I just got a Mile Marker 8000 winch which has been owned by a few people (most recently it had been mounted on Stormy's old Xterra - I'm the 5th owner of this winch, at minimum)

The person I got the winch from never used it, and isn't sure if it works or not. I have never owned a winch before, and for obvious reasons no instruction manuals came with it.

So my question is if I want to test the winch (there isn't any rope on the spool) to make sure it does work, can I just hook up the power and ground wires to a battery, or do any other parts need to be grounded for the winch to work or to prevent damaging the winch?

Any help is appreciated

I could be mistaken, but I believe there's another ground wire that comes out of the motor that needs to be grounded as well...I could be wrong though...but no, the winch doesn't have to be mounted to test it..just make sure it's all hooked up correctly to the battery and ground and you're good to go.

You can find a bunch of Milemarker owner's manuals and tech info here: Milemarker

Well, when bolted to a bumper, etc...the winch frame is grounded by the mount...so if not ON something like that...its possibly a variable of concern...my Warn didn't have an extra wire though...as I believe the electrical was sealed/close loop, etc...I would think the MM would be the same though?

Two wires coming from the winch. One positive, One negative.
It should work without mounting it as long as the cables are connected.

You are just testing to make sure the motor or solenoid arent cooked or seized. You should be able to tell that in a few seconds of use.
Just test both directions, power out and power in.
Check the clutch too, make sure it shifts properly too.

Thanks for the info guys...

I tested it today - it didn't work.
Now onto trouble-shooting.

I had mine (Warn M8000) all hooked up, and it was a nogo. It turned out the control box (solenoid) was not grounded good enough.

The winch itself does not appear to have a real ground. I doubt it grounds through the mount. It does have a full size negative that goes back to the batt. The control box has three leads that attach to the winch and a positive lead that goes to the batt, and the little ground wire.

Try tapping on the control box.

FWIW, my M8000 had another ground wire coming off the body. There was the big red, big black, and a small (16-18 ga.??) black wire coming from the body of the winch itself. This wire was oh so conveniently mounted in the most DIFFICULT FUCKING MOUNTING PLACE EVER if you had the winch already mounted in the Shrock.

Sorry. I digress. There was maybe a cm of room between the plate of the bumper and the round winch body up front. If you're laying underneath the X facing up to winch and the bumper, it's up there in that space where you're finger tips will be hamburger from installing it. Attach it before you mount the winch to the bumper.

That's interesting, BB, mine had the small ground wire coming out of the control box, also an M8000. I noticed that the manual does not show the little wire at all, but the winch did not work without it connected.

k

My milemarker PE-8000 had four wires total coming out of the solenoid box. (2) black leads which go to the winch motor, and (2) long leads that go directly to the (+) and (-) battery terminals. No little grounding wires. I don't know how much more grounded it could possibly need to be anyway; It has a HUGE wire that goes directly to the negative battery terminal?

Also, I wonder if the powdercoating that covers the Shrockworks bumper (and inside of the 4 winch mounting holes) would insulate and prevent the mounting points/bolts from grounding there anyway?

I think the little grounding wire is more for the controls than the winch. I would imagine the winch is like a lot of powertools, a lot of which are double insulated and do not need the ground wire (which is why drills and such are two prong).

That is my belief, which is why I said I doubted it would ground through the mount. I think these things are more utility oriented, so it does not have as much idiot-proofedness as a consumer product usually has, based on the assumption that the users know what they are doing. I put in a cutoff switch on my positive line so I can cut the winch off if it goes haywire, and to keep some bastard from connecting a remote and winching my bumper into itself creating a blackhole.

TJ, If you look, I believer yours does have that little extra ground wire. You have the same winch as I do and mine has it.

I not sure, but it may be the ground for the solinoid controll so you won't get zapped if something fails. Just because it's just 12 volts does'nt mean it can't zap you. It's not voltage that kills but amperage.

That's quite true...amps are the deadly part.

In one of my electrical safety classes, I used the example of the navy guy who accidentally electrocuted himself to death with a 9v battery...by getting the electrodes under his skin into his bloodstream.

As for the little wire....getting old sucks...I don't remember it...but if yours had one, I'm sure mine did too...maybe I'll actually LOOK under there... :rolleyes: