tudorsailor
Well-Known Member
I have an Lewmar Ocean 2 windlass that is 17 years old. It has been playing up at the start of the last season whereby the motor seemed to be rotating but the chain did not pay out. There was ratchety clicking sound. After some upping and downing, started moving and was fine for the rest of the season. Lewmar suggested that the dog gear might be sticking and it would be simple to give it a clean. They said it was a DIY job
I have had the rest of the windlass apart previously to replace the shaft and cone, so thought this might be a job I could do. Lewmar can not provide schematics of the gearbox as they buy the motor and box in from an Italian supplier apparently
However I acquired a gearbox from a fellow forumnite and thought it might be sensible to practice at home off the boat. Good decision.
Once the gear box is off the motor and off the boat, wash the outside thoroughly. Otherwise you’ll get salty debris inside the box. (My test box had the top off already so the inside had salty contamination
Mark the top of the box with an indelible marker to help later re-assembly.
Remove top plate from box. Screws are M6 with 10mm hex heads. Beware – some heads maybe corroded, but they will undo with a 9mm socket! Its surprising the heads were rusty. I bought a set of new bolts and some tefgel to replace all the bolts with marine grade quality.
Once all screws are out open the gap with a screwdriver. The plate will come off the box if you work your way around and keep making the gap bigger. The top plate is prevented from coming off by its interference fit on the ball race bearing. Once there is a gap, you can turn a screwdriver in it to make it bigger. As the plate rotates with the ball race, you can rotate the top to go around it, rather than keeping it aligned and you moving around the gap.
Once the top is off you see the main gear.
I planned to take the ball race bearing off with a bearing puller, before removing the giant circlip. I bought a 3" gear puller from Screwfix and the foot of the puller would not go under the ball race bearing. So I then bought a slim puller from amazon, and the foot of this was also too wide to get under the bearing.
Next step was remove the base plate. This is attached to the main bearing and with some jiggling the main bearing and the base plate fell out the casing. I could then see the worm gear.
I did identify all 3 oil seals and ordered replacements.
2 x 40x56x8mm Nitrile Rubber Rotary Shaft Oil Seal with Garter Spring R23 / TC (40x56x8_TC)
2 x Stainless Steel Spring to Fit Rotary Shaft Seals with a Shaft Size of 40mm (SSSPRING_40MM)
1 x 30x47x7mm Nitrile Rubber Rotary Shaft Oil Seal with Garter Spring R23 / TC (30x47x7_TC)
1 x Stainless Steel Spring to Fit Rotary Shaft Seals with a Shaft Size of 30mm (SSSPRING_30MM)
I have removed one so far by drilling a pilot hole and then screwing a self tapping screw into it. It was then easy to get the seal out with a claw hammer's claw.
I cannot see how to get the big drum off the base. I assume that it is pressed onto the shaft.
I decided to remove the giant circlip to see what it was for! I bought large circlip pliers. Even with these it was very difficult to remove the clip. I ended up with it almost all out but held in at one end. I pulled it completely out and then found that the big brass part was in two parts. An outer ring with the gear teeth and an inner drum. There must be strong internal springs as when the circlip came out there was a thud as the outer rim was pulled down and sat onto the drum. It no longer rotates. I can lever the out part up to recreate the gap for the circlip and in this photo I have put a socket under the rim to hold it up in an attempt to replace the circlip
This is as far as I have gone. Changing the oil and the seals is easy. I do not think that dismantling is something I can do further. If anyone has got the whole thing apart, I would be interested to know how and what they found.
I hope that this helps someone else
TudorSailor
I have had the rest of the windlass apart previously to replace the shaft and cone, so thought this might be a job I could do. Lewmar can not provide schematics of the gearbox as they buy the motor and box in from an Italian supplier apparently
However I acquired a gearbox from a fellow forumnite and thought it might be sensible to practice at home off the boat. Good decision.
Once the gear box is off the motor and off the boat, wash the outside thoroughly. Otherwise you’ll get salty debris inside the box. (My test box had the top off already so the inside had salty contamination
Mark the top of the box with an indelible marker to help later re-assembly.
Remove top plate from box. Screws are M6 with 10mm hex heads. Beware – some heads maybe corroded, but they will undo with a 9mm socket! Its surprising the heads were rusty. I bought a set of new bolts and some tefgel to replace all the bolts with marine grade quality.
Once all screws are out open the gap with a screwdriver. The plate will come off the box if you work your way around and keep making the gap bigger. The top plate is prevented from coming off by its interference fit on the ball race bearing. Once there is a gap, you can turn a screwdriver in it to make it bigger. As the plate rotates with the ball race, you can rotate the top to go around it, rather than keeping it aligned and you moving around the gap.
Once the top is off you see the main gear.
I planned to take the ball race bearing off with a bearing puller, before removing the giant circlip. I bought a 3" gear puller from Screwfix and the foot of the puller would not go under the ball race bearing. So I then bought a slim puller from amazon, and the foot of this was also too wide to get under the bearing.
Next step was remove the base plate. This is attached to the main bearing and with some jiggling the main bearing and the base plate fell out the casing. I could then see the worm gear.
I did identify all 3 oil seals and ordered replacements.
2 x 40x56x8mm Nitrile Rubber Rotary Shaft Oil Seal with Garter Spring R23 / TC (40x56x8_TC)
2 x Stainless Steel Spring to Fit Rotary Shaft Seals with a Shaft Size of 40mm (SSSPRING_40MM)
1 x 30x47x7mm Nitrile Rubber Rotary Shaft Oil Seal with Garter Spring R23 / TC (30x47x7_TC)
1 x Stainless Steel Spring to Fit Rotary Shaft Seals with a Shaft Size of 30mm (SSSPRING_30MM)
I have removed one so far by drilling a pilot hole and then screwing a self tapping screw into it. It was then easy to get the seal out with a claw hammer's claw.
I cannot see how to get the big drum off the base. I assume that it is pressed onto the shaft.
I decided to remove the giant circlip to see what it was for! I bought large circlip pliers. Even with these it was very difficult to remove the clip. I ended up with it almost all out but held in at one end. I pulled it completely out and then found that the big brass part was in two parts. An outer ring with the gear teeth and an inner drum. There must be strong internal springs as when the circlip came out there was a thud as the outer rim was pulled down and sat onto the drum. It no longer rotates. I can lever the out part up to recreate the gap for the circlip and in this photo I have put a socket under the rim to hold it up in an attempt to replace the circlip
This is as far as I have gone. Changing the oil and the seals is easy. I do not think that dismantling is something I can do further. If anyone has got the whole thing apart, I would be interested to know how and what they found.
I hope that this helps someone else
TudorSailor
