Kawasaki Mule and WARN Winch

[weldingisfun]

Has anyone mounted a WARN winch on your Kawasaki Mule? I did and found out that I made a big mistake. A costly $339 mistake.
The first time I used the winch, a practice run, the wire rope did not wind evenly, had to pull it back out and do it again. Learned that I had damaged the wire rope in a couple of places too.
Second time, I winched a cedar tree that I had cut for a fence post out of the tree line so I could trim it up. The winch had no trouble pulling out the tree, but this time the wire rope managed to slip up and over the flange on the motor side of the winch and bound it up completly. Had to remove and disassemble the winch to get the wire rope free.
Contacted WARN about the situation and was advised that I was to follow the procedures in the manual since there is no level wind on the winch. The procedures call for you to guide the wire rope on to the winch by hand.
If you have a winch mounted on a Mule you know that isn't possible, or is it?
I've decided that having the winch on the Mule is a bad idea and will not remount it.
Repairing it will require a new nylon bushing and a new 50' wire rope.
Anyone had a similar experience and what did you do?

 

[Skipholiday]

I've never heard of these problems.
Could you post pictures of the winch installed?
Did you use a fairlead?

 

[Tractors4u]

It sounds as though you don't have a fair lead? In case you don't know what it is, it is a giude for the cable that has a roller above and below the cable and on both sides of the cable. It prevents the cable for getting bound up if you are pulling form any angle other than straight ahead. I have winched my 1200 pound Polaris Ranger without any problems.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

if he bought the winch it should have come with a fiarlead but if not it will need one but as for as i know it's a must to get off the utv and guide the cable one the roller . you never want the cable to over stack and bind up then it will pinch the cable and even mess up the spool.when i use mine wich is not to often i work it from inside but i constantly get off to check the cable just to make sure it's not stacking and if it is i un wind it and respool it then get a fresh bite.but my 2500 warn is going on 4 years old and i still have the original cable in it.

 

[Tractors4u]

if he bought the winch it should have come with a fiarlead .....

The reason I asked is because I see winches sold on Ebay without a fair lead from time to time.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

yea could be he never stated if he had one or not i just figured he did .i wonder what size winch he has because 339.00 for a warn is not bad but what size? with the rope if you don't watch it and it gets a little slack it's not like cable it will backlash or tend to get in between things unlike cable .i rather cable i never tried the rope . rope to me would be a good spare to keep in a bag it's lightwieght and it cane be stored but for me i rather have good old stainless steel cable on my winch . mine didn't come with stainless but as soon as i replace it thats what i'm going with.

 

[weldingisfun]

I can't send any pics of the winch mounted because it is still in pieces lying on my workbench. As far as a fairlead, sounds like a levelwind, no, it wasn'r included. I will post a pic of what all came with the winch.
The winch is the 2.5 ci model. If I remember correctly, it has a 2500 lb capacity. I'll verify that as well.

 

[Tractors4u]

You definately need a fair lead. My winch cable does not roll up perfectly on the spool either. The fair lead will keep it from jumping over the end of the spool though. Like I said earlier, pulling from any direction other than straight ahead will make a mess without a fair lead. You can usually find them on Ebay for around $30. Which Mule do you have? I went with the Warn 4.0 for my 1200 lb Ranger.

 

[RollTideRam]

The winch either came with a roller fairlead or a hawse fairlead. The roller has rollers top and bottom and each side. The hawse just has an opening for the cable to go through. Always keep an eye on your cable to keep it from piling up on one side. No fairlead will prevent this. Pulling at any angle makes it worse. When I'm winching I have to stop, and pull cable out, winch it back straight and continue. This is just part of learning how to use a winch. JC

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

yea you probably winched in so much rope that it stacked to one side then jumoed the drum and thats when the trouble started.i winch about 2' or less then stop and check the cable. the cable won't jump the drum like the rope will anyways good luck with it it's a good strong winch it pulls my hpx out when i need it and with everything i have on it my hpx is now about 1500/1600lbs and if you add in the suction of the mud and the dead pull weight that little 2.5 does a heck of a job.i still want to upgrade to a 4.0 but thats in the future .