recovery. The winch wouldn't engage to spool in. Wouldn't engage to spool out. Just clicked. Now on I'm on back trails, 2 hour drive from home and trying to coil 75' of frozen winch line in some fashion that is safe to drive highway speeds home. Thankful for the hands-on group I was out with to provide some trail-side solutions.
Email exchanges later with Warn and their troubleshooting implied a motor issue. They send me a replacement. I work with my garage that did my original mods and we pull off the winch and prep for the motor swap.
The Warn winch with the 7-year warranty on the motor has been on the vehicle just under a year.
This is the exposed end of the motor.
This is the plate section the open end of the motor sits against. That o-ring is supposed to keep any water that gets into the housing from getting into the motor. Yes, there is moisture on the interior side of that o-ring where the motor faces. Yes, there is corrosion and sediment in the area where the o-ring sits.
Water had penetrated the motor housing, pentrated around the o-ring to the motor and the motor was rusted and there was still moisture on the cap the motor seeds against.
Swapping the new motor without additional service would most likely just give the issue another victim.
Warn originally responded that the "finish" wasn't covered under warranty when I expressed concern for the corrosion that is now interfearing with the factory OEM surface for the o-ring to sit against. They did, however, offer to replace the motor and have a serice center do a complete review and replace anything needed to address the issue. Here is where Warn stepped up - they paid the shipping to send to their service center in another state.
Here is where it fell apart. The service center that took the time to talk with me about my concerns, indicated they would keep me updated when they started to work on it so that we can determine what should be done - swapped the motor I sent with the winch that Warn sent me, ran their checklist, bench tested, packaged it and shipped it - then texted me the work order. No in flight communication regarding what was being done on the winch I owned. Their work is accountable to me, Warns warranty is consideration for what of that work is paid for by Warn.
When I called to follow up, they informed me they didn't find anything to fix that would address the water penetration issue and that these aren't meant to be water proof and even suggested that staying installed on a vehicle exposed to the weather or driven through a water crossing would cause this.
I'm hoping this is a one-off occurrence - but based on this, I would be skeptical of the water ratings on the Warn winches and I wouldn't count on the warranty providing the continuity of coverage/service you expect. At this point, I'm preparing to need to continue to replace the motor multiple times during the 7-year warranty coverage - which for anyone that uses these on integrated winch bumpers will know - is not an easy or fun task. Definately not what I was expecting when I invested in the winch, and justified paying more for this model because of the water raiting..
Hoping others with the XD product line are having better luck -
My winch was installed on an ADD bumper on my Raptor last February-ish. It stays on year-around. It's not covered and the winch gets minimal use. My Bronco is my everday driver, in addition to going on trails that include water crossings (rarely to the top of the tires or over the front bumper), it is exposed to Michigan weather, and is not garage parked.
The XD product line is rated for IP68 submerssion (up to 1 meter) and IP69 spray. Guarantee I haven't been in water that deep (or my engine bay would be a lot cleaner) and the Bronco can't go fast enough in oncoming horizontal rain for that spray exposure. It gets hand washed and hasn't been stuck in standing water or other moisture that would keep the winch submersed in standing water for any period of time.
So here in lies the issue. In sub-zero degree weather on a snow ride, we pulled out my winch line for a recovery. The winch wouldn't engage to spool in. Wouldn't engage to spool out. Just clicked. Now on I'm on back trails, 2 hour drive from home and trying to coil 75' of frozen winch line in some fashion that is safe to drive highway speeds home. Thankful for the hands-on group I was out with to provide some trail-side solutions.
Email exchanges later with Warn and their troubleshooting implied a motor issue. They send me a replacement. I work with my garage that did my original mods and we pull off the winch and prep for the motor swap.
The Warn winch with the 7-year warranty on the motor has been on the vehicle just under a year.
This is the exposed end of the motor.
This is the plate section the open end of the motor sits against. That o-ring is supposed to keep any water that gets into the housing from getting into the motor. Yes, there is moisture on the interior side of that o-ring where the motor faces. Yes, there is corrosion and sediment in the area where the o-ring sits.
Water had penetrated the motor housing, pentrated around the o-ring to the motor and the motor was rusted and there was still moisture on the cap the motor seeds against.
Swapping the new motor without additional service would most likely just give the issue another victim.
Warn originally responded that the "finish" wasn't covered under warranty when I expressed concern for the corrosion that is now interfearing with the factory OEM surface for the o-ring to sit against. They did, however, offer to replace the motor and have a serice center do a complete review and replace anything needed to address the issue. Here is where Warn stepped up - they paid the shipping to send to their service center in another state.
Here is where it fell apart. The service center that took the time to talk with me about my concerns, indicated they would keep me updated when they started to work on it so that we can determine what should be done - swapped the motor I sent with the winch that Warn sent me, ran their checklist, bench tested, packaged it and shipped it - then texted me the work order. No in flight communication regarding what was being done on the winch I owned. Their work is accountable to me, Warns warranty is consideration for what of that work is paid for by Warn.
When I called to follow up, they informed me they didn't find anything to fix that would address the water penetration issue and that these aren't meant to be water proof and even suggested that staying installed on a vehicle exposed to the weather or driven through a water crossing would cause this.
I'm hoping this is a one-off occurrence - but based on this, I would be skeptical of the water ratings on the Warn winches and I wouldn't count on the warranty providing the continuity of coverage/service you expect. At this point, I'm preparing to need to continue to replace the motor multiple times during the 7-year warranty coverage - which for anyone that uses these on integrated winch bumpers will know - is not an easy or fun task. Definately not what I was expecting when I invested in the winch, and justified paying more for this model because of the water raiting..
Hoping others with the XD product line are having better luck -
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