Powerwinch P55000 is Loud - is it supposed to be?

[Blu320]

Hello all. First post, didn't know where to put it so I am putting it here.

I have a powerwinch p50001 on a 2007 Flagstaff 206st. I know there has been a recall on the cable shaft which doesn't apply to mine (per the company).

Having never owned a pop up before my questions are the following:

1. The winch is really loud. Are they supposed to be? I greased the heck out of where the motor gear engages the first gear. I can get it to be whisper quite (making a 'wweeeeeeee' noise) if i keep packing it in, but it comes to a point when the stuff is just falling out everywhere and then it goes back to being loud. Im wondering if maybe winches are just supposed to be loud and not to worry about it. They dont make the parts anymore so I cant replace the motor or motor gear.

2. I read somewhere online that someone had the motor lock up (it was one post out of a million places i looked). When the motor locked up it also prevented the manual override from working. Has anyone had experience with this (please dont speculate)? If this is the case, Ill just change now to a manual crank to avoid possible problems....but I'd rather not spend the time or the money to do it if this manual override will almost always work.

Thanks again. I love this forum btw.

[Blu320]

So to reply to my own post (I considered deleting it, but thought it might be helpful to others):

Regarding #1: I found this great maintenance article that labels all the parts:
http://www.popupportal.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=3124

It appears that the #16 switch gear that walks back and forth from the low and high limit and the 'thing' that it rides on (#7 worm gear?) were very rusty. I wasnt aware that you could use WD-40 (and a wire brush) on these parts so I did, and viola, no more noise. I guess I should mention that i also doused the gear wheels above it and the connection points being careful to keep the WD from the motor and gear grease area.

The people who had the camper before me did very little maintenance. But now I don't have that god awful noise and the winch works like a wonder!

I would still like input on #2. I'm all paranoid I'm going to be happy camping at a site one day and my motor locks up leaving me no way to get it down.....

Thanks all.

[HONDAMAN174]

I also found that my roof motor would start getting loud again after 4 or 5 uses after repack grease. Don't forget to lube the tube-may help stain on motor or cable