A few thoughts on the business of cleaning and greasing winches...
 
First and foremost, keep in mind there are some small, spring-loaded
parts just waiting to jump ship at the first opportunity. For folks
with older winches, finding replacements may be next to impossible (can
you say "time for a new winch"?). Make a collar from a trash bag to
catch the would-be escapees as the winch drum comes up off the spindle.
 
Use the right tools for the job. Invest in a good set of screwdrivers,
wrenches, and sockets. Using a #1 phillips bit on a screw designed for
a #2 bit means the screw head will wind up rough and generally
boogered. Not Good... What usually "kills" a bolt or nut is an attack
from a wrench that's "almost right". Good tools aren't cheap but the
savings in parts not replaced and time saved in recovering from damage
more than pays off the difference.
 
Take pictures. With simple digital cameras being as inexpensive as they
are, one should be on board as part of the tool box, even if you never
want to take yet another "sky, boat, water" picture. As soon as
possible after taking the drum off, take pictures of where the pawls and
gears go. When it comes time to put things together, you'll be glad you
have the notes to refer to.
 
Be gentle in cleaning up the winch parts. The grease in the parts has
probably collected dirt, salt crystals, and metal bits; let a solvent do
much of the work instead of scrubbing the parts (and adding to the wear
they've experienced).
 
It's possible to over-grease stuff. In fact, probably more gear is
ruined by being lubed up too much instead of vice-versa. A thin film of
grease will do the job while smearing grease on in gobs leaves behind
stuff that will catch dirt, gum up things, and generally make problems
down the road.
 
When putting self-tailing winches together, keep in mind that it's not
enough to just put all the screws back in place and tighten them up.
Jaw pressure has a big effect on how well the tailer works. Expect to
have to tweak the screw tightness to get the right amount of jaw grab.
 
Cheers,
Rick Emerson

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Received on Tue Dec 5 06:15:03 2006