Winch Cover

WJCO said:
I hate the way the covers look. I'd rather see the winch. I run my cover only in the colder parts of winter. Main reason is protection from road chemicals. Second reason is so the line doesn't ice together in the event I needed to use it. If we had sunshine here all the time, it would never be covered for me. The wife's ran all winter with no cover and was fine, but hers doesn't catch the ice as it is recessed. Here's mine after one drive in the winter a couple years ago.

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I have to agree, and for similar reasons, especially the weather. That picture says it all WJCO. We get to enjoy at least 4 months a year of salty crap roads, so the cover is essential to minimize it. I do take it off when hosing down the salt, and once spring gets here, it is off until winter again. That was the TJ at least; I have yet to get my winch and bumper for my jk :(
 
wayoflife said:
Do you guys really feel that a cover is necessary or do you just like the way they look? I'm not trying to be facetious here, I've just never felt the need to cover any of my winches and have yet to see this to be a problem.
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I'm not particularly into the look of the covers but as others have mentioned, I choose to use one because it's cheap protection for the winch. I've seen many winches around my area in PA that have been uncovered for years and while I have yet to hear about any impact to their functionality, they are usually pretty weather-worn. While I totally don't care about scratches and wear from using my Jeep for what it's made for, for some reason I do get frustrated by all the corrosion and rust. If I can slow or reduce that for $50, ok with me.
It's definitely not mission critical, I freely admit that.


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wayoflife said:
Do you guys really feel that a cover is necessary or do you just like the way they look? I'm not trying to be facetious here, I've just never felt the need to cover any of my winches and have yet to see this to be a problem.
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That's because you live in the desert. In the rust belt, a cover is needed during the winter to keep the salt from rusting everything on the winch. My buddies winch was so rusted the clutch lever quit turning, even with a wrench. I don't run mine in the other months because I'm garaged and not worried about the sun eating the synthetic line. If it was always outside, I'd cover it year-round.
 
zimm said:
That's because you live in the desert. In the rust belt, a cover is needed during the winter to keep the salt from rusting everything on the winch. My buddies winch was so rusted the clutch lever quit turning, even with a wrench. I don't run mine in the other months because I'm garaged and not worried about the sun eating the synthetic line. If it was always outside, I'd cover it year-round.
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I agree with this completely. Whatever is used to help with traction on ice and snow, salt, sand, embers, urea, is a hell of a lot easier to clean off of a cover than the winch and cable. The reduction in possible corrosion is priceless.


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I don't have a garage yet so the synthetic line is exposed to the Phoenix sun all the time. Don't like the look of the cover but bought into the hype of potential damage to the line. Doubt I'll worry about it much once I get the garage.
 
Warn winch cover

AZ Explorer said:
I don't have a garage yet so the synthetic line is exposed to the Phoenix sun all the time. Don't like the look of the cover but bought into the hype of potential damage to the line. Doubt I'll worry about it much once I get the garage.
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I'm in the Las Vegas heat. This is my first synthetic line. I hear the line can lose 20% of its strength in the first year being exposed to the sun/heat. Since I don't know how accurate this is, I'll cover it just in case.


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wayoflife said:
Do you guys really feel that a cover is necessary or do you just like the way they look? I'm not trying to be facetious here, I've just never felt the need to cover any of my winches and have yet to see this to be a problem.
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I dont run a cover, and after 4 years, some parts of my Zeon faded to basically white, but the main body is still 100% on and black. I have learned to live with it, just a pet peeve of mine to see whited out faded plastic. Having said that, I do have the Zeon rope cover, which is a plastic insert that goes inside the winch and keeps the sun off the rope, and that I personally like, keeps the UV away from the rope.

Platinum_Rope_Cover2.jpg
 
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NFRs2000NYC said:
I dont run a cover, and after 4 years, some parts of my Zeon faded to basically white, but the main body is still 100% on and black. I have learned to live with it, just a pet peeve of mine to see whited out faded plastic. Having said that, I do have the Zeon rope cover, which is a plastic insert that goes inside the winch and keeps the sun off the rope, and that I personally like, keeps the UV away from the rope.

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That's pretty sweet. Maybe I'll do that next once the cover takes a dump.
 
Lately I have started to try and come up with some new ideas for a winch cover, since this one started fading almost immediately. I’m sure there are a few of you who have come up with some great alternatives and was wondering if you would share you’re ingenious ideas.

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Jsouder53 said:
Lately I have started to try and come up with some new ideas for a winch cover, since this one started fading almost immediately. I’m sure there are a few of you who have come up with some great alternatives and was wondering if you would share you’re ingenious ideas.



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If you're using the cover for sun protection, why not just leave it since it's doing its job of protecting the winch. I have the same winch and cover. My Jeep is outside a lot and the cover hasn't faded at all hardly. However, I only use the cover in the Winter, but we still get quite a bit of sun here in CO. That Aerospace 303 stuff I've heard works well to protect vinyl/plastic.

But, there's always this option too:

 
Mine has faded so much it pretty much matches my silver JK. I continue to use it as is. It still blocks the sun and weather from hitting my synth line.
 
Mine faded quick also. I tried their uv spray for a couple months, which is useless, within 6 months it was faded. It hasn't deteriorated or anything, so I'm not worried about it.


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I found a leather...probably fake leather, one on Amazon. Search winch cover by El Jefe. I'm going to get one when I get a winch. Only $20.
 
catahoula said:
Mine faded line that and quick as well.

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JAGS said:
Mine has faded so much it pretty much matches my silver JK. I continue to use it as is. It still blocks the sun and weather from hitting my synth line.
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TrainWreck618 said:
Mine faded quick also. I tried their uv spray for a couple months, which is useless, within 6 months it was faded. It hasn't deteriorated or anything, so I'm not worried about it.


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I know its doing its job to keep the sun off the line at least so Ill definitely continue using it, just trying to figure out another possible option to replace this one that might not fade so quickly. I hate looking at the grayish/purple cover lol

I tried using the spray that came with it, but did nothing at all.
 
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