Winch drum getting hot just winding rope in and out

[mudski]

I just fixed the motor on my TJM winch a while ago. I also cleaned and re greased the gears too. First regrease, I used a super tacky grease, didn't use a lot but I couldn't even turn the drum by hand. So I cleaned it out and then used a water proof wheel bearing grease. Still tacky but no way near as much as the Super Red. I could turn the drum but it was fairly hard to do. I put it all together and back in the car, the motor now works great but I did notice the drum got quite hot, not just warm but quite hot, just spooling the rope in and out with no load.
Plus pulling the rope off the drum in free spool was a bit of a task too. I'm thinking the grease I used is still too tacky. Drew suggested using LMM, I know that would make it move easier, but I wanted something water proof and water had been in the gear housing and just started to rust the inside of the housing where the outer gear hub slides in and out when engaging and disengaging.

Should I leave it or pull it out again?

Cheers.

[BigRAWesty]

Does yours have a drum brake??
But yea it's amazing how much heat grease can produce.
I'd say either try less grease or thinker again

[NP99]

What about boat wheel bearing grease?

[mudski]

Does yours have a drum brake??
But yea it's amazing how much heat grease can produce.
I'd say either try less grease or thinker again

No drum brake... well not that I could see in the drum when it apart. The winch is probably 10 years old.

What about boat wheel bearing grease?

Is that thinner that normal wheel bearing grease?

[NP99]

Not sure, but it's water proof.

[sooty_10]

I'd be double checking your brake setup on it, if it is a TJM low mount winch it will most likely have some form of drum brake. Is it possible the rope is spooled on the opposite way? So when you are winching in it is actually fighting against the brake, generating all the heat.

[threedogs]

@ Mudski if you take it out again yell out I'll get Glenn at Coburg to have a look at it

[MudRunnerTD]

I would be very surprised if there was no drum brake. It is internal of the drum centre and pushes out like a drum brake when winching out. Fundamentally this is how a LowMount works. In the old days with wire rope the heat was not an issue.

As Sooty stated my first thought was it's spooled backwards. Very easy to do and difficult to determine without bench testing once fitted and configured.

Take the winch off again and check the rotation.

I also stripped my winch off again after having the same free spool trouble and cleaned out the new grease and replaced with LMM for a much better result.

On free spool there is NO heat generation. The only time your winch will get hot is if the internal drum brake is engaging. When winching IN your drum brake will only grab when you stop winching so only a little friction heat.

Take it off and have another look. Or bring it to my place some time and we can have a look at it mate. Be prepared to strip it off in the driveway though ��

[Drewboyaus]

^^^ what Daz and Sooty said mate. Definitely you'll have a brake in the drum and I would check the direction of rotation. I made the same mistake when I put mine back together and was spooling out against the brake......got very farking hot!
It's good practice, especially with rope to only freespool the rope out as the heat will damage the rope over time. I use wire ATM so don't care as much.
Shoulda got that LMM I recommended! LOL

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[mudski]

Thanks guys. The only reason for not using lmm was because its not waterproof. That stuff washes out pretty easy with water... I know the friction rating is lower but water is a killer if it gets it and sits too long.
As for the brake. I just remembered my winch is mounted upside down. So my control box fits ontop of the motor and under the bull bar. But should that matter? As when I hit the wind in button it still winds in the same way regardless. Being upside down or not the electrical side of things remains the same.
Ill remove the winch and check the brake if I can. It may be seized...
Free spooling the rope out was a bit of a task too. So it could just be the brake.