New Winch Killed Alternator

Bryan

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Location
Wilmington NC
Alright put in the 8,000 lb Winch last night. The 2,000 Wrangler 4.0 5 sp was slow to start. I drove the 5 miles from my buddy's house to my apartment. When pulling in my dash lights all dimmed "check gauges" came on on the idiot bar. Lost power steering and brakes @ first I'm thinking fuse popped but they were all clean went back inside the cab and had NO power whatsoever. I need to get home for the holidays (2 hour drive) So Advanced is my only option for parts. What alternator should I buy and should I just grab my ankles and buy an Optima battery while I'm @ it? Thanks for all yall's help in advance. Merry Christmas to you and your's.
 
What winch?
Sounds kinda fishy that it happened, just as you put the new winch on.
New, or New to you??
If it was indeed the winch, sounds like there is some winding problems and it is completing a circuit even when not in use and pulling power. Old school way to see if it is pulling power is to lightly touch the winch positive to the battery terminal and see if it sparks. If it does, it's pulling power.
Have them check your battery to see if it's good. May have just drained it and still be good, just needing a charge.
 
Yeah, since you didn't use the winch, it should have had absolutely no effect on your battery or your alternator. If it did, there is something wrong with the wiring. Definitely investigate, as it takes a major drain to make the vehicle slow to start after only 5 min.
 
Everytime I tapped the winch control for slight movement it arched "sparked up". That's from the paint on metal not giving me a good ground. But the only use the winch saw was manually unwinding then pulling it back in w/o no strain other than me leaning back walking it. I'm a little less than 200 lbs so that's not any strain. The Winch is by Chicago from freight harbor tools it's new out of box. I was told alternators have fuses just went back to Jeep to see if there was any power and there was still none will go jump in a bit the only car we have is an 06 civic si much smaller powerplant but we'll see what happens when I attempt to jump it. First and foremost I'm unhooking the winch.
 
i have a BRAND NEW REDTOP i just bought from advance 3 days ago.... If you want it You can have it for $140. I paid $160 with tax. I want a yellow top and was too broke when i had to buy a battery to get the yellow top and i HAD to get it that day so red top it was.

IF you want it jsut call me. I'm leaving for high point but the battery is in my jeep and my jeep is parked at the house... come get it and you can slip the money through my front door....

an alternator from a grand cherokee puts out about 136 amps if i remember right and it should bolt in. do some searching on jeepforum.com.

you got a harbor freight winch didn't you? does it have a permanent magnet and did you use it?

if you didn't use it, sounds like you somehow either messed up wiring it or it was just a big coincidence.

:)

-Erik <--- will be back tuesday if you need help
 
Bryan said:
Everytime I tapped the winch control for slight movement it arched "sparked up". That's from the paint on metal not giving me a good ground. But the only use the winch saw was manually unwinding then pulling it back in w/o no strain other than me leaning back walking it. I'm a little less than 200 lbs so that's not any strain. The Winch is by Chicago from freight harbor tools it's new out of box. I was told alternators have fuses just went back to Jeep to see if there was any power and there was still none will go jump in a bit the only car we have is an 06 civic si much smaller powerplant but we'll see what happens when I attempt to jump it. First and foremost I'm unhooking the winch.
Click to expand...

you have a fusible link on your alternator wire..... and i think you may have something in your underhood fuse block but i'm not positive. have you put a meter on the 12v + terminal coming off your alternator to see if you have voltage there? that would be a good place to start....
 
Bryan,

It is presumed you followed the installation instructions to ensure a good and direct power source. Same for the grounding. I have not heard anything good about electrical items from HF on this board! I would disconnect the wench and see if problems go away assuming no fuses or fusable links failed. Naturally, if problem goes away, take the wench back and look elsewhere for a name brand wench. I purchased a Ramsey 8000 for a CJ years ago and it was simple to install and operated flawlessly. Save your money until you can get a quality product.

My $0.02

Happy Holidays:beer:
 
Alrite thanks to Erik's Red Top the TJ is rumbling along again. The battery was reading in between .01 and .02 volts so needless to say it was shot. I will test the alternator after christmas. I parked in my own area and will run to advanced during the day time when I'm not running lights and get the alternator tested. I have 2 friends w/ FH winches and my cousin runs their 12k rig on his flatbed none have had issues. However, there's always a bad apple in every barrel. During the install ALL instructions were followed. Thanks for all the feedback, I'll keep yall posted. Merry Christmas:beer:
 
Just FYI

The electric motor in the HF, is made byu the same chinese company as:
Mile Marker
Extractor
Tmax
and Ramsey (yes even the "patriot")
 
SkyHiK5 said:
Just FYI
The electric motor in the HF, is made byu the same chinese company as:
Mile Marker
Extractor
Tmax
and Ramsey (yes even the "patriot")
Click to expand...

That's a pretty vague statement though considering the Tmax, Ramsey patriot, and some rep8k's/MM 8k's are series wound as compared to HF's permanent magnet piece.
 
Hey Bryan let me know what you figure out. I'll be back in wilmington tuesday welding on the YJ so i can get it towed to be geared hopefully before 3 or so..... after i'm done with that i can help you out.

did you check the voltage accross the red top with the engine running yet? shoudl be getting 14.4 +/- half a volt or so... The battery was measuring 12.5volts or so fully charged so if you don't get any higher than that with the engine running it'll be either your alternator or wiring from the alternator.

if you only get 12.5v while the jeep is running put the red wire from the meter on the terminal on your alternator that has the big red wire going to your battery.... if you don't get 14.something volts there, then the alternator is shot. if you DO get 14 volts from the alternator then you have a wiring/fuse/fusible link problem....


-Erik <--- says test quick... don't wanna kill that battery before you get to the store!
 
Okay, it's reading 12.67 off and 14.29 while running. I should be golden, that's with no winch or headlights/fogs on tho. I believe I will either get the Grand Cherokee alternator or a second battery to run the winch off of. I still cant believe it was running on the same battery from the factory. Guess I should tho, being the radiator and block had striaght water in it and there was motor oil in the tranny....NEVER buy used.:flipoff2:
 
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