Intereseting issue with Lewmar wavegrip 43 winches

[pcmm]

I have an older set of Wavegrip Self tailers which for the most part have worked well and I have done annual maintenance on them: strip, clean. grease gears and oil the pawls. I've generally been happy with them but recently one of them has had an interesting behaviour.

Went sailing recently and had the winch "freewheel" briefly while grinding, (which in itself was spooky). I took it apart afterwards and couldn't see anything wrong, the pawls were springy (no broken springs) but since then when I grind the winch, it feels "geary" like I can feel the movement of each tooth on the gears.

I'm wondering if this is worn main shaft bearings causing play and not holding the drum in its correct alignment

thoughts?

[coopec43]

Have you had a look at resources on the internet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G8VGJHcFgo

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=s...h=615&biw=1024

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by coopec43

Have you had a look at resources on the internet

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=s...h=615&biw=1024

Thanks, I know how to service them. I've taken them apart many times and cleaned, greased and oiled the various components. Just this one winch has developed this change in behaviour that I can't quite track the source of yet. Bearings look fine, all the pawls seem to be behaving as normal.

One thing I have determined is the main drive gear is oriented 90 deg too far to the where the rope enters the winch. I'm thinking this might be related .

[Orion Jim]

If it’s freewheeling the pawls haven’t engaged. Spring may appear intact but have lost their strength over time, pawls also wear and without a sharp edge will fail to hold under a strain. The springs and pawls are considered perishable and the springs especially should be replaced at each service. The pawls require replacement but at less frequent intervals.