Servicing a Lewmar 52 2 speed self tailing winch

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shogun

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Hi all,

Does anyone have any information on disassembling the above mentioned winch to service it.

Having difficulty getting it apart, though may be due to age.

Regards
 
dom said:
I liked this one; others on Google/Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqCunPhQHw4
Click to expand...
That's a nice little film. We had to strip and reassemble a Lewmar winch against the clock in a regatta I did in Germany some years ago. It surprised me how many boat owners had not done this before. Although there was a demonstration, the demonstrator didn't talk, so those who didn't notice that the spindle needs to be raised before the lugs are replaced took a loooong time. I came 4th/40.

It is also surprising how little grease they use. I do mine each year but don't degrease every time. I find paraffin easiest, washed off with meths. I am surprised that one of these doesn't come apart easily. The top plate sometimes needs a little tap with a screwdriver in the slot, but everything else should just lift off.
 
Lewmar winches comes apart quite easily for servicing. What took me the longest (first time I serviced them) was the snorkel dive to try to find the part that bounced over the side as I disassembled the winch.....I didn't find it and had to order a new part.

Make sure you put towels around to prevent having this experience.
 
martinlawrence said:
Lewmar winches comes apart quite easily for servicing. What took me the longest (first time I serviced them) was the snorkel dive to try to find the part that bounced over the side as I disassembled the winch.....I didn't find it and had to order a new part.

Make sure you put towels around to prevent having this experience.
Click to expand...

... or get yourself an old plastic basin and cut a slit down to the middle with a circle to slip round the base of your winch. Never tried myself but it sounds an eminently practical thing to do.:ambivalence:
Donald
 
Aja said:
... or get yourself an old plastic basin and cut a slit down to the middle with a circle to slip round the base of your winch. Never tried myself but it sounds an eminently practical thing to do.:ambivalence:
Donald
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It doesn't really work with my current boat, but on the last one I used to dismantle the winches while sitting outboard of them with a leg each side, if you see what I mean.
 
Aja said:
... or get yourself an old plastic basin and cut a slit down to the middle with a circle to slip round the base of your winch. Never tried myself but it sounds an eminently practical thing to do.:ambivalence:
Donald
Click to expand...

I use a small cardboard box.... free
 
Ditto with the cardboard box- I also draw on the box around the bits I take off and number the order, so I know what goes back when
 
Thanks for all the comments, very helpful. I found that lots of degrease anpatience very useful. Repeated applications of the degreaser, followed by hours of waiting as it worked it magic did the job. Taking it very slowly.
Only problem left is that I am still waiting for the spindles to free up enough to remove them.

CAN I TAKE IT THEY ARE NOT ATTACHED/FIXED AT THE BOTTOM?

Regards
 
shogun said:
Thanks for all the comments, very helpful. I found that lots of degrease anpatience very useful. Repeated applications of the degreaser, followed by hours of waiting as it worked it magic did the job. Taking it very slowly.
Only problem left is that I am still waiting for the spindles to free up enough to remove them.

CAN I TAKE IT THEY ARE NOT ATTACHED/FIXED AT THE BOTTOM?

Regards
Click to expand...
I take it the winch has received very little attention in the past and so is seized together. Nothing in a winch is fixed in a manner that it shouldn't come apart with little effort/force but since there are so many dissimilar metals together in a wet salty environment a neglected winch will seize in a manner that can be very hard to get past.

When I've come across spindles seized to the base in the past, and without the luxury of time to wait for penetrants to do their thing I've had success with percussive methods. Basically hit it back and forth with until you start to get movement which will eventually come free.

When the winch is disassembled and cleaned I give all the moving parts a thin film of grease except the pawls, which get oiled. Some bearings get a coat of oil and grease mixed. When reassembling things like the spindles a heavy water proof grease between the stainless and the alloy base should delay any corrosion and it's associated problems likewise when putting the body that the drum rides on over the gears , the rim of the base that it sits on should also be greased to prevent corrosion there. Any screws and bolts should be Tefgeled or similar.
 
Woodlouse said:
When I've come across spindles seized to the base in the past, and without the luxury of time to wait for penetrants to do their thing I've had success with percussive methods. Basically hit it back and forth with until you start to get movement which will eventually come free.
Click to expand...

Since I only charter I've only ever watched the process. But drawing an analogy with my seized sewing machine, some heat ( hair dryer etc) made all the difference...

Mike.
 
shogun said:
Thanks for all the comments, very helpful. I found that lots of degrease anpatience very useful. Repeated applications of the degreaser, followed by hours of waiting as it worked it magic did the job. Taking it very slowly.
Only problem left is that I am still waiting for the spindles to free up enough to remove them.

CAN I TAKE IT THEY ARE NOT ATTACHED/FIXED AT THE BOTTOM?
Click to expand...

Have you looked at the Lewmar guide? It has photos and instructions. See http://www.lewmar.com/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/How to service your winch.pdf
 
I don't know if you resolved your issue. We have electric lewmar winches and a few smaller manual ones. I wrote about it in our blog including a link to the lewmar service manual.

Lots of good advice above. Particularly agree about little grease and oil. I had major problems getting the casing off the sheet winches and needed to rig a block and tackle to break the seal of the salt that had got into them. The pictures say it all!

One of the spindles comes out easily on ours but for the other you need to leave the inner shell up because it is countersunk into the base. I found just being careful helped a lot and having an order to placing the parts down.

https://mariadz.com/2017/06/22/servicing-the-wenches-oops-i-mean-winches/
 
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