Antal Winch Very Stiff

[AndrewL]

Last year I fitted a pair of Antal W7 winches http://www.antal.it/eng/W7AL_en to my 22 footer. I noticed earlier in the year that they were becoming harder to turn and assumed they would need stripping down, cleaning and regreasing. Due to family reasons I've not managed much sailing for the last few months but today I went to my boat to service the winches. One of them could barely be turned and it was difficult to remove the drum from the spindle. I had to slightly rotate it left and right while pulling upwards and it took alot of effort.

I removed all the old grease with degreaser as per the manual. The surface of the spindle and inner surface of the drum looked to be on perfect condition. I then regreased and tried to reassemble the winch. It still took a lot of force to get the drum onto the spindle and it was still very hard to rotate the drum. It feels as if the spindle has increased in diameter, like it has swelled.



I am not sure what to do next, any ideas?

 

[charles_reed]

Last year I fitted a pair of Antal W7 winches http://www.antal.it/eng/W7AL_en to my 22 footer. I noticed earlier in the year that they were becoming harder to turn and assumed they would need stripping down, cleaning and regreasing. Due to family reasons I've not managed much sailing for the last few months but today I went to my boat to service the winches. One of them could barely be turned and it was difficult to remove the drum from the spindle. I had to slightly rotate it left and right while pulling upwards and it took alot of effort.

I removed all the old grease with degreaser as per the manual. The surface of the spindle and inner surface of the drum looked to be on perfect condition. I then regreased and tried to reassemble the winch. It still took a lot of force to get the drum onto the spindle and it was still very hard to rotate the drum. It feels as if the spindle has increased in diameter, like it has swelled.

View attachment 59071

I am not sure what to do next, any ideas?

My Antal winch is 2-speed, so may not be exactly the same as yours.
To degrease, it is essential to take off the cage bearing, underneath the drum, soak that in diesel or petrol and brush out thoroughly with an old tooth-brush, before replacing with LIGHT application of new grease.
It is impossible for the centre shaft to swell, the problem is probably that you have not cleaned off all the old, hardened grease.

 

[[3889]]

I fitted Antal winches once and rued the day. Bite the bullet and buy Harken or Lewmar.

 

[charles_reed]

I fitted Antal winches once and rued the day. Bite the bullet and buy Harken or Lewmar.

If you look closely you'll find the range almost identical to the old Harken one.
In the 90s they used to produce the Harkens for re-badging. Whereby hangs an interesting bit of history.

 

[[3889]]

If you look closely you'll find the range almost identical to the old Harken one.
In the 90s they used to produce the Harkens for re-badging. Whereby hangs an interesting bit of history.

Perhaps that was the case but I bought Antal in the late noughties and they were certainly not of a similar standard to contemporary Harken kit.

 

[AndrewL]

Thanks for the replies. I think I have removed all traces of the old grease, as it was only 1 year old the grease was still in good condition, it was still honey like in viscosity.

I am not 100% sure, but I think that the central column on which the drum rotates is some kind on resin/plastic composite. I had to lever one of the drums off with a long screwdriver and I have marked the base which I don't think would have happened with aluminium.

I have phoned the UK distributor for Antal and they said that they were aware of a defect with some Antal winches and that they have taken calls about similar sounding issues before. Unfortunately Antal are now on an August shutdown and they can't get any further information at the moment.

Many online suppliers now list an "Antal W7A" rather than the "Antal W7" and the description now clearly states that is has an aluminium central rod.

Fitting the winches was an awful job, it meant lowering myself on my back into the cockpit lockers, I really want to avoid doing it again.

 

[peteswallow]

Hi I know this is an old post, but I wondered if you had solved the problem with the Antal W7 winch?
I have the same problem with my winches and haven’t a clue how to solve it? Antal don’t seem very helpful.

thanks

peter