Noisy electric winch

[rudolph_hart]

I have 2x Harken 44.2 electric winches, fitted as original equipment. They are now some 22 years old, and they both work perfectly.

However, the one that gets the most use (Main halyard, Mainsheet, Jibsheet, Jib furler) is very noisy compared to t'other (Jibsheet & s/l Reefs).

A couple of years ago I took it off, & replaced gearbox bearings & seals, & renewed the synthetic oil. I also replaced the caged roller bearings & pawls in the winch.

Still noisy.

So, the noise must be coming from the motor. What does the panel think could be the cause of the noise - brushes?

Any advice on where to look gratefully received.

 

[RichardS]

I have 2x Harken 44.2 electric winches, fitted as original equipment. They are now some 22 years old, and they both work perfectly.

However, the one that gets the most use (Main halyard, Mainsheet, Jibsheet, Jib furler) is very noisy compared to t'other (Jibsheet & s/l Reefs).

A couple of years ago I took it off, & replaced gearbox bearings & seals, & renewed the synthetic oil. I also replaced the caged roller bearings & pawls in the winch.

Still noisy.

So, the noise must be coming from the motor. What does the panel think could be the cause of the noise - brushes?

Any advice on where to look gratefully received.

Brushes do not usually make that much noise as they wear. My vote would be the motor bearings or the gearbox. You seem to have sorted the gearbox. If you get at the motor you should be able to jiggle the shaft and see if there is any play. Try and get some oil onto the bearings and if the noise is reduced you've found the source.

Richard

 

[rudolph_hart]

Thanks RichardS, I'll remove it from the boat & separate motor from gearbox & test as you suggest.

 

[William_H]

Brushes do not usually make that much noise as they wear. My vote would be the motor bearings or the gearbox. You seem to have sorted the gearbox. If you get at the motor you should be able to jiggle the shaft and see if there is any play. Try and get some oil onto the bearings and if the noise is reduced you've found the source.

Richard

Or worse still if the motor bearings have a lot of free play the motor armature pole pieces may be hitting the pole pieces of the stator thus making a horrible noise. good luck olewill

 

[reeac]

Or worse still if the motor bearings have a lot of free play the motor armature pole pieces may be hitting the pole pieces of the stator thus making a horrible noise. good luck olewill

I don't know what the gearing arrangements are in an electric winch but wear in the motor bearings will probably misalign the gears and result in nasty noises. Had that with the starter motor on an old mini ...all cured with. a £20 recon. motor.

 

[alan]

Can you (easliy?) swap the motor with the other winch motor; and then the gearbox with the other winch gearbox to determine if one of those is actually causing the noise??

Alan.

 

[rudolph_hart]

Can you (easliy?) swap the motor with the other winch motor; and then the gearbox with the other winch gearbox to determine if one of those is actually causing the noise??

Alan.

I' took off the winch (above deck) & motor/gearbox (below deck, which was fun -not) & split the gearbox from the motor.

Motor is rock solid - no play in rotor shaft.

Gearbox (wormdrive giving 90 direction change) had a misaligned oil seal, so I replaced it & topped up oil (synthetic gear oil). Bench tested & while better it still seems a bit on the noisy side. I suspect it's just 20+ years of wear on the worm drive.

This winch does the lion's share of the work, mostly main halyard (13.2m hoist) & the German main sheet (these's bleedin' miles of it!)

Thanks for all the suggestions/advice. I'm going to swop the motor/gearbox units over, to let t'other one do the lion's share.

 

[slowsailor]

I have had the same issue on my harken winch. Bought a new gear box.
Manufacturer for Harken/Barbarossa at the time for mine ( approx.24 years old) is Messrs. Bongfiglioli. Might be of some help.

 

[rudolph_hart]

I have had the same issue on my harken winch. Bought a new gear box.
Manufacturer for Harken/Barbarossa at the time for mine ( approx.24 years old) is Messrs. Bongfiglioli. Might be of some help.

Thanks. Bonfiglioli also made mine (in '94). I've managed to source tech info from their Italian website, and sourced bearings & oil seals from Simply Bearings, who provide a good service.