Rebuilding Winch

I have a M35A2 w/ winch. I've never used the winch, other than to spool it out a bit and back in enough to know the PTO and cab controls work. I'd now like to remove the winch and give clean it up/rebuild it on my bench. Trying to search Google (or by extension the SS forms) has been tricky as I keep getting hits for rebuilding all other parts of a "M35* w/ winch", instead of rebuilding a M35*'s "winch". So, anyhow, here are my questions/desires fro guidance:

1. Removing the winch from tuck: Can I just support the winch with an engine hoist, remove the 6 bolts from each side of the winch that seem to be holding it to the winch supports on the truck, and lift it away -- or do I need to leave the winch attached to the winch supports and remove both from the truck per TM9-2320-361-20?
2. Does any vendor sell a "kit" that contains all the seals/o-rings that I should be replacing when rebuilding the winch?
3. Anything to look out for when disassembling the winch other than what is covered in TM9-2320-361-34?

Removing them is straight forward. Just the six side bolts. (And the drive shaft).
(As) Parts are hard to get (Here). And the units if working well don't usually need re-building, (But) If youv'e a mind, then a strip down and clean would suffice in my opinion.
I have to add though, (That), having owned some 20 or so trucks over the years I have never needed to do anything service wise (Stripped out and down completely), other the oils and cleaning and painting the outsides.

You may proceed as explained above to remove it (with a hoist), but for re-installation it might be necessary to also loosen the bolts holding the brackets to the frame.

This thread is a long one but it tells you most everything you need to know about rebuilding your winch.

dmetalmiki said:

And the units if working well don't usually need re-building

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Unfortunately, when I got the truck, the winch had clearly been abused. The shear pin had been replaced with a bolt that had wallowed out the holes and the winch/radiator were banged up from where the chain had obvious been dragged in too far. As of now, the winch works, but you cannot disengage the drive (from the winch, the PTO shift lever in the cab works fine). I've already replaced the kinked PTO drive shaft and the sheer pin, but I'd really like to get the whole winch back into spec.

Be careful handling the cable

Hi

I know this should go without saying, but I see people doing it, be careful grabbing the cable with bare hand or even with leather gloves.

Those individual little wires that make up the cable when broken may stick out and are often very sharp. They can penenatrate deeply which hurt but can also result in nasty infection.

Cheers Phil

CMPPhil said:

Hi

I know this should go without saying, but I see people doing it, be careful grabbing the cable with bare hand or even with leather gloves.

Cheers Phil

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Always good advice. I have gloves and a 2x4 with v notch cut in it I use for handling the cable.

Got the winch off today. Damage looks worse than I realized; every piece connecting the left and right side is bent out by 2 inches. Previous owner must have spooled in the chain/hook.

Put some plywood between the winch and the radiator. There are 4 seals that you can get at an auto parts store. Years ago someone made new top and backs for these. Not sure anyone still does.

Got it off pretty easy and started taking it apart. Thought you guys might enjoy seeing how bent everything is. Gonna see if I can hammer it all back out and get it together. Does anyone still make/sell pets for these? There are some pretty beat up parts that might be easier to replace than to try to fix.... Pretty sure I'm going to need new bolts all over too, but at least I think I can track those down.

rtadams89 said:

...Does anyone still make/sell pets for these? ....

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Here are the dimensions, and this one tells you what material thickness ... if you decided to make your own - or have them made.

gringeltaube said:

Here are the dimensions, and this one tells you what material thickness ... if you decided to make your own - or have them made.

Click to expand...

Sweet! Any idea about the top channel?

rtadams89 said:

Sweet! Any idea about the top channel?

Click to expand...

I'm an idiot, I see that diagram includes both channels now...

Here is another drawing which includes the height of each:

Thanks for the help guys, particularly the drawings @gringeltaube. I got the winch rebuilt, replaced the rear c-channel with a new one I built (the old one had stretched nearly an inch, so even after hammering/pressing it back into shape, it couldn't be reused), lubed everything up with cornhead grease, and remounted it today. My next step is to spool on the new 1/2 wire rope I got and add the end back on.

Got it all back together and new rope on. The top channel is still a little kinked, but I ran out of time to build a new one. The back channel I built went on nicely and the new rope and end make a huge difference.