SOLENOID FAILS
AN electric winch is only as good as its solenoid. Solenoids are in charge of getting power to your winch and distributing it exactly where it needs to go. When they fail, your winch is just a heavy ornament. With a little thinking you can completely bypass the solenoid with some jumper leads.
On the top of your winch you’ll have three posts: the armature (A) connection, closest to the motor end cap; and the F1 and F2, both closest to the winch body. Connect the A terminal to F1, and then connect F2 to the positive terminal on your battery. To winch the opposite direction connect A to F2 and F1 to the positive terminal. Not all winches run the same direction, so it pays to pull a metre or two of rope off your drum before testing to triple check which way is which. With an exposed winch motor, connecting directly to the terminals is easy; if your motor is buried deep inside your bar you may need to connect to the cables running to your solenoid instead. The same process applies but will take some figuring out on the spot.