Servicing HARKEN Winches

[VicMallows]

I encountered these for the first time today. (aprox 2004 Self-Tailing 40s). Removing the drum was easy (centre screw) giving access to the main drum roller bearings. However it seems that to strip down properly to get to the pawl-ratchets it is necessary to remove the winch from the deck? The manual on the HARKEN site seems to confirm this.

Is this indeed correct or am I missing something obvious??..... I'm used to winches which you can fully dismantle leaving the base in place!!

Vic

 

[bob234]

Hi Vic,

I stripped a Harken of a similar size (44 or 46 can't remember which exactly) and it was NOT necessary to remove the whole winch to get at the pawls.

Did the same as you and downloaded a manual from the Harken site. Also took digital photos of each stage of the removal just in case (I'm a very hesitant DIY er and not very practical).

I saved the manuals from 40 to 56 - just had a look at the manual for a 40 ST and I don't think mine suggests you have to remove the base, but you do have to lift the drum of course. Yours might be a diff model though.

I don't know if this helps.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[fireball]

When we did the full service of our Harken winches we did have to remove them from the deck ... is it 5 or 7 bolts with loose nuts underneath? ... Blummin stupid design anyway!

 

[Gypsy]

Yes that is true. A bit of a pain but at least you can take them to an environment where the bits won't fall overboard.

One benefit is that the pawls are a bit better protected from water ingress and thus stay clean and less likely to stick.