emr1101
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Raleigh, NC
Okay so some of you might remember, I have a 9k Tmax winch that broke at the frame mounts, pretty significant lapse in engineering intelligence in my opinion... What happened was I took it off to paint my XJ's bumper, upon putting it back on, i made the mistake of not following TMAX's instructions on the 4 bolt criss-cross pattern of installing the winch (similar to anything like that, including lug nuts, cylinder heads, etc...) and the back two mounts snapped. Here are some pics....
This is how the frame mounts "should have looked"
....but this is how they looked after I tried to bolt them back up....
..........You can see where the chunks are missing, they were still attatched to my bumper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A close up of the carnage....
One of hte causes of this was TMax used an excessively large bolt. The nut sat inside a "pocket" of the frame cast, and the bolt traveled though a hole in the frame to contact the nut. The problem was the bolt traveled so far, it went through the nut, but kept going untill it passed the nut about 1/4" - 1/2" and contacted/dug-into the other side of the pocket. This pressented a stress of an outward-expansion nature inside the pocket untill the pocket separated and cracked in the middle so the nut could go one way down the bolt towards the bolt's head and the bolt's tip could continue on in the other direction.
I will say this, Tmax made a great effort to help me. I talked with a guy named Mark and he sent me everything I needed, free of charge and shipping, to fix my winch. He sent me extra stuff too. I had no warranty information to cover this winch, btw, I just emailed him my adress and he helped me out. He sent me 2 new frame mounts, new solenoids, all new hardware, and even wrote hand-written notes in a service manual to assist me in re-installing the winch! Thats what I call customer service. Although I liked him, my view of the company as a maker of quality products still is undecided, I used my dremmel to cut the new bolts he sent me about 1/4" or so shorter to make sure I didn't have the same problem again, and I didn't. I didnt follow Tmax's instructions the first time around, but honestly I doubt that would be enough to snap a cast frame on a winch - and if it is, then that isnt a very tough frame. Imagine bolting up a skidplate and your frame snaped? (good thing were uni-buddies i guess haha)
Oh one more thing he sent me, the clutch which allows for free spooling vs. engaged, gear-driven in and out of the winch broke, the inside tab snapped allowing the lever to fall out.
He sent me a new on, bolted it up, but the ball and spring assembly were siezed so it wont stay in place, I have to have a guy hold it in place for me, kind of annoying. He wouldnt replace that and quoted me about $20 to replace it. Not that its that big of a deal, but the plug on the front of the winch for the controller is also not of the "best" quality and so someone has to hold that in too.....
My opinion of tmax after this incident is this:
Problems:
-2 snapped frames (partially my fault, but there bolts are too long)
-I believe old solenoids smoked?
-Clutch internal retaining pin broke
-Ball/spring assembly siezed (maybe attributed to mud contamination)
-Plug must be held in place
-Controller's internals fail regularly (this left me stranded once, didn't realize how to fix it untill I got home)
Solutions:
-Tmax did a great job fixing their mistakes.
Conclusion:
-This may be a good winch for the money, its got a beefy motor and fast line spool, but a winch isn't something to cheap out on. They say its Australian but I think it was designed there - I believe its produced in China, and you can tell. If I were to do it again I'd get a 8k Warn, around same price. $600~
This is how the frame mounts "should have looked"
....but this is how they looked after I tried to bolt them back up....
..........You can see where the chunks are missing, they were still attatched to my bumper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A close up of the carnage....
One of hte causes of this was TMax used an excessively large bolt. The nut sat inside a "pocket" of the frame cast, and the bolt traveled though a hole in the frame to contact the nut. The problem was the bolt traveled so far, it went through the nut, but kept going untill it passed the nut about 1/4" - 1/2" and contacted/dug-into the other side of the pocket. This pressented a stress of an outward-expansion nature inside the pocket untill the pocket separated and cracked in the middle so the nut could go one way down the bolt towards the bolt's head and the bolt's tip could continue on in the other direction.
I will say this, Tmax made a great effort to help me. I talked with a guy named Mark and he sent me everything I needed, free of charge and shipping, to fix my winch. He sent me extra stuff too. I had no warranty information to cover this winch, btw, I just emailed him my adress and he helped me out. He sent me 2 new frame mounts, new solenoids, all new hardware, and even wrote hand-written notes in a service manual to assist me in re-installing the winch! Thats what I call customer service. Although I liked him, my view of the company as a maker of quality products still is undecided, I used my dremmel to cut the new bolts he sent me about 1/4" or so shorter to make sure I didn't have the same problem again, and I didn't. I didnt follow Tmax's instructions the first time around, but honestly I doubt that would be enough to snap a cast frame on a winch - and if it is, then that isnt a very tough frame. Imagine bolting up a skidplate and your frame snaped? (good thing were uni-buddies i guess haha)
Oh one more thing he sent me, the clutch which allows for free spooling vs. engaged, gear-driven in and out of the winch broke, the inside tab snapped allowing the lever to fall out.
He sent me a new on, bolted it up, but the ball and spring assembly were siezed so it wont stay in place, I have to have a guy hold it in place for me, kind of annoying. He wouldnt replace that and quoted me about $20 to replace it. Not that its that big of a deal, but the plug on the front of the winch for the controller is also not of the "best" quality and so someone has to hold that in too.....
My opinion of tmax after this incident is this:
Problems:
-2 snapped frames (partially my fault, but there bolts are too long)
-I believe old solenoids smoked?
-Clutch internal retaining pin broke
-Ball/spring assembly siezed (maybe attributed to mud contamination)
-Plug must be held in place
-Controller's internals fail regularly (this left me stranded once, didn't realize how to fix it untill I got home)
Solutions:
-Tmax did a great job fixing their mistakes.
Conclusion:
-This may be a good winch for the money, its got a beefy motor and fast line spool, but a winch isn't something to cheap out on. They say its Australian but I think it was designed there - I believe its produced in China, and you can tell. If I were to do it again I'd get a 8k Warn, around same price. $600~
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