Hey guys, my Rugged Ridge 8500 winch clutch is stuck in freespool. Anyone have this issue and been able to fix it? I've sprayed the be-jesus out of it and am letting it sit. Just glad this didn't happen in the woods

 

Try pulling the line out while keeping pressure towards 'engage'. Good luck

 

Tried that...no joy. May have to try smacking it with a rubber mallet!

 

I have the same winch and had the same problem. I removed that tiny rubber plug and put a few drops of 3 in 1 oil and moved the lever back and forth while I pulled line out. That did the trick. You should monthly move the lever back and forth for maintenance.

Mines been great since. It works hard at pulling.

 

Good to know. I'll go check on it shortly and report back. Cheers.

 

On mine i had to rubber mallet it and grease it up

 

How hard did you smack it?

 

No joy as of yet

 

How long has it been on the freespool setting? My warn was really badly rusted/gummed up inside so I had to tear it down to get it to work.

Before:


After:

 

^ that is a lot of rust. Is it a big deal to tear it apart?? Looks easy enough..