winch rust

jeep9mm

New Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Charlotte, Wilmington
What kind of grease or spray or whatever can I put on my winch? Where do I buy it? Its only been on for a month or so and it is already showing rust despite the fact ive not used it. It must just be Wilmington air...what do yall recommend?
 
Rust? on what, the cable, the winch itself??

is it galvanized or plain uncoated wire?

If its on the winch, paint works better than grease or spray. If its the cable, try getting galvanized cable if you don't already. if thats rusting, and its new, well, you'll have to deal with it or go with synthetic line. Well, a really heavy grease will work well on the cable. Something similar to what cranes use on their winch cables. they are coated with a very thick/sticky grease.

Rob
 
That thick grease sounds like Cosmoline. It's used to protect weapons and other metal items while in storage, I think it's also put on telephone poles, at least the end that goes into the ground, and railroad ties. Hope that info helps. If you can get some on that cable it'll definitely keep it from rusting, even if you leave the thing outside.

It'll make it kind of mucky to handle, too, though...
 
well, the roller fairlead will rust after use because the cable scratches off the rust inhibitor coating. its normal. As far as the bolts go, try putting new bolts in there and keep an eye on them. If you get around the beach a lot then make sure you wash the winch off to get the salt off. Or, put new bolts in and paint them with a really nice rust inhibitor primer and paint. Do not use stainless steel bolts. Most are not rated for use with a winch. You can sometimes find galvanized bolts that are grade 5 at a local bolt supply house or even Graingers or Fastenal will have them. The are really good at keeping rust down to a minimum. We use galvanized bolts with a zinc 2 part epoxy paint on them when we built a salt plant in southwestern VA last year and they seem to to very well in the extremely high salt content around that salt plant.

If you want the ultimate in protection, I'd suggest the galvanized bolts painted with a really good primer and paint. also, I'd toss the roller fairlead and wire rope and get synthetic and a UHMW hawse fairlead. Its lighter and is much less metal to corrode...


Rob
 
If you keep the cable, spray it and the drum down with some LPS3. That's what we use at work. It stays sort of "waxy".
 
when i mounted that winch for you, i used grade 8 bolts , being
there on the coast you probally need to paint them. that fair-
lead is going to get surface rust on it. by the way is everything
operating well with the bumper an everything.
 
silicone is not a good idea, its not going to weather well, like rock said
it would have to be some damn good grease, if your after looks i would
just black it out an get a cover for it.
 
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