I have just finished servicing my Runva 11xp Premium winch, that is only 18 months old. When I first purchased the winch, I opened up the gearbox and cleaned out the factory grease which I was advised to do from others who had bought winches. My previous experiences with winches were all mechanical/gearbox driven.
Anyway the reason I needed to service it was because the clutch handle had "jammed", it couldn't be moved in either direction. I had researched this problem, and found that some other Runva users had problems with water ingress through the clutch shaft under the handle. When I disassembled the gearbox and washed it out, there were signs of a very small amount of corrosion on the lock cylinder and on the main drum gear. The grease was only slightly emulsified. After 2 hours of swearing and heaps of inox and freeze spray, I eventually got the shaft out of the gearbox housing. It had rusted solid in the spring chamber. The shaft is pitted but the plunger is still ok. In the exploded diagram that Runva provide, there is no mention of a seal. I have emailed them for their input and possible warranty claim, since it is supposed to be ip67 rated. In the meantime, I have put it all back together with the spring chamber packed with grease. I will upload pics later, I have to work out how to downsize them (computer technically challenged here LOL). Anyway hope that may help others to remember to check that area as well as other usual servicing when having been in water. cheers Lana