Winch needs HELP

[dgracing318]

I have a 08 Arctic Cat 650 H1 with a 3000 lb. Gorilla winch installed. Other than the winch no mods. Heres where i need help. If the engine is running the winch will pull the cable tight but just stalls out{i had my 120 lb wife on the bike no brakes applied and on hard slightly uphill ground}. With the engine off the winch will pull the bike even with the rear brakes brakes locked up. I don't get it. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this type of problem? Gorilla is absolutly no help they want to send me parts but I don't know what, if any parts I need. thanks

[KQ400Pilot]

Sounds like it could be a battery issue. How old is the battery?

Do the easy stuff first--check battery water level, connections for corrosion and tightness, including the winch connections. Then charge the battery.

Check the battery voltage with the engine off, at idle, and revved up. With the battery charged and engine off, your voltmeter should read about 12.5 volts, and revving the engine the voltmeter should read about 14.5 volts.

Since the winch stalls when the engine is running VS not running, I'm thinking that the added load of running the ignition system is robbing the winch of power. Does the winch stall with the engine revved up?

[dgracing318]

I forgot to check it with the engine revved up. The battery is 1 year old. Everything about the battery looks ok but I don't have a volt meter

[KQ400Pilot]

Originally Posted by dgracing318

I forgot to check it with the engine revved up. The battery is 1 year old. Everything about the battery looks ok but I don't have a volt meter

Digital volt/multi-meters are pretty cheap these days, and are an indispensable tool for for working on electrics.

Try Harbor Freight, either via mail order or a local GA store. They have volt/multimeters from $5:

Harbor Freight Tools

[dgracing318]

Thank you so much for the info. I'm about to go to the Hatfield Mccoy trails in West Virginia on 9/26 I'll check it when I get back.

[denpaine]

Originally Posted by dgracing318

I have a 08 Arctic Cat 650 H1 with a 3000 lb. Gorilla winch installed. Other than the winch no mods. Heres where i need help. If the engine is running the winch will pull the cable tight but just stalls out{i had my 120 lb wife on the bike no brakes applied and on hard slightly uphill ground}. With the engine off the winch will pull the bike even with the rear brakes brakes locked up. I don't get it. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this type of problem? Gorilla is absolutly no help they want to send me parts but I don't know what, if any parts I need. thanks

If the winch is working fine with the "engine off" the battery is not the problem. Do you have any other electric devices on your wheeler? Like KQ400pilot said, sounds like another device or your ignition is robbing power when the bike is running. You should see a difference in the voltage when increasing rpm somewhat. Could you post with your results or the solution when found. Thanks,

[TexasRoadlawyer]

sounds like a connection might be loose and is making sporadic contact when engine running but stays connected when engine isn't running and vibrating

[cupsz71]

Originally Posted by denpaine

If the winch is working fine with the "engine off" the battery is not the problem. Do you have any other electric devices on your wheeler? Like KQ400pilot said, sounds like another device or your ignition is robbing power when the bike is running. You should see a difference in the voltage when increasing rpm somewhat. Could you post with your results or the solution when found. Thanks,

+1!

I had to run a dual battery set-up on my TRV to run my Gorilla winch BEACUSE of all my "other" accessories that I had running - headlights/dual plow lights/beacon/handwarmers/bkup light.

Even "dual'd" up I ended up dropping my beacon & headlights. The winch requires a HUGE amt of voltage to run. I can usually run about 2hrs max before I notice that EVERYTHING dims.
As a result I put a 1.5 amp battery maintainer on my batteries ALL WINTER on a timer, so they're full charged everytime I need to push snow.