Barlow self tailing winch - not tailing properly

[meganvt01]

We bought a '86 Irwin Citation 38 last year. The boat's owner didn't do much maintence, I imagine the winches were never serviced. We know that the barlow (2 speed) self tailing winches don't self tail properly. One doesn't do it at all and the other - the line constantly slips. We are planning on fully servicing the winches this spring - but I am wondering if the failure of the self-tailing feature might be that the rubberized grips at the top are old or not gripping or possibly that the jib sheet line isn't properly sized. Any ideas?

[Sailmonkey]

From what I've seen the most common reason for the tailer to not work is an oversized sheet.

[Ziggy]

My Barlow self tailers don't have any rubberized parts. If you do, they might be aftermarket add-ons.

[Sailmonkey]

If what you're calling rubberized parts is blue, these are add ons to make non selftailing winches sort of work like self tailers. If that's the case, don't expect them to work as well as real self tailers and if the rubber is dried out, replace it.