Lofrans anchor winch; oil needed??

[pcatterall]

I posted recently about my non working winch. It would rotate one way ( forward push)and pull up some chain but the lever would not 'free wheel' back ( pull back) to repeat the operation.
Just by fiddling I managed to get it to work ok.
Question is should there be oil inside or is it just greased on assembly? I note the nut on top but this seems to be some sort of retaining pin .

 

[Poignard]

I posted recently about my non working winch. It would rotate one way ( forward push)and pull up some chain but the lever would not 'free wheel' back ( pull back) to repeat the operation.
Just by fiddling I managed to get it to work ok.
Question is should there be oil inside or is it just greased on assembly? I note the nut on top but this seems to be some sort of retaining pin .

Definitely no oil. What looks like a hex-headed bolt on top is a short axle on which a bevel gear rotates. It is not an oil filler cap. If you put oil in it will leak out. I know this because I bought a second-hand Lofrans Royale that had seized up and its previous owner had filled it with oil in a futile attempt to free it. It leaked out over the carpet in the boot of my car!

The mechanism inside should be lightly greased only. Lofrans recommend an ordinary general purpose grease.

The one I bought had seized up because the aluminium ring into which you insert the handle had corroded and swelled, jamming the shaft which passes through it.

Mine was in a very poor condition as a result of corrosion, and I had to drill out most of the hex-socket screws holding the two parts of the casing together, but I only gave £20 for it and, after a some hours work plus a few pounds spent on screws, bolts and some circlips, I ended up with a very useful working windlass which would have cost me around £250 new.

 

[KellysEye]

From memory I think some Lofrans winches need oil in the gearbox and some don't. If anybody here knows hopefully they wil post, otherwise contact Lofrans to check what your type of winch needs. Make sure you service it every year. We bought a boat whose Lofrans winch hadn't ever been serviced. When we tried to take it apart we couldn't get the bolts out. A mechanic tried to get them out using a very long handled socket spanner. Still not go. Cut the the deck round it and put it on a twenty ton press still no go. That was a steel boat so cutting it out wasn't a problem just weld a piece back. A GRP boat would be very different, hence my recommendation about servicing.

 

[eagleswing]

the 2004 lofrans tigres has an oil reservoir accessed under.a. pushin viewing window. it is recommended tht the oil be chnged each 2 years. one can suck out the oil fter removing the viewing port cap, using. small hand pump.

lofrans should be ble to advise wht your model reuires. google the model nme, l the ltest mdels mnuals re up on the eb for free.. igres, falkon and caymn are there, dont know bout older models...

 

[Hambleton]

My Lofrans Falkon takes SAE 90 oil in the hex bolted filler cap - this isn't referenced in the near-useless manual but as told by Peachment - distributors in Norfolk. Can't see anything in the viewer and don't know how one would remove it to change the oil or if that applies to Falkon model. I have an issue with the gravity drop, which I'll post as a separate thread. BTW - the exploded diagram on the website is more detailed than the manual diagram

 

[Caer Urfa]

Definitely no oil. What looks like a hex-headed bolt on top is a short axle on which a bevel gear rotates. It is not an oil filler cap. If you put oil in it will leak out. I know this because I bought a second-hand Lofrans Royale that had seized up and its previous owner had filled it with oil in a futile attempt to free it. It leaked out over the carpet in the boot of my car!

The mechanism inside should be lightly greased only. Lofrans recommend an ordinary general purpose grease.

.

+1 You do NOT put oil into Lofrans Royal anchor windless, grease only when servicing