This weekend I was attempting to extract myself out of a mud pit with a flat front tire when the boot covering one of the contacts on my Warn XD9000i caught fire. At that point the winch really wasn't moving me. That terminal seems a little loose now and the motor was hot to the touch. It still worked well enough that I was able to rewind the cable.

Anyone ever do something similar? Did I turn it into a boat anchor or was it just overheating? I'm going to try pulling myself this weeked to check it. In any case, but I would like to hear about any similar experiences.

That reminds me, I have to pull my winch to have Warn overhaul it while it's wintertime. I beat the shit out of it on a serious uphill run with two jokers who didn't have winches. (you know who you are) ;)

My guess, and this is purely a guess, is that the contact did not have good contact (man that sounds funny to say).

Basicly:

High Amps + Bad Connection = Heat

In your case, enough to cause the boot to catch fire.

I would take apart the connection, make sure you can get a good metal to metal contact and put it back together making sure its nice and tight and try again.

Nope, but I'd sure like a wench to smoke me... ;)

Brent