repairing / resealing aluminum motor housing for a Warn winch

So I found out today that the motor housing on my x8000i Warn is cracked pretty well. It's not the structurally loaded bit, just the cap on the end. Crack is 1" long and begins at the flange and goes towards the endcap. The cap can only be purchased in the form of a replacement motor which is about $200.

It's aluminum, and I have no good way to weld aluminum. I'm wondering how you all suggest I repair it.

I was going to drill the crack so it wont propagate and then JB weld the outside.

Any better ideas?

It's ruined. You should send it to me for disposal.

Classic Schmosby.

Unless you dropped it, that end cap might be under more stress than you think. I would call around to a few fabricators in your area and collect some repair quotes

mad_machine wrote: Unless you dropped it, that end cap might be under more stress than you think. I would call around to a few fabricators in your area and collect some repair quotes

Exactly what I was thinking. I'd really want to know WHY it cracked in the first place then possibly prepare it and drive it over to a welding shop and do it right. The shops that make aluminum ladder racks would probably do it for a six pack of his choice or a $20 Dunkin Donuts card!

Unless of course the cap is purely just a moisture/contamination protector. Then I'd use a JB Weld or something similar.

Try this stuff, http://durafix.com/index.html You have to follow the instructions to the letter but it works. I've used it on a radiator and a couple other repairs and it seems to be doing the job.

It's 0.095" cast aluminum. It looks like someone dented it. The bolts that attach the motor to the frame pass through this cap, but the seat is keyed to the larger motor frame and these through bolts are tiny. The stand offs cast into the aluminum cap are fully intact. I'm going to give it some JB weld and see what happens.

It is the cap that covers up the brushes.

Are these things standardized? I wonder if a motor repair shop just has these lying around? I think it's the same cap used on pretty much every Warn winch, which I believe uses a sourced motor.

Had a chance to ring up Warn this afternoon. They said "slap some JB on it and call it a day."

Gotta love white collar redneck customer service.

Aluminum brazing rod, find it in the welding isle, propane torch, clean and degrease well, just like if were TIGing it.

Oh nice. I'd like to try that. I already slathered it up with JB Marine Weld, though.