Lewmar Ocean ST40 Feeder Arm Binding

[flightlead404]

I have two Ocean 40ST winches on my cabin top.* They have slightly different style feeder arms, which I will call "newer" and "older" based on the level of pitting in the chrome and pictures on Lewmar's site. See pics.

Upon reassembly following a clean and re-lube I observe the "new style" feeder arm does not lay down properly against the top of the center stem flat with the collets.* Because of this when the top cap is tightened (I am not overtightening) this causes the feeder arm to bind and drag against the top crown of the self tailing jaws causing considerable drag.

I notice there is a slight geometry difference between the old and new style feeder arms.

Does anyone have any hints to correct this issue?

Was there a corresponding*change in the self tailing jaws to accommodate*the newer design?*

What can be done to prevent this binding?

FWIW I have swapped parts back and forth between the binding*and non-binding*winch and the problem definitely lies with the difference in feeder arm design.

I have no idea if this was a problem before, the winches has long deferred maintenance and were quite draggy before cleaning.

Pics attached.* Newer style on bottom in 1st pic, to left in 2nd and 3rd pic. Also two pictures showing old style sitting flush and new style sitting proud.

[flightlead404]

Ignore the extra asterisks, they have no meaning but are an artifact of a copy/paste action and not visible in the editor.

[flightlead404]

I think, but am unable to accurately measure for confirmation, that the angle between the portion of the feeder arm that lies on top of the winch and the descending functional portion is more acute on the "new style". This may account for it being slightly more fiddly to install.

One hypothesis is that some external has force as slightly bent that inwards. However it appears to be a casting and as such I'm loath to try and bend it back.

[tkeithlu]

As near as I can tell, Lewmar makes no distinction between these two parts. Both should fit flush before you tighten the top nut. With no disernable damage to the "new" part, I have to wonder what may be below it keeping it from dropping into place. Let me suggest that you rock it back and forth a few times to identify the fulcrum that it is lying on, and then take a look. Are the two little pawls under the part flush in place?

The last photo shows the "new" part fitting on one side but not on the other. Something is holding it up.

I cannot recommend bending the part. The tailing tongue is not hitting anything and there is not visible evidence of the part being bent, so bending it is likely to make the problem worse, not better.

If the part is held up by the small tabs around the inside, then try other orientations to see if they are not identical. Check "flat by putting the part on a flat surface and seeing if it rocks. I doubt that either is the case, and come back to "what's under that part?"

Good luck with it.

[flightlead404]

By pawls do you mean the collets that retain the drive tube (forget Lewmars name for it) inside the center stem? They are installed correctly and not fouling. Those collets also define the height of the main drive tube inside the stem as they are retained in a groove in the drive tube so that is a fixed point in space, and the collets themselves rest on the center stem so they are also fixed vertically and rotationally.

As far as I can tell the "thing that is holding it up" is the stack of self tailing components. But again, swapping the feeder arm to the other winch and the problem follows the arm.

As far as I can tell, nothing below the top of the center stem has any effect on the positioning of the self tailing upper or lower crown, the stripper ring or the feeder arm.

ALTHOUGH its not entirely clear to me what fixes the vertical position of the drum. I'm not sure what its bearing surface is. However all the components inside appear to be perfectly positioned (this is a very simple device after all), and the height of the bottom of the drum above the deck is the same as all the other winches (maybe 1.5-2.0mm).

When I swap the feeder arm back and worth between winches the problem follows. That's the only part I move, everything else remains (collets, drums self tailing components etc etc).

[flightlead404]

Problem solved. For posterity, the issue turned out to be the "nose" of the plastic stripper ring between the two self tailing jaws fouled with the cut away inside the feeder arm. This caused the feeder arm to fail to seat correctly.

The solution was to use a bit of sandpaper and a black to remove a little material from the end and side of the nose of the stripper and to bevel the end slightly. Works perfectly now.