servicing winches

[sneuman]

I have a set of self-tailing Lewmars that are probably way overdue for servicing (they work fine, but I'm sure the previous owner hasn't touched them in a few moons).

What kind of grease should I use on these (preferably nothing "marine fancy" unless it's absolutely necessary)? Any tips before I start yanking these puppies apart?

[Joli]

Clean them with kero and a stiff brush. Lightly grease the bearings and shafts and then a very light coating on the springs and pawls. I would use the grease from Lewmar, a tube is maybe $12 and will last your lifetime.

Oh, do not use diesel to clean the bearings it is hard on the plastic cages.

[GordMay]

Servicing Your Barient and Barlow Winches from Hutton-Arco:
HUTTON-ARCO Yacht Winches

[btrayfors]

When you begin to tear those puppies apart, be sure to take pictures at each stage of the disassembly. These will be very helpful in getting everything back in place correctly.

(I did six of my nine ST Barients last year)

Bill

[svHyLyte]

As suggested by Lewmar, Anderson, Harken et al, winches should be serviced annually. Use mineral spirits rather than kerosene for cleaning as it does not leave a residue and do not use grease on the paws, springs or paw-stops but 3 in 1 oil. If done routinely, cleaning takes only a few minutes for each winch. I do 13 winches each year, from 55's to 16's, in a weekend.

Cheers,

s/v HyLyte

[MidLandOne]

I just use common old grease with no problem on Lewmar ST's. Just look for the grease from your favourite oil company with comments about "superior resistance to water washout", "high performance lithium based", "severe operating conditions", "extended relubrication periods", etc. You will find the stuff easily enough because all of the common old automotive, etc greases these days will do all of that.

I have been using a tub of the common old Mobil XHP version for years, the current product name here (they tend to use different product names in different countries so may be different to where you are) is Mobil XHP222.

Mine is a pretty blue colour which I am sure is important, probably because it means that it is not priced as if it were gold .

A friend who is a boatbuilder told me many years ago he used such greases for everything, after looking at me as if I was daft when I asked about the need to use the winch manufacturer's own greases or anything special.

In case not known only oil the pawls and their springs (as another has already warned) and on the Lewmar web site you can find full maintenance instructions plus complete exploded parts drawings for all of their winches.