small winch servicing - grease and oil ?

[sarabande]

'Just' servicing a couple of small Lewmar 6s from daughter's boat.

They seem to have been carefully laid up free of grease and oil, and the Lewmar site recommends their own brand of grease, which for the price seems to be made of hydrolised Beluga caviar impregnated with rhodium and platinum.

The winch stem is plastic, no roller bearings, and I was going to use the merest smidgen of lithium based (best agricultural ) grease, with a tiny drop of light gun oil on the pawls.

View attachment 50253

Any comments or advice on grease on plastic please ?

 

[xeitosaphil]

'Just' servicing a couple of small Lewmar 6s from daughter's boat.

They seem to have been carefully laid up free of grease and oil, and the Lewmar site recommends their own brand of grease, which for the price seems to be made of hydrolised Beluga caviar impregnated with rhodium and platinum.

The winch stem is plastic, no roller bearings, and I was going to use the merest smidgen of lithium based (best agricultural ) grease, with a tiny drop of light gun oil on the pawls.

View attachment 50253

Any comments or advice on grease on plastic please ?

I've just done exactly this winch service on my Lewmar 6 coachroof winches. Having done a little research on the Lewmar grease it appears to be a Lithium 12-hydroxystearated based grease?
On looking in the back of my shed, I found some Castrol LM grease which seems to be the same or close spec as the Lithium 12 so I used this, very small amount just on the gear teeth.

The pawls I just put a drop of 3-in-1 re assembled and all is well.

I think what you intend doing will be fine.

 

[xeitosaphil]

Winch service

Just remembered I have a service manual supplied to me from Lewmar Technical some time back.

Here is a copy of relevant page for Lewmar Single speed winch, such as yours. Forgot to mention mine are two speed Chrome on Bronze so may be different?

Note:

I tried to copy the sheet but it is in a PDF file, and I don't know how to convert to a word document so I can upload it onto site? If you PM me your email address I will send it onto you.


Philip

 

[morgandlm]

Winch lubrication

Am very confident that a decent quality lithium based grease lightly applied to rolling parts or spindles will be fine and as you say just light oil on the pawls.
Morgan

 

[Plevier]

I've just done exactly this winch service on my Lewmar 6 coachroof winches. Having done a little research on the Lewmar grease it appears to be a Lithium 12-hydroxystearated based grease?

The tube of Lewmar winch grease I was using the other day says it is calcium sulphonate based not lithium.
Doesn't look any different though!
Somebody on here may understand the significance - I don't.

Edit - Google tells me that calcium sulphonate grease - not to be confused with calcium grease BTW - compared with lithium (or lithium complex which is better than lithium) based grease, has better natural EP properties without additives, better water resistance, better salt resistance and natural rust inhibiting properties (lithium grease needs inhibitors adding).

 

[oldbilbo]

I'm wondering about the lubricant qualities of natural lanolin.....
.... of which there's an apparent sufficiency!

 

[Adamastor]

FWIW I serviced 3 of our 6 winches (just the urgent Code Red patients) in September. After a very full and quite successful season I opened the lot and gave them a proper seeing-to about a month ago. The ones with a proprietary grease supplied by the winch manufacturer had to be cleaned in petrol, whilst the ones I used some trailer grease on were in 100+ condition. I caution that the trailer grease is green, Canadian, and blocks corrosion, but it is the best grease I have used ever. It doesn't dry, and it doesn't turn into grey concrete like the rest. After a season the winches cleaned up with a squirt of diesel.