When we got stuck on the trail, we discovered that the winch had taken on water over time and seized.  This left us up to our a$$ in mud with only a Hi-Lift jack, some tow straps, d-shackles, and an audience full of ATV's with little winches.  We got out of the hole by rocking the Jeep up out of the rut and driving through the rest of the hole.

Once we got home I removed the winch from the vehicle and stripped it down as far as I could take it.

I removed the parts all the way in to the drum.  They were in good condition but devoid of lube and covered in water.  The ring gears were seized and had to be coaxed out of the assembly.  When I got it that far apart I could not get it to come apart further.  So I carefully cleaned everything and reassembled it exactly as it had come apart.  The gears have certain orientations and must go back in properly or the whole thing would not work or get broken when fired up.

I contact WARN and sent the unit back for service.  When I got it back, the invoice showed that they had replaced the stage 1 gear train and some wiring. 

I could also see that they'd replaced the motor, the motor side housing (the failed powder coat was gone and a nicely finished part was in its place.)  The unit appears to be working properly and I had nothing more than to install it on the vehicle.

I am disappointed to report that the powder coating on the Tomken winch plate that I got as a replacement for my first Tomken plate of the same design was far less durable than the first.  It more or less completely failed by the time I reached this point.  So while I was working on the steering box, I gave the winch plate a restoration using POR-15.

I got new mounting bolts with the winch.  I put anti-seize on them and bolted the winch to the winch plate.  I removed the bumper bolts and installed the winch/plate assembly to the front of the frame.  I also got a replacement center bolt and mounted it to the bracket that holds the back of the winch plate to the cross member that runs between the frame ends.  I ran and dressed the power wires to the battery and re-cabled the spool by winching the Wrangler up my steep driveway to the front of my Commander, used as an anchor point.

I ordered a cover for the winch and put it on to keep everyday water, grime and grit out of the winch.