Warn VR10 malfunction

XJsavage

XJsavage

CounterCulture
Joined
Aug 15, 2009
Location
Lyle's Ford SC
A few weekends ago I noticed that my Warn VR10 stopped unspooling via the controller. It will pull line in just fine, but when I push the trigger in the up position, it doesn't want to feed any line back out, wether it's slack or under load.

Has anyone dealt with this before? I haven't looked to far into it yet other than take the controller apart to inspect. It looked clean to me. The winch I bought brand new less than a year ago and I use it a lot.
 
Contact Warn. My Friend Mac up in the midwest on NAXJA just had an issue with the VR10 on his LJ. From what I saw on FB he had to ship it to a service spot for warranty work. Clemson 4X4 is a service location or it was. Apparently the VR's are Chinese made and not the Warn of old.....
 
ghost said:
Contact Warn. My Friend Mac up in the midwest on NAXJA just had an issue with the VR10 on his LJ. From what I saw on FB he had to ship it to a service spot for warranty work. Clemson 4X4 is a service location or it was. Apparently the VR's are Chinese made and not the Warn of old.....
Click to expand...
Well, crap.
 
So my friend got his winch back and posted this today.

I ass(u)(me)...its fixed. I don’t have time today to reinstall it. I’m out so far the $33 for shipping. I call warranty to ask how to get reimbursed for that and was told that it was on me to pay for the ride there. I disagree. I also expressed my disgust with the entire process and lack of communication. I was asked to complete an email with the time line of my experiences... so we shall see.
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I used my just installed in October vr-10s twice in March and the second time it quit. No in or out, just clicking.
I called Warn when I got home and they had me do some garage testing and we determined that the motor was bad.
I was directed to send it to the closest service center to me in MI.
I had to pay for the shipping to get it there and send a copy of my receipt. They originally told me that they would pay for shipping if it was warranty, but as it turns out, the consumer pays for shipping no matter what to get it to the service center.
The service center, which in my case is a third party that works for the company that you ship it to, took 4 weeks to fix it and send it back to me. There was almost no communication. I kept having to contact the guy to get updates.
Finally, out of the blue, the winch showed back up. I put it on, because I ass(u)(me)ed that it would work. Because of my bumper and set up it takes an hour to two hours to get the winch mounted and installed and wired.
I got it on and it wouldn't power out.
I emailed Warn and they are sending me a box to send the winch back in, postage paid to the main service center in the Northwest or wherever they are located.
They are sending me some gloves for my troubles...

We did not even try to bench test it over the phone.

Warranty promised it would be back to me before my next wheeling trip over Memorial Day.

mac 'there's a Harbor Freight 2 miles from my house' gyvr
 
Thanks Mac for taking the time to post that here.
 
Sounds like a bummer. If they concluded that the motor was bad why didn’t they just send you a new motor? A standard winch is a modular system. Motor, planetary, spool, and housing plus the solenoids. I guess they can’t warranty the winch after someone disassembles it. Too much liability?

I too have a warn VR series and it has been solid after 3 years. It’s had a couple of good pulls for sure. Solenoid box is under the hood and the winch is tucked away from exposure to sun and most rain. Hoping that keeps most winch faults at bay.

I once bought a craftsman torque wrench towards the end of their glory days and after the plastic handle adjuster broke they told me to ship it to their service center for evaluation. I almost left it at the counter and walked out.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
NickMaul said:
Sounds like a bummer. If they concluded that the motor was bad why didn’t they just send you a new motor? A standard winch is a modular system. Motor, planetary, spool, and housing plus the solenoids. I guess they can’t warranty the winch after someone disassembles it. Too much liability?

I too have a warn VR series and it has been solid after 3 years. It’s had a couple of good pulls for sure. Solenoid box is under the hood and the winch is tucked away from exposure to sun and most rain. Hoping that keeps most winch faults at bay.

I once bought a craftsman torque wrench towards the end of their glory days and after the plastic handle adjuster broke they told me to ship it to their service center for evaluation. I almost left it at the counter and walked out.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I bought a craftsman torque wrench, used to assemble one engine. It went in the box and it was 2 years before I needed it again. Pop. took it to sears and they informed me that they were only warranted for a year. SMH, way to stand behind your product.

As far as the VR goes, I had one, junk from the beginning. I run a Shitty built now.
 
NickMaul said:
Sounds like a bummer. If they concluded that the motor was bad why didn’t they just send you a new motor? A standard winch is a modular system. Motor, planetary, spool, and housing plus the solenoids. I guess they can’t warranty the winch after someone disassembles it. Too much liability?

I too have a warn VR series and it has been solid after 3 years. It’s had a couple of good pulls for sure. Solenoid box is under the hood and the winch is tucked away from exposure to sun and most rain. Hoping that keeps most winch faults at bay.
Click to expand...

I guess that they want someone that is factory certified??? Even tho it came back not powering out.

My Jeep lives in a heated garage, it does not sit outside, it gets put on a trailer to go to the trails. The winch was on my Jeep while in Moab last October and never used. I pulled myself out of a rock garden about 20 minutes before I pulled a buddy out of the mud and it quit working. It just stopped.

I have used Warn winches a bunch over the last 20 years. If it said Warn, it meant that would work for a long time. I had no idea how many negative comments there are about the VR line of winches until after mine quit...

mac 'I used to say, "I wheel with Warn"' gyvr
 
It took warn a week to get the winch box here, arriving on a Friday evening. I got the winch out last monday, they got the winch on Friday...

mac 'now we wait...' gyvr
 
Is this the same winch y'all are talking about? I hope not.
20190513_182704.jpg
 
I was mowing and lazy. I found the manual and it is in fact a vr10. I've said for a decade that warn is over priced over rated China junk, shoulda stuck with Badlands.
 
It looks like the old style.
 
So they promised me that I would have the winch back by my memorial day wheeling trip.
I heard nothing for two weeks. The Monday before Memorial Day I emailed and asked if my winch would be there by Memorial Day. I was told that it was shipping out on that Monday. Then 10 minutes later a tech called me and asked what was wrong with my winch. I told him and he said ok. So I emailed the warranty folks back told them that the tech had just called, basically calling them out for my winch having sat somewhere for two weeks not being fixed. I was told that they tested it and it was fine, and the tech was calling to make sure that the issue I complained about was working.

So I was leaving for my trip on Friday afternoon. The winch came in an hour before I left on my trip. They held to their word that I would get it back before Memorial Day.

Thankfully I purchased the Badland 12k winch from Harbor Freight when it was on sale a couple weeks ago and put it on my Jeep. I've used it 10 times since then, between a couple of trips at friends private property and then on my Memorial Day trip. It works great.

The VR10-s is going on Ebay.

mac 'I'm done with Warn' gyvr
 
Lol @ buying cheap Chinese winches and complaining that they're shitty and unreliable.
 
At this juncture, I'm not even wanting to sacrifice a lunch break to see about warranty.

It's free to whoever wants it.

*Hands washed*
 
a_kelley said:
and having better luck with it.
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You're just playing the odds. Sometimes you'll win, sometimes you'll lose. In my experience, none of them are more reliable than another. They're called "value" winches for a reason.
 
shawn said:
You're just playing the odds. Sometimes you'll win, sometimes you'll lose. In my experience, none of them are more reliable than another. They're called "value" winches for a reason.
Click to expand...
I legitimately didn't know. I had a suspicious feeling when I bought it, but GD, I figured it was a refurb or similar.
 
I sold the VR on Ebay.
The Badland winch is still working great. I bought the 1yr no questions asked warranty on it, Harbor Freight is 2 miles from my house. If it fails in the first 15 months (12 plus the 3 mos that it comes with), I'll take it in and get another one. Better than anything Warn can offer.

So far it's lasted longer than the Warn.

mac 'so on sale, with warranty, $400 out the door, 12k winch' gyvr
 
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