Warn Winch M12000 Service Manual
In this thread I'll be documenting the take down and rebuild of a Warn M12000. Before I begin, I'd like to explain my reasoning for rebuilding a used Warn M12000 vs. Simply buying a new Warn, or another much less expensive overseas built brand. The primary reason why I focused my efforts on a used winch was my desire to rebuild it to gain familiarity with what will become an important part of my vehicle. It also looked like fun.
If I am looking for a used winch, price could be much less of a factor (if I am a smart shopper). Plus there were a few upgrades I wanted to do as part of the rebuild, and that is more cost effective on a used winch vs. Buying new and replacing brand new parts. So now I know I want a used winch, but what brand and size? After doing a ton of research, I couldn't really find anything technical that would sway me one way or another to buy a particular brand. However, one major advantage to Warn is their U.S. Based customer service and availability of replacement parts.
The only consistent knock to the overseas brands seem to be their customer support. This difference made Warn the platform of choice for my project. Picking a size was the easy part. For my heavy 80 series Land Cruiser (and getting heavier), a 12K winch seemed like the perfect fit. So, off I was to find the ideal Warn M12000.
I had been looking for a long time (several months) to find a used Warn M12000 local to me. Most of the ones I found were slightly used and getting close to the asking price of a new winch, or relatively inexpensive and beat up really bad. One finally came up on Craigslist.
Asking price was $450. I confirmed that the winch spooled out and in under power. It also free spooled.
I bought it the same day it went up for sale. I called Warn customer service to identify the year of manufacture from the serial number and date code, and they told me the winch was made in 1993.about 20 years old.
If you click on the text under the picture, you can get a larger view and will be able to see the surface wear and some corrosion. As part of the rebuild, all parts, which are reused, will be cleaned and all external parts will be painted. I'll document the project in multiple posts and probably ask lots of questions along the way. Winch Take-Down - Gears and Housing Opening the control box, I found dirty solonoids that need cleaning, but the wires are in good shape. Opening up the housing for the planetary gears, things look okay, but need to dig in further to get an idea of condition Break down of planetary gears. A lot of caked on dirty grease. A little rust is present but not on the actual gears Teeth in the housing look good I believe older model warn winches have these small ball bearings.
I've cleaned these and noticed that some are in great shape, while others have some rust/pitting. Probably will replace all of these with new. Replacement Parts Getting ready to order replacement parts for my Winch. Besides the stickers, what are the recommended replacement parts for a standard rebuild? There are some plastic bushings, snap rings, steel ball bearings and a few gaskets in my M12000.
All gaskets in the winch are a no brainer.they need replacing. I'd like to reuse the snap rings.I was gentle taking these off.
These aren't bent, so I should be able to reuse, correct?. This would seem like a good time to replace the plastic bushings. But is that necessary?. Some of the ball bearings are rusted. I figure I will replace all of these.
Bearings from Warn are pricey, so I'll probably order from eBay. Does anyone know what specific type of ball bearings these are i.e. What hardness, stainless steel vs. Chrome, etc.?
New Grease Got my winch grease in the mail this past week. Warn recommends a moly fortified NLGI #1 grease. The #1 moly grease is spec'd for stability at high heat and heavy shock loads, and is used in low viscosity applications, such as enclosed gear drives operating at low speeds. The #1 also has better low temp pumpability. I couldn't find any NLGI#1 Moly Grease at my local parts stores (only NLGI#2), so I went ahead and ordered the specific brand that Warn recommends.AeroShell 33MS (replaces AeroShell 17).
Kinda pricey, but not much more than the synthetic NLGI#2 grease when ordered online. Excellent thread!
- I have a mystery M12K I bought used & lived in Wisconsin its' life - so I need to contact Warn to identify as the serial number is corroded to illegibility & all the paint was crap that I sprayed to give a few years easy life in WA - wet, but salt free. I plant to tear it down, powdercoat the externals, and do a smooth down job & get the spool powdercoated in anticipation of synth rope as my steel cable is worn & clapped out. Would a teflon content powdercoat on the spool be beneficial?
Can synth rope stay wet/damp all the time & it not being an issue? I ran cable this long as we have great grease to keep the core life extended. Got a quote from a local powder coat company.
Warn Winch M12000 Owners Manual
I had asked them for a durable powder coat option and they mentioned that a hammertone or vain finish would be the most durable. They pointed me here: I am not a big fan of how these colors look.
Warn M12000 Wiring
The original powder coat finish was an Argent Gray. The newer models look to be coming in black. The shop must do a lot of black powder coat, since the minimum price for anything other than gloss or semi-gloss black is $125. However, I can get a black powder coat on the winch parts for $75. Unless someone has a reason not to use a black powder coat, that's the way I'm headed!
Water will not hurt the synthetic rope. But what sucks is when it freezes into one big block on the drum in the winter. I've had better luck with wire once it gets cold, and I think I'm going back to that for half the year.
No reason not to use black PC. And yes most PC shops spray black every day so they can group batches from multiple customers together. There are min purchase orders of powder in any color and thus the min work order for something other than black. My local PC shop has a $90 min but prefers more than that. I probably used twice the recommended amount of grease that Warn recommended. They say to use just enough to fill the gear teeth.
That seemed to invite more corrosion (than it already had) so I covered everything with a light coating. Its been 1.5 years so maybe I'll open it back up and inspect. But it works just fine with no signs of trouble.
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