Mile Marker winch eats itself.

[DeRocha]

My buddy and I were doing a little wheeling in a wooded area with some tight trails. We got separated when he stopped to look around in an open area for some interested rocks.. Anyway I hear my buddy's wife on the CB telling us to come quick because his MM8K winch is Smoking and about to catch on fire I told his wife to have Jim cut power to the battery and I high tail it through a mud bog (thankfully not getting stuck) to find him in the woods. Evidentially he had run into a 3' tall dead tree about 5" in diameter.. the tree fell over and the smacked winch's solenoid pack. Even though the winch controller was not connected and sitting in the cab the winch turned on and started reeling "IN" . After about 5 secs the winch started to eat itself as the hook jammed on the roller fairlead and started bending it into the winch..Unfortunately Jim couldn't get the battery disconnected in time and the winch motor burned itself up... :fire:

Sorry for no pics as the camera was not accessible at the time..

 

[Rick]

Yikes! That's an expensive whoops.

 

[DeRocha]

Yikes! That's an expensive whoops.

Good news... My buddy called MileMarker tech support and explained the situation (the solenoid pack taking a hit and energizing the winch motor to reeling in). They are going to ship him a whole brand new replacement winch soup to nuts

 

[IZwack]

Ey just a suggestion, if its possible, move the solenoid box/pack to somewhere else where its not so prone to damage and the weather. I know there are winches out there where the solenoids are integrated into the body so of course relocation is not an option for those winches.

 

[DeRocha]

Ey just a suggestion, if its possible, move the solenoid box/pack to somewhere else where its not so prone to damage and the weather. I know there are winches out there where the solenoids are integrated into the body so of course relocation is not an option for those winches.

The stock solenoid wires were too short and mounting them directly to the winch was the only option. Now that we know better we will pickup/fab longer wires mount the solenoid pack under the hood. We are also looking at various emergency battery disconnect switches.. Any comments on those?

 

[IZwack]

We are also looking at various emergency battery disconnect switches.. Any comments on those?

My only comment would be get the biggest you can find cauz winching draws quite a bit of amps -- enough to melt a battery clamp terminal thing in one situation last winter for me.