Broken Winch and wear pads

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this problem. I just purchased my new 2006 RTV and have been using it to plow our parking lot. Then I took it for a drive in the snow and got stuck sort of on purpose to try the new winch. I wrapped the cable around a tree 20 feet away and cranked the winch. The cable snapped right at the outlet from the RTV. I would have thought that you could hang the hang the thing from this cable without it breaking.</P>


The second problem has been the wear pads on the bottom of the plow. One vanished and then today I caught the other one before it dropped off. The pad itself is gone. and the shaft is worn where it rubs against the bushing. This probably has less than 10 hours use. Has anyone else had this problem. I plow an asphaltparking lot only.</P>

Rod,

Can you tell us more?

What winch are you using? Do you have roller fairleads?

What plow are you using?

Brian

It's a Warn 2.5 CI winch and a Curtis plow that were purchased new with the RTV Brian. There are fairleads at the cable outlet.</P>


The li'l dump (as my kids snickeringly call it) was pretty well stuck in the snow up to its axles. I attached the cable on a tree about 6 feet up with the idea that it would lift it out of the snow a little.It was a plan that didn't work. It snapped right in the middle of the cable, apparently where it exited the fairleads.Then I attached a nylon strap from my truck and pulled it out under power.</P>


I noticed a week ago that one of the wear pads was missing from the Curtis plow. I imagined that I hooked a branch and pulled the pin out, but a few days later one of the guys in the shop saw that the remaining pad was broken and ready to fall off so I imagine that happened to the first one as well.</P>


It is not a warrany concern. The dealer is going to replace both items, Heck, he is even coming here and will do it on site. It sort of stunned me. I thought that such service was merely a reference to another era. I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever had similar problems.</P>

Rod,

I wouldn't have expected either failure.

Now, I think that the possibility may increase under the following conditions but still not fail, especially on new equipment.

Cable failure:
If you have hawse fairleads instead of roller. If you're pulling at the angle described, that may be an issue.
On a similar note, it is not recommended to wrap the cable around the tree and hook back onto itself. This will very likely cause cable damage as well as hurting the tree itself. A strap around the tree with a direct connect to the cable hook is the preferred method.

Plow shoes
If snagged in a pothole or something else with a sharp vertical ledge.
If lowered too much (where the blade sits an inch or higher off the surface), and then snag something.

Brian

The fairleads are rollers. The dealer hasn't seen this before either. He is going to send the cable into Warn. It may just be an unusual manufacturing anomaly. I'm sure we didn't shear off the wear pads of the plowon an obstruction. The post that was left showed considerable wear at the bearing post as well. Perhaps this was a hardening problem. We have the new pads on now and will watch them closely. If the problem reappears I think we will change the design. It looks like someone may have worked a little undertime on this particular design. If either manufacturer gets back to us, I'll let you know what they found.</P>

[quote user="rodkleiss"]He is going to send the cable into Warn. It may just be an unusual manufacturing anomaly.

I'll let you know what they found.[/quote]
Please do get back with us.

A cable breaking isn't an anomaly, it's downright scary and dangerous. In your case, it was good that it broke near the fairlead and not near the tree. A cable flying through the air back at you is really scary...