Warn Zeon Winch Drum Corrosion

So, I was spooling the winch line on my TJ and I figured while I had the tree savers hooked up I would respool the JK winch line. When I unspooled it the bottom layer of line and the winch drum was corroded. Its an aluminum drum, but it looked like it had been at the bottom of the ocean. Anyone ever seen this? I searched online and there were 3 other instances of people mentioning it, but no solution as to how to keep it from happening. I called Warn and they had never heard of it. I know there are a number of products you can use on aluminum to keep it from oxidizing, but I'm not sure if they are safe for synthetic line. Any thoughts?

"They never heard of it..." If that truely was the case and they were a decent company they would want to get it back to look at it .. Im convenced Warn went though a period of time where all of their coatings were crap. Best thing to do I think would be have the drum powder coated. But you know it's always gonna hold moisture.

They are sending me a new fairlead because of the corrosion issues on it.

Just sent these pics to Thomas over at Warn. We’ll see what they say. Originally he told me that I need to unspool my winch our once a week or once a month to keep it from getting moisture in the line. That’s probably not going to work for me.

That looks aweful... Is that a warn rope?

Maybe get the drum powder coated. It is not steel cable so it should not tear into the coating

Its a Warn Rope, Spooled it on about 4 years ago at Clemson 4 Wheel with Cole. The red is the heat guard on the rope. I washed the whole rope today, but the drum still looks like it was under the ocean. Warn is supposed to give me a response. I'd like to put something on my the new winch on my TJ to keep it from doing this if possible.

Was drying the winch line, and it started to storm so into the garage they go.

Lo and behold the new Zeon on the TJ is already corroding as well. Seems like there is a problem with the drums corroding from the moisture held in the line.

Has nobody else had this problem? Any other Zeons on here?

A lot of people I know will not buy from Warn because of issues. I know of 2 people with Zeons that lost out feed. Warn did dick about it. Both no longer have Warn's. I will never buy another Warn. They are like some other companies out there. Riding on their reputation. I had a M8000 rebuilt my Clemson 4X4. Even a new motor on it. the motor quit working. When I pulled the motor I found the contacts are directly soldered to the power bolt. IF that bolt turns it tears the connection. To me that is a defective design. FWIW I have bought 3 Smittybuilt x20's and they are all still working great with no issues. One is on Ghost and it has been used and abused. Just my .02.

I know it’s a 1.5 years after the last response on this, but I have a Zeon on Gojo. I haven’t been real pleased with it to say the least. Not only my drum is corroded, free spool quit working a year or so ago. I pulled the side cover off, and it looked like it been hanging out with titanic. I’ve never submerged this winch, but for them to claim it can be is ridiculous. Clemson 4 Wheel took care of it for me but still not so happy with Warren

I swapped my zeon on the TJ for a 9.5ti, its faster and no corroded drum. I don't think I'll be buying another warn with an aluminum drum unless something changes.

I’m with ya! Very disappointed with my Zeon, it has been junk.