12v motorized folding camper winch

[f5moab]

Do you notice any difference in lifting in cold vs. warm weather with 90 or greater gear oil?

Also, some do not have the weep holes. Mine didn't.

[cabranch47]

No difference in operation. We were in Ark. last Nov. 30's at night and 50's in the daytime, worked smoothly. You might want to check closely for the weep holes, I think they are there so that any rain water would leak out at the 90 deg. bend and not travel down to the main mechanism.

[f5moab]

No holes. I checked, dealer said not all come with the holes, and if I had them, there would have been oil leaked out all over the drive.

[61cubby]

When shooting the 30 weight into the conduit, does it matter if the roof is raised or not? Got the old Viking out of storage last week and finally had a couple of days to get her cleaned up and ready for sale. Everything went very smoothly but in all the years we have had it, I have never greased the tracks. All the cables are in excellent condition from what I could see with no corrosion at all. The trailer is kept inside when not in use so has seen very little of the elements here in MN. I did dry lube the posts.

Plugged her in, turned on the fridge (Chilling like a champ) and tonight turned on the furnace (fired up instantly) and am going to camp in my driveway tonight. I'm so excited! Sat in her all afternoon and played on the computer...lol.

[cabranch47]

I would lower it so the oil gets on most of the spring. Important: If you disconnect the conduits while raised the top will come down.

[f5moab]

Originally Posted by cabranch47

Important: If you disconnect the conduits while raised the top will come down.

Will it? Not that I'm going to do it with the top totally raised, but inquiring minds are wondering why since the conduit is just a passage for the springs. The tension is from the lifting mechanism. And I actually raise mine about 2 inches. It allows the conduit to slide easier back into place. And the top does not come down the 2 inches.

[cabranch47]

It seems to me that, although the springs are holding the top up, the conduit is guiding and enclosing the spring. If the top was raised and the conduit released, I think that the spring would push it down and then you would have manually raise the top to release the pressure in order to reattach the conduit.

[f5moab]

That does make sense; not that I'm going to try it with all four corners up at the same time

But I have learned that if you raise it an inch or two then drop a corner conduit and do the lube, it does makes it easier to slide the conduit back up over the spring. But I ONLY DO ONE corner at a time. First year, I did it with the top down and for one corner, I had to unlatch to get the conduit back up.

Another thing is those self-tapped holes in the conduit bracket can strip out. But easily remedied with bolts, nuts and lock washers.

[PatN]

Old thread but exactly what I needed, and I only went through the registration process (which I usually do NOT do) to thank you for letting us benefit from your knowledge and going to the trouble of describing the lubrication process so well not to mention responding to various queries about what lubricant. This is what the internet is all about!.

[f5moab]

I see my links the photos have dropped. Guess I should do the info again with new links since I cannot edit.

[PatN]

I would love to see those photos.

[f5moab]

Majority of info is same as in the first post, but added some info and a few more photos.

OK.
If you get under the trailer, at each corner you will see a curved metal conduit that conduit needs to be pulled back and 30W motor oil needs to be squirted into the conduit around the large spring that pushes on the corner to raise the roof.

Just remove the two screws and pull the conduit down...
Outside where screws are located...


Pull conduit down...



Then squirt some oil into the conduit...


After you are done, push the conduit up and secure with the two bolts.

Now, under the trailer in the center is the track area where the cables go though, on the front and rear are two zerk grease fittings. Pump a lot of grease into each fitting. If this has never been done before, you will probably use an entire 14 oz tube of high pressure lithium grease or synthetic) for each fitting.






It gets easier from here.

Under the winch motor on the trailer frame is a pan held in place by 4 screws. Remove those screws, drop the pan, and then spray a lube such as WD-40 onto the drum and bottom of the gear assembly you will see when looking into it. Then replace the cover.

Now, on top of the winch cover, on the left side as you are looking at it, is a round cover (about 1.5 inches in diameter).


Pop that cover off, and make sure it is filled with grease (high pressure lithium grease is ok). OLD STYLE POWER WINCH, NO GREASE REQUIRED FOR NEW STYLE.




You should also have the axle bearing lubed too. You probably have the Dexter EZ lube or AL-KO Ultra lube (very little if any difference) system, and can just pump grease into the zerk fittings until the old grease starts to come out the outer edge of the axle. MAKE SURE TO SPIN THE WHEEL WHILE PUMPING GREASE AND MAKE SURE TO USE A HAND PUMP, DO NOT USE A PRESSURIZED PUMP.

[PatN]

Fantastic! Added to my "RV Maintenance" files.

[orothenberg]

This thread answered almost all of my questions. I have a 2010 2516G PUP with the Powerwinch. We love using it and I realized that I never touched the lift, springs or cables at all. I will take care of that shortly. One comment and one question:

Comment: my trailer has the battery box on top of the Powerwinch so I need to remove that to do the maintenance from above. Pretty silly design, in my opinion. What seems to be sillier is that I think I need to remove both propane tanks to get to it all. Anyway, I'm done complaining.

Question: my lift seems to come up about an inch short of being fully raised. I've read the manual on how to adjust but was curious if you've done it and, if so, do you have any advice for a semi-not-so-handy person?

[f5moab]

Done that adjustment many times; one reason why I dumped the power and went manual.
As you tighten the bolt, it allows the plate to travel further to allow the motor to turn, raising the roof.

I suggest raising the roof to where it cuts off, then to a "slight" adjustment on the bolt and then raise it a small amount further up. Do it in small incremental steps and be prepared to take your finger off the switch as soon as the green or red guide wire gets tight.
I actually had to completely remove the bolt and nut, which was a pain since you have to lower the roof to get the room to get the bolt out. And install a thinner nut to allow the bolt to screw in further into the plate and still have the nut to lock the bolt in place.

Here are some actual photos of the unit and some instructions....
Wicked Winch - Lift System Troubleshooting for Flagstaff Camping Trailers | Roberts Sales

[orothenberg]

Great stuff, thanks.

[orothenberg]

OK Moab, king of all kings when it comes to Powerwinch maintenance. Three more quick, silly clarifications/questions and then I swear I'm done....

1) How much oil do you put in the to lube the springs?
2) Do you lube the cable itself at all manually with oil (I think I read that in the manual)?
3) How do you know when you have put enough grease into the two zerks on the whiffle tree?

I think short of you just doing my maintenance, with these answers, even a moron like myself can get this done......theoretically. Thanks again for you help/guidance.

[f5moab]

Originally Posted by orothenberg

OK Moab, king of all kings when it comes to Powerwinch maintenance. Three more quick, silly clarifications/questions and then I swear I'm done....

1) How much oil do you put in the to lube the springs? I have one of those squirt cans with a flexible tube and just squirt oil all around the springs at the top of the conduit opening. Maybe 15 squirts, and then when I'm done with all four corners, I raise the top and lower it just to help spread it around. Seems to have worked over the past four+ years.

2) Do you lube the cable itself at all manually with oil (I think I read that in the manual)? Other than greasing the cable via the zerks, the end that is wrapped around the winch, I spray DRY lube on it just to prevent any possible rust.

3) How do you know when you have put enough grease into the two zerks on the whiffle tree? First time after I picked it up and after I replaced the cable last year, quite a bit of grease was injected into the zerks. Then each spring before the first trip, I did maybe eight pumps. I can confirm, when I took out the cable to replace it, there sure was plenty of grease that came out with those pushers.

I think short of you just doing my maintenance, with these answers, even a moron like myself can get this done......theoretically. Thanks again for you help/guidance.

Not hard, just take your time. You will need a flexible end for the grease gun for the back, top zerk.

And when under, I always take a good luck at the floor, and around all the corners, etc., before putting my hands anywhere. My first few years was in Moab, and those pesky Black Widows would setup in the spring under the trailer.

[orothenberg]

Finished the maintenance today. I few notes:
- the conduit comes down easily but I had problems getting one corner back up far enough to screw back in. Took some ingenuity and leverage to get it back in.
- adjusting the upper limit switch was not easy. Very small space, but I got it done.
- adding grease into the winch from above was only accomplished by removing both my battery box as well as frame piece the battery box sits on. As I said before, silly design.
- as Moab mentioned, watch out for black widows. I was fortunate to not get bitten, but I did see a monster of a black widow as I was lubing the springs. I was unable to catch/kill it, but it was a beast. Gotta figure out how to lure, kill that thing.

Moab,
Thanks for your help and guidance. Could not have done this work without your very useful posts.

[f5moab]

Glad to help. Yep, got to watch for those nasty black widows. The bite is not fun.