350D winch question.

[Cuzz]

Would the winch on a 350d be pto or hydraulic ?[/list]

[JWB Contracting]

Factory winch is PTO driven and very difficult to find for a 350.

I have seen some hydrualic winches mounted. They work, just not very fast and no free spool like the factory winch.

[Cuzz]

Just trying to settle a bet. My buddy was trying to tell me it was hydro.

I just picked up a 350D....3600 actual hours... factory winch that does not
work and 2 things seem odd to me.

The winch control lever is very easy to move up and down.. almost as if it is not even connected to the winch. I can move it easily with just one finger. Shouldn't this have a little resistence?

The other thing is I thought the pto lever was right beside the trans dip stick but I can't find any evidence of one. Aren't you supposed to be able to kick the pto in and out of gear?

Appreciate the help...

[77 Ford]

On my 450 the PTO lever is by your right foot, sticks up thru the floor board with a little lever. Mine has a hole even though I do not have a PTO or the lever for it.

Looking at the John Deere Parts site it appears to me the 350 is the same way.

[JWB Contracting]

Your 350 will only have a PTO kick out if you have a true PTO set up. Most just have the winch drive and is only live when the reverser is in forward and your foot it off the clutch. Makes for difficult winching if you are used to a live winch like on a skidder or a 450.

The winch control handle should be connected to a cable that runs under the seat and back to the top of the winch. Maybe it is not just connected. If the cable is broken you will most likely have to remove the fuel tank to change the cable, other option is removing the winch. The cable is very expensive from John Deere so you might want to have one made for you. Most often the cables are seized up, we put a piece of rubber tubing over both ends and fill with Fluid Film and let them soak. Also, the cable routing is sometimes tricky so if you are having a cable built I would get it a foot or so longer so you can better route it. The factory one is almost too short.

There is very little room on a 350 for a winch and makes it very difficult to work on. Almost a pleasure when you get to work on a 450 with a winch in comparision.

[Cuzz]

Jason... you were right. The cable end had came loose from the control valve. I hooked it up and the winch tightens up.

Now for the next question. How do I get the winch to unwind? Should it freewheel off or does it power off.

The winch on this machine was reported to have not worked in at least the last 5-6 years. I imagine this is hard on brake bands and clutches.

Thanks for the help guys...

[JWB Contracting]

It is a 3 position valve.

Forward - winch in (should spring back to center)

Center - brake applied

Backward - freespool (should stay locked in this position)

Remember to have the reverser in forward, trans in neutral and your foot off the clutch. Wind a cable on, attach it to something heavy and see if you can get it to free spool, either by hand or by driving forward. When the winch valve is in free spool it is releasing the brake and the winch clutches to allow it to free spool.

[Cuzz]

Well... the winch is working... just barely.

The brake will release if you pump the the control lever 2 or 3 times and you can empty the drum by hand.

The brake will hold enough that I can drag the 350D with my backhoe.

When I winch in, the drum turns almost 1/4 turn and stops. Release the control lever and winch again and it goes another 1/4 turn and stops. With the left side winch cover removed, I see that the brake is released and then reapplied when the winch turns the 1/4 turn. I removed the clutches to inspect and clean and found that someone had put two clutch plates together and two clutch disc together. Two of the clutch discs have perhaps only 1/16th of an inch of fiber on it. The other one only 3/16ths. All 3 plates are pitted and rusty.

My question is, does it seem likely that my intermitent winch may be caused by the wore out clutches or do I have pressure issues? Or is there another possible problem? Any opinions of what I should do now.