Interesting project.

 

Stay with steel cable

 

Rather than replace the motor with a knock off look for an electric motor repair shop and take it (or ship it) in for a rebuild. They will replace the wear parts and you will have a drop in replacement. Or source the parts and diy it, as long as the windings are in good shape it is a simple enough task.

 

Hey Ben. There is a small alternator/starter repair shop in my town that I called about a rebuild. They said they could do it, but the cost could be up there so I decided to pull it apart myself first. The windings are OK, the brushes looked great though. The bigger issue was the bearing and rust/dust inside the case. So I disassembled the internals, removed the lugs and cleaned/derusted everything. If it works once back together, great, if not, I'll switch to the splined pinion gear & a 6HP motor. I love the idea of keeping the original motor, but if it doesn't spin up right, it's going back on the shelf.

I was ready to beadblast the housing this evening but forgot I still needed to pull the top gear. Removing the dowel pin was a pain, but some heat, a hammer, punch, and PB blaster finally got it out. Yes, I punched it out the right way, away from the 4 indents. In the process I managed to crack away a tiny little piece of the casting where the dowel pin goes through the case. This wouldn't be critical if I was replacing with the stock style pin, but I'm changing to the Gigglepin kit & the damaged side of the case is supposed to have a washer & bolt against it. Again, probably not imperative to fix, but if I can TIG it I will. Or if I get lucky, I'll use some Alumiweld and then grind it back smooth. Not a critical area, but I'd like to fix it while it's all apart.

If anyone is reading this and wants step by step procedures on diassembly, there are plenty of better threads out there. Don't rely on me, lol. I'm merely covering the specific modifcations I am doing and how they might be a little different from others. I've still got to make some modifications such as the brake shaft end bolt conversion & adding the drain/fill/breather fittings. I was also going to clearcoat the aluminum but now I'm thinking more along the lines of a nice paint job and clear coat on top. If it gets scratched, oh well. It won't rust at least.

This is going on my '77 5, but I'm not so sure how I'm going to mount it yet. Does anyone out there happen to have a picture of an 8274 on their front bumper? Preferably the 76-86 range of CJs but open to other vehicles. Thanks!

- See pictures below

 

Nice!!!! When I was looking for a winch I really wanted an 8274, but they seem hard to find in FL. I'm in St Pete, BTW. I settled on an XD9000I.

NICE FIND!!!!! And cool project!

 

Nice!!!! When I was looking for a winch I really wanted an 8274, but they seem hard to find in FL. I'm in St Pete, BTW. I settled on an XD9000I.

NICE FIND!!!!! And cool project!

Thank you. I found it 2 hours after the seller listed it and decided to jump on it at that price. Perhaps elsewhere around the country they're going for cheaper but here in Florida, these old winches are pretty difficult to find for sure! Not that other winches are bad, but I'm glad you still decided to settle with a Warn unit.

 

I have a fat stack of Warn winches. 15k, 12k, 9.5k, 9k, 8k Belview upright, and 5 8274s! All have been rebuilt. The 8274s have all been updated to 8275-50 parts. A couple of the uprights i had powdercoated...one orange and another one black. I transformed one of my 8274 into a long drum so that it holds 250’ of cable. I ended up building another 8274 long drum for a friend a couple years ago. I made it so that his held 300’ of cable! Now is that much cable actually needed?...we could start a 12 page thread on that along, but i had fun building it, and he loves having a long drum upright on his old CJ3.

I’ve installed drain and fill plugs on a couple of the uprights. After a while i can to the conclusion, through it’s nice to have in theory, in practically you will never have to change the gear oil in an upright unless you have the winch completely submerged for over 5 minutes. But if that happens, then you would probably want to completely disassemble the winch so that it can dry out.

I’d also update the four solenoids with an Albright contactor switch.

My main pro tip on rebuilding the 8274 is making some sort of brake compressor tool that holds that whole assembly together while you slide it back on the shaft.

I do like the standard Warn winches since they are more user friendly, but the uprights are just plain strong and durable.

 

I have a fat stack of Warn winches. 15k, 12k, 9.5k, 9k, 8k Belview upright, and 5 8274s! All have been rebuilt. The 8274s have all been updated to 8275-50 parts. A couple of the uprights i had powdercoated...one orange and another one black. I transformed one of my 8274 into a long drum so that it holds 250’ of cable. I ended up building another 8274 long drum for a friend a couple years ago. I made it so that his held 300’ of cable! Now is that much cable actually needed?...we could start a 12 page thread on that along, but i had fun building it, and he loves having a long drum upright on his old CJ3.

I’ve installed drain and fill plugs on a couple of the uprights. After a while i can to the conclusion, through it’s nice to have in theory, in practically you will never have to change the gear oil in an upright unless you have the winch completely submerged for over 5 minutes. But if that happens, then you would probably want to completely disassemble the winch so that it can dry out.

I’d also update the four solenoids with an Albright contactor switch.

My main pro tip on rebuilding the 8274 is making some sort of brake compressor tool that holds that whole assembly together while you slide it back on the shaft.

I do like the standard Warn winches since they are more user friendly, but the uprights are just plain strong and durable.

View attachment 4196135
View attachment 4196134
View attachment 4196133
View attachment 4196132
View attachment 4196136

I LOVE that oldschool machinery green.

Before I got my Jeep into the "groove" of it's looks, I wanted to do that kind of Green on my XD, but maybe with the hammer finish.

But now, it wouldn't look correct, lol.

 

@whodatschrome That long drum is absolutely SICK! How do those bushings hold up though? I'd love to have mine powerdercoated as well but good prep & good paint is budget friendlier for me.

As for the drain and plug setup, I completely agree with you. In fact it's pretty obvious you'll almost never have to change the oil. Properly sealing the unit is my top priority, but having the drain/fill/breather would provide access for an emergency flush should something go sideways (literally). I am in no way building this unit for competition, but I want something reliable (who doesn't?).

I went with a Temco 450A contactor, not sure how much different they are from the Albrights but Temco backs them with a 5 year warranty, and the 3 control terminals are screws (which I prefer), NOT spade terminals.

 

@whodatschrome That long drum is absolutely SICK! How do those bushings hold up though? I'd love to have mine powerdercoated as well but good prep & good paint is budget friendlier for me.

As for the drain and plug setup, I completely agree with you. In fact it's pretty obvious you'll almost never have to change the oil. Properly sealing the unit is my top priority, but having the drain/fill/breather would provide access for an emergency flush should something go sideways (literally). I am in no way building this unit for competition, but I want something reliable (who doesn't?).

I went with a Temco 450A contactor, not sure how much different they are from the Albrights but Temco backs them with a 5 year warranty, and the 3 control terminals are screws (which I prefer), NOT spade terminals.

The bushings seem to last just fine with the long drum. I was dragging a loaded up 40’ long connex box in through the dirt with a triple snatch box rigged up. I thought for sure it was going to stretch my single cab truck‘s frame into an extra cab!

Screws would definitely be better, but i’m really not concerned with spade terminals for something that requires such a low amp to activate the relay (contactor switch). I got a good deal on the Albrights, so i bought 10 of them for $40 a pop. I think i have about 10 winches (?), so i bought one for each of them.


Here’s a poor pic of the 8274 that’s currently on my 1977 Ford F-250 lowboy. The winch is powercoated black, then i installed the orange colored screws that got powdercoated at the same time as i have my other 8274 powdercoated orange.

 

Also @whodatschrome the top 3 housing bolts on the orange one, are they stainless or zinc? Picture looks like stainless. I know stainless is great but does the strength of the bolt matter there or not so much? I've got all grade 8 hardware but won't hesitate to switch some to stainless (except for the 4 main mounting bolts ofc).

 

The top 3 screws are just standard zinc plated. I dunno if they’re grade 5 or 8. Those 3 screws don’t get torqued down to hard, so i would think that stainless screws would be strong enough?

 

wow, I thought I was the only one who collected vintage winches while buying crap from automation direct

no warns though, just 4 superwinch huskys.

 

I’ve never had an issue with the circlip. I’m beginning to think only the Europeans have issues with it coming off. I guess rust and corrosion on the clip play a part in the failure? And FYI, the shaft is a hardened steel, so it’s going to be very difficult to drill it at home, and even more difficult to tap the threads.

I’ve met this guy a few times and he also had worked on a couple of my winches. The tutorial was originally in one of the 4x magazines, but i found it online here....

Rebuilding the legendary Warn M8274 electric winch step by step

Legendary status is bestowed upon someone or something when actions or performance far surpass the norm, so when the name is mentioned there’s instant recogniti

www.motortrend.com

 

Yes, I've read that writeup and it does a great job explaining restoration of the 8274. I've finished the electrics now and am still waiting on the top housing kit. I'll go over the contactor setup:

I'ts a Harbor Freight Badland Apex wireless winch remote. It has 5 pins, only 4 get used. You have the normal IN, OUT, POWER, and the addition of a ground. All the ground does is complete the circuit to provide the receiver with power. Everything else remains the same. The original Warn socket is the simple 3 pin, and mine had no cover. I needed a socket that could handle the 4 pin setup, so I bought a Superwinch 4 pin remote socket w/leads for $9. It fits perfectly in the hole on the warn control box. The only thing I had to do to make the Badland receiver work was notch the socket for the indexing key. Once I did that, it plugged right in. Then I wired the leads to the corresponding ring terminals on the contactor, and tested it. It works great. Even better is that the contactors are waterproof & have a small footprint compared to the solenoids. The original Warn remote also works in the socket and the IN/OUT positions match. Very simple & cheaper alternative to the Warn wireless setup. See pics.

*The inline fuse coming off the "MAIN+" is what feeds the winch remote/receiver. The bottom middle pin on the socket is for the ground.

I'll probably make a short YT video of what I had to do to get it all to work, and how it works, although it wasn't much.

 

Not to highjack your thread but have you or anyone else used this place for parts yet? M8274

 

Here’s what my 8274 brake compressor tool looks like (not clutch tool like it’s written in yellow paint). I was over at the Warn winch service department years and years ago, and the guy who worked there at the time showed me his custom made 8274 brake compressor tool looked like. He let me take a couple measurements and i also drew up a sketch on paper (pre-camera phone days). When you look at my pics, it should be pretty clear how it needs to be fabricated.

 

I greatly appreciate each of yalls replies. College started back up this week, so its been hectic, but I will post some pictures soon. I have a lot. For some reason, the forum glitched out every time I logged on last week. I plan on finishing the winch mechanicals this weekend, with only mounting & wiring left. Mounting is somewhat of an issue because my front bumper is custom from the PO, but I'll figure something out. I do have a couple questions about the main wiring and would like some input...

I plan on adding a secondary deep cycle battery, probably a group 31. I'll run 2/0 ground and positive cables to an Anderson SB350 plug mounted under my grille. From there, I'll run the 2/0 positive lead to the lugs on a 300 amp continuous/2000A intermittent battery switch (Fastronix), and then from the switch to the positive post on the Temco contactor. The ground lug on the new winch motor will go back to the Anderson plug and directly back to the battery. The battery will also have a 2/0 chassis ground, just to be safe (all of my grounds are strong and clean). The heavy switch is there to act as another, faster safety should something go wrong in the system. The Anderson SB350 connector gives me the option of plugging in the winch, or a set of jumper cables.

Both the regular cranking battery and the new deep cycle will be charged from my single alternator, with one 4 ga. cable running to each. Because of this, both battery positives will technically be connected and when the Jeep is off, they will have the tendency to drain each other, etc. To solve this, I was going to use a Stinger brand 200 amp (or 500 amp) relay unit to break the contact of the alternator charging cable to the secondary battery when the Jeep engine is OFF. To do that, I was going to use an oil switch that grounds when there IS pressure, closing the relay and completing the alternator to deep cycle battery connection. So, the deep cycle alone can be used to winch, but it will only be connected to the cranking battery when the Jeep key is ON and engine is running and both batteries charging. I don't plan on using the winch with the Jeep off anyway, ever. Is this a good plan? It might be overkill, but I know isolating the batteries is important (especially when not charging) and I already have a lot of accessories on my main cranking battery and found room for an extra group 31. TIA

 

Well, I got the winch completely rebuilt finally. I am very pleased with the results. It looks great, everything performs flawlessly. I do have one question, and am really hoping yall can chime in. With the lock plate installed in the grooves on the drum & the brake shaft, the top housing went on fine and sealed tight to the lower case. However, there is ~1/16" end play (in and out movement) of the whole shaft & brake assembly from the lower housing. The bronze bushing and needle bearing are new and I am 99% sure I pressed them in/installed them correctly. Now, I do understand that the lock plate is thinner than the groove in the brake shaft which would allow a small amount of movement no matter what. I also read on someone else's rebuild thread (different site) that his lock plate appeared to have this same play in it. It's obvious why, but he didn't specify there was also play in the whole brake shaft in & out. Can anyone tell me if this is normal or at least okay?

 

First off you say that the winch looks great. I’m calling your bluff, so you now need to post of pics of it!

I think i’m saying this right, but you want that little bit of In N Out play so that the brake drums(?) can unload a little bit of tension off of the friction ring thing. If there’s zero play, the ramp gear thingy will have a VERY difficult time backing off. Which means free spooling the cable drum isn’t going to happen...whatsoever.

 

FWIW I called Warn directly today and they confirmed that the little bit of end play, ~1/16" of in and out movement, is totally normal and expected. So, you're probably right about it being like that to keep tension off the brake. I didn't think it would harm anything, but I also hadn't seen anything about it written in other forums or YouTube. Just wanted to make sure it was acceptable before buttoning it all up!

 

I made a YT video of myself building the thing from the ground up, tried to be as thorough as possible. I did not cover disassembly but thats okay. I will be uploading it as one whole video once I patch all the clips together & do some editing.

***About a month after I got the winch we had a pretty bad shop fire (40x80 metal building), structure was okay but needs lots of repair work and half the contents melted ($$$$$$). NO one was hurt, luckily. Ring camera captured it all on video too, and thankfully a bystander driving by called 911 when they saw smoke coming from the roof. Needless to say I have been working on every detail of this winch for 4 months straight in between cleaning soot & back and forth to college. Now I can finally say it spins. Currently in the process of building the custom bumper for the CJ now.

 

Looks better than new!

 

What make and paint color code did you use? It looks great!

 

Thanks Bob, and John! The topcoat is DupliColor engine enamel, the color is Cast Coat Iron. One $12 can (Oreillys) did everything with 3 good coats. I used RustOleum automotive dark gray primer and it bonded really well, too. I prepped the housings & drum support by sandblasting first, then etching with Alumi-Brite. I swear by that stuff for aluminum and even some steel/stainless. I did not bake or heat the paint like the directions state, as I am not super concerned with durability - scratched aluminum won't rust like carbon steel. I have been nothing but pleased with DupliColor paints, but paint prep is 90% of the equations.

 

I have a M12000 that I am restoring. It looks like it was dragged behind a truck for years but the internals were 8n goid shape. I likecthe color you used. Thanks for the detailed explaination about what you did.