Windlass Quandary

[mikefossl]

I have a 1000w Lofrans Windlass that has never given me any trouble. I decided to do some regular maintenance and now I have a partially disassembled windlass with the following issues:

• Motor body severely rusted. I chipped off about 3 mm of rust and wire brushed until until I saw some evidence of real steel;
• Approx 20cc of dirty oil in the motor (collected inside the end cover, the wiring, brushes and windings look pristine)
• The s/s bolts mounting the motor to the gearbox and the bolts securing the gearbox cover are seized. The gearbox body is alu.

I am wrestling with the decision to go ahead with one of two options:

1. deal with the rust (suggestions?), grease the clutch plates, clean things up and reassemble until next year; or
2. try and get remove the motor and cover taking the risk that I snap off a bolt. Source and replace seals (not obvious in Japan) and change the gearbox oil then all of option 1.

Next year I'll be on an extended layup in New Zealand but currently our planned departure from Japan is next month.


Any suggestions?


Thanks,


Mike

[MitchM]

imtra corp. is the agent for lofrans here in the usa. all the lofrans manuals are available on the web. i'd email lofrans/imtra and ask their advice....

check the brushes while you are looking a all the other stuff...

[roverhi]

Use the electric cables for the winch to heat the SS bolts. Put the positive side to the head of the bolt and ground the negative to the nearest metal of the winch. The leads will act like an arc welder generating a bunch of heat directly on the bolt. Heat, saturate with penetrating oil, and repeat as often as necessary to break the boats free. May take multiple applications over many days but should free up the bolts.

Used this trick via jumper cables to remove all the fasteners from my 40+ year old mast. Before someone turned me on to the trick, was having near zero luck removing the fasteners. 100% success using it