Problem servicing a 1970's Lewmar 43 winch

[yeterp]

I inherited a Pearson 10M and I want to service the two Lewmar 43 winches that are 1970's vintage. The manual that seems to have come with the winches indicates that all I have to do is remove a circlip and everything else will disassemble with ease. Having removed the casing there is a gear at the top that makes it impossible to remove the roller bearings. I cannot find any diagram of Lewmar winches that shows this gear. I don't want to damage the winch by using force. Do I need to remove the winch base to proceed? There is no indication in the manual that refers to that for this particular model number. It says that Lewmar winches are "the easiest winches in the world to maintain". They should have looked at my old Barient winch before making that statement.

Thanks for any help.

Peter

[Andrew Troup]

by "gear" do you mean the bronze spline? The collar around it, which is stopping you getting the bearings off, I'm hazy about but I seem to recall you just turned it so its internal toothspaces (a female spline profile) matched those of the spline, (the latter being integral with the pedestal casting), allowing you to remove it upwards.

Sorry if this is misleading - if this doesn't do the trick, can you wash the interface of collar and spline with kerosene and inspect closely (take macro photos, with careful focus, if it's not obvious, and post here) ?

[Andrew Troup]

ON REFLECTION:

Did that collar start up further down, directly above the bearings?

in which case, it can't have an internal spline: maybe there's just a minor buildup of patina/scale on the tips of the spline, making it hard to pull the collar past it.

An offcut of brass, filed to a 90 degree edge and used as scraper, will deal to that in short order, or Scotchbrite green scouring pad...

(What I'm referring to as a spline is not truly a spline, nor does it serve that purpose: it's the recesses for the ratchet pawls, but I'm as sure as I can be that it's in one piece with the pedestal)

[svtrio]

I had smaller, but similar vintage Lewmar winches. I found Lewmar UK very helpful, and about a year ago met the Lewmar US rep at the boat show">Annapolis boat show. Very helpful guy based on the east coast. I don't have access to his info - I'm a thousand miles from home - but you should be able to track him down. The guy is amazing in terms of recall and hands-on knowledge; winches are his specialty.

One very helpful bit of info -- the various parts for these older winches remain available as standard parts.

Good luck. Roger

[Andrew Troup]

Peter

I think I've struck gold. Forget my previous feeble attempts: I hunted through my old files until I came across what looks like a similar layout (I was a winch designer for a time in the early eighties) in a Lewmar of your vintage:



It appears the collar is trapped under what you called a gear and I wrongly thought to be an integral part of the pedestal, and had called a spline.
It appears to be the pawl pocket element (per my last message) but it may NOT be integral.

If there's a hexagon-recessed socket-head capscrew in the top star-splined socket, you should be able to undo that, (you may have temporarily put the idler gear and drum back on, to prevent the centre shaft turning while you do that) and remove the top socket.

This will release the pawl-pocket element, enabling the thrust collar to be removed.

Let us know how you get on, for the benefit of others who may come behind...

[Nicholson58]

Took me a while to find this. Old & new Lewmar. Some parts are totally common. Some obsolete. I have machine shop access so I have made many replacement small OBS parts.

NOS parts here:

Lewmar Winch Schematics

The 43 is here with a 'Sears Lawnmower blow-up' I suspect you simply have not applied enough force and the old grease has it all glued together. Try working in a bit of mineral spirits if you cant coax it apart. Also, lift the lower gear pins and remove the small pinions. Take photos and note that the pinions have built-in ratchets and pawls. Once the pinion is out, you might get a screwdriver below the central shaft.

Looking at your picture, I think you may not have located the two tiny collets that hold the lot together. These may be flush with the shaft OD and burried in grease/dirt. Also possible under a sleeve as on my 48's. In my photo, the 48 has a black sleeve. Lift it and reveal two white plastic keys.

We removed ours totally from the boat. I disassembled and soaked them in solvent in the parts washer at work. One winch per 5-gallon plastic pail. These are nearly indestructable. You might also find spare & replacement parts at Torresen Marine in Muskegon, Michigan.

[yeterp]

Yes. I'm referring to the bronze spline about an inch from the top, which the pawls fit in. I can't move it. The collar below it has not been moved. I cannot move it up or down. Maybe if I removed the bronze spindle holding the lower gears in place I could pull out the whole central tower with the bearings on it and remove the bearings from the bottom. Just a thought.

Peter

[yeterp]

Thanks for all the helpful information. What a great forum. I'll go back to work on the winch in the next few days when I can get back to the boat.

Peter

[Target9000]

I just pulled apart some 1970s vintage Lewmar 43 standard 2 speeds. There was a circlip on both the top and the bottom of the main shaft. I had to remove the top one to get the body off, then turn the winch over and remove the bottom one. The shaft will lift upwards out.

[yeterp]

Does that mean I have to dismount the winch before I can take it apart?

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by yeterp

Does that mean I have to dismount the winch before I can take it apart?

Yes, it has to come up to get to the bottom circlip

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Target9000

Yes, it has to come up to get to the bottom circlip

Extra work but not all bad. If you soak the entire thing in solvent you will probably be amazed (as I was) how much dirt comes out of the old grease & bearings. In the end, you will re-bed it, inspect bolts etc.

[Greenhand]

Wait...does that mean I am going to have to remove my mid 80's Lewmar 55 two speeds to clean them?

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by Greenhand

Wait...does that mean I am going to have to remove my mid 80's Lewmar 55 two speeds to clean them?

Probably not. I believe that in 1982 some pretty major changes to the winches happened at Lewmar. Most of the winches can be pulled apart from the top.

[Nicholson58]

Even the non-removable winches can be substantially disassembled in place; gears, pawls, bearings. You can wipe down the rest pretty OK.