# Took the windlass apart today - found something interesting things



## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

After going all summer using the Hercules* method of raising the anchor, I've finally gotten around to opening the windlass up and seeing what the problem is. (*Grab chain and raise by hand. Get a great workout. Get all covered in muck. Pull. Pull. P u u u u l l l.)

See Sailnet Post - w1ndlass just goes click

First, I took the windlass off the boat. After rebuilding both the "mystery blower" and our washdown pump in the last few weeks at home, I saw how great it is to actually spend time with your family while working on a project, instead of disappearing all day to a cold, far away, cluttered-with-projects boat to make progress. With a lot of snow on the ground today, and time indoors to spend on a project, this approach really paid off.

Here's a picture of the windlass on the bow, taken while working on removing it. (I had the motor cover off in this picture).









One of the bolts was pretty tough - the washer and nut were partially tabbed in place, so I had to chisel through some fiberglass to get a wrench around it. Here's a shot of the tabbed-in-place bolt.









The I used a dockline tied to the jib halyard to lower the very heavy windlass to the ground. The spinnaker halyard would have been better, but it rained halyard in the fall while I was putting winter lines up. (There's another trip up the mast in my future.)

Back at home, I commandeered the dinner table for a day. With a little bit of liquid wrench, I managed to get a few parts off. Here's a video of my getting the first few parts off. I was learning as I went, as you'll soon see. (I used Liquid Wrench, not PB Blaster as I said in the video. Inside the house, I didn't want everyone breathing the fumes all day.)

*Click here for video (10 Megabytes)*

I could not get the gipsy (the thingy where the chain links fit in) off it's shaft. And one of the allen-wrench type bolts was really stuck. So a quick call to our car mechanic was in order. Plowing through all the snow in the driveway, I got to his shop, handed him some money and a great Unibrau beer with the words "I know you time is valuable so I'm giving you this for just looking at this thing". (Very true and I really like having a happy mechanic that I can call.)

Bill Anzelone got the gipsy off the shaft with a "pop" that made me jump. I didn't expect a loud noise and such a sudden motion when it snapped off. Then he went to work on the partially stripped bolt. He applied heat, tried a few things, and in the end got the bolt out by hammering the next size allen wrench (hex shaped) driver into the bolt and then using an impact wrench. I NEVER would have gotten that bolt out without Billy's help.

Here's a shot of Billy.









He also took the electirc motor off the windlass. There, laying between the ridges on the worm gear was a small piece of metal. Yeah! That was the cause of the windlass just going "click". I still have no idea where it came from. It doesn't match anything on the parts diagram, that's for sure. (Maybe BullyRuffin' put it in there, thinking that it was me who put those bolts in his engine bilge. A.k.a., how to drive a meticulous sailboat owner nuts.)

Mystery piece of metal that was lodged in the worm gear.

















Billy Anzelone and I couldn't get the next disk-thingy off and we didn't want to break anything when the parts breakout should be consulted first. So he loaned me the cooking pan and helped pack everything back in the car. My homework was to 1) drain the oil, 2) check for other loose parts sitting in the oil, 3) check the parts breakout, 4) see if I could slide the shaft out without taking the disk-thingy off the shaft.

Windlass sitting in our car, now partially taken apart. The body of the windlass is filled with oil, so it had to stay upright. Everything else was wedged in next to it, to make sure it didn't tip over.









I ended up doing my homework exactly as he said. Here's a shot of the windlass back on our dinner table. The allen wrench bolts are all out and the shaft is ready to slide out. SO I THOUGHT! I had to remove the key on the right first. (The thingy shaped like a mini loaf of bread that is embedded into the shaft.) I was wondering why the shaft wouldn't slide out all the way. Then Grandma - of all people - pointed it out. I guess it pays to marry an engineer as she did many years ago.









Removing the key. In the end, I put the vice grips in the middle of it and wiggled it out.









Disassembled at last!!!









Now the second discovery. There's a spring that holds the latching thingy against the bumpy thingy, so the windlass doesn't go into free-fall on it's own. The spring was broken and one of the bolts that holds it in place was bent.









Also the other piece of the broken spring was lying in the oil inside the windlass. Billy Anzelone cautioned me to look in the oil for other pieces. He's good!









Note the bent screw









For those of you wondering what the inside of your windlass looks like, here's a picture. Half way down the hole you'll see a rubber "O' ring. I have the "seals kit" for this windlass and plan to replace the seals. Of course, that means I'll have to get that stubborn disk thingy off the shaft because there's a seal behind it.









This thingy needed cleaning. I scraped with an old screw driver to get rid of some of the oxidation. If anyone knows a good cleaner to use, let me know. I think this piece is not aluminum. Bronze maybe?









Here's a before and after where I cleaned one of the springs. I'll need to re-lube these, so I'm planning to ask Lofrans what type of grease to use. (I have grease that came with Defender's outboard winterization kit. Maybe I could use that.)









Now I better order the new parts from Lofrans and clean up the dinner table before hitting the sack tonight. Next time I'm going to completely cover the table with newspaper before starting. I think I played it a bit risky this time.

I intend to post an update after the parts arrive. Meanwhile, I'm wondering if I should use some On&Off to the outside of the windlass to restore it to it's previous beauty.

All in all, a lot of progress today!

Regards,
Brad

P.S. Here's some windlass eye candy. Its a picture of our boat when it was new and a member of the Moorings fleet. Note how shiny the windlass was a decade ago.


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

Nice post...I liked it


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## tager (Nov 21, 2008)

CLR should work.


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## rdw (Jan 14, 2010)

Seeing all the detail should give some of us less experienced a little courage to tackle a similiar task. I enjoyed your post.
rdw


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

Bene, dude, you are fearless. Thanks for these great posts.

I'm going to go the marina and take someone's windlass apart.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Brad—

I'd highly recommend using DuPont Teflon Bearing Grease. If you can't find that, I'd recommend using DuPont Krytox bearing grease as a good alternative.


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## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Good job, good post. I'm glad to see the bigger Lofrans windlasses are built better than the manual one we had, it was the cheapest, most poorly built thing I've ever taken apart (except for maybe a Chinese made 10 speed bike).


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

I took the cover off the electric motor (as Philsboat suggested on the AS site), removed a lot of dust and checked the brushes. The brushes look good with lots of life left on them (I think). I can only image that the ton of dust that came out was from an older set of brushes. The PO probably changed brushes without removing the motor from the windlass, so he couldn't shake it around like I did to remove the dust. Looking at the smoky color of the inside of the motor case, and the lack of any discoloration on this motor, I'm thinking this may not be the original motor. See the 6th picture in this thread. Anyway, when I removed the cover a pile of dust fell out. Here are some pictures. There was probably 10x as much dust that came out total.

Removing the cover









Some dust









Here's a movie of me vacuuming dust (for those with a lot of time on their hands, I imagine). At this point, the 2 screws were still in the pan.

*Click here for video (7 Megabytes)*

Here's the shot of the 2 screws after I was done vacuuming. Oops.









I got the screw back, by digging into the really full vacuum cleaner bag (did it outside). It would have been harder if the bag wasn't almost completely full.

And then I got to experience that again, after I vacuumed both screws up.

Here's a shot of one of the brushes. All the brushes looked about the same. I didn't take it apart any further. There was a lot of tension in the spring and, frankly, I didn't want to mess with it. If anyone thinks these brushes need to be changed, please let me know.


















I noticed there was a lot of rust around parts of the O ring that goes between the cover and the rest of the motor housing. I scraped some of it away (with the vacuum catching the scrapings) to help the O ring get a better seal. Not sure what to do about this. Option 1 is to wire brush it and paint it with rustoleum (or something else). Option 2 is to use some waterproofing grease around the O ring (like when you seal an underwater camera housing). Option 3 is to do nothing, simply put it back in place as-is. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I have a long list of project yet to do this spring, so I'm opting for option 3 if option 2 isn't practical.

Rust around the O ring









-----

I didn't mention this previously, but the shaft for the brake is a bit bent. Rather than getting a new one for $134 IIRC, and then attaching it to the little "steering wheel" at the top of the shaft somehow, I'm going to try to straighten it myself. The though goes something like this. "Wow that's a lot of money. Hey, I have a vice. I'll straighten it myself." I guess I'll have to post my results with that. The brake still works fine, but it's a little annoying that the "steering wheel" moves from side-to-side as you turn it.

-----

In other news, I went to Ace hardware and got 2 new bolts like the bent one and the exterior one that got a bit stripped. $1.30 each. That's much cheaper than getting the bolts as part of "Kit B" from Lofrans ($74 IIRC). I also got a couple of nylon washers to replace some very worn ones that protected the outer housing that covers the motor. The nylon washers were $0.20 each. The washers are twice the thickness of the Lofrans ones, so I'll have to see how they work, and maybe go to a different hardware store to get thinner ones.

I got the CLR. It says on on the bottle to not use it on aluminum. So I'll try it on a out-of-sight part of the aluminum case and see how it looks. I think there's a lok of gunk that needs to be scubbed away with dishwashing soap first. So I'll don my rubber gloves, grab the green scubby pads I just got, wash, rinse, apply the CLR, then rinse again. At least the work sink in the basement will look clean.

Finally, I got a nearly identical spring from the hardware store. $1.10. Then I brought it home, looked at how the wire guage was much thinner and how it was shiny instead of dark (maybe less carbon) and I chickened out on using it. Bock Bock Bock! This way I don't have to listen to CD and Dog telling me about how foolish I was for choosing a small spring that gave out when I really needed that latchy thingy to keep the anchor chain from going into free fall in 400 feet of water, with the broken spring jamming in the worm gear of the now useless motor. (And they'd be right to say so!) Instead, I just spent the $30 plus shipping on the Lofrans site. Anyway, all these costs seem pretty small when you consider that I'm getting a $4865 windlass back in operation. (Check it here on the Defender site.)

That's it for now.

Regards,
Brad


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Brad—

Hope you checked the bolts from the hardware store with a magnet. Good marine grade stainless steel is NON-MAGNETIC. The cheaper stainless steel is magnetic.


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## thinplaces (Dec 30, 2009)

I would replace those brushes, what do they cost $15 a piece?

It also looks like the gear (that the worm gear drives) is worn.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

sailingdog said:


> Brad-
> 
> Hope you checked the bolts from the hardware store with a magnet. Good marine grade stainless steel is NON-MAGNETIC. The cheaper stainless steel is magnetic.


Dog,

Yes I did bring a magnet to Ace hardware store with me. The bolts are ok.

Most of Ace's stainless steel hardware were non magnetic. I actually tested many of their products. About 30% of their cotter pins were not ok. It looked like maybe they got a refill of inferior parts. I plan to tell them about it next time I'm there.

Regards,
Brad


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

thinplaces said:


> I would replace those brushes, what do they cost $15 a piece?
> 
> It also looks like the gear (that the worm gear drives) is worn.


Thinplaces,

I'll check the pricing for the brushes. Philsboat on the AS site said they are about 1/3 used up. I really don't want to mess with them if I don't have to, those springs are under a lot of tension.

I checked into the wormgear (as I've since learned it's called). After carefully reviewing the price (!), I won't be replacing it this time around, unless it's completely shot. What do you think?










Regards,
BRad


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## billyruffn (Sep 21, 2004)

Brad,
I now know where to turn when my 20+ yr old Nilson craps out. Good post!

PS. It's 80 this evening in Iles de Saintes. Full moon. French wine. Ceviche for dinner (dorado). Life is good. Make sure you get here!


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

thinplaces said:


> I would replace those brushes, what do they cost $15 a piece? ...


Thin,

I promised that I'd look into the brushes. The 4 brushes ended up being $115 on the IMTRA (Lofran's parts) website. (They are probably cheaper through a non-marine source, I'd bet.)

I'll stick with the one's I have for a bit longer. Thanks for the lead on those.

Regards,
Brad


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

billyruffn said:


> Brad,
> I now know where to turn when my 20+ yr old Nilson craps out. Good post!
> 
> PS. It's 80 this evening in Iles de Saintes. Full moon. French wine. Ceviche for dinner (dorado). Life is good. Make sure you get here!


Billyruffin',

I actually had to look up Iles de Saintes on Google maps. Congratulations for getting there, in all the facets of life it took to get there. I knew you were headed south. Wow!

Let me know if you want any crew for the return trip.

Regards,
Brad










(OK, I had to look up Ceviche too.)


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

sd-
I'm a Krytox fan, but if those parts are in the oil bath, wouldn't that be a waste? Better to stick with greases and oils that use the same base (petroleum or otherwise) if they're going to contact each other.


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## mgmhead (Jan 14, 2007)

What an awesome post. Thanks for sharing. Well done and congrats, expect to hear soon that it works perfectly.


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

Bene505 said:


> I checked into the wormgear (as I've since learned it's called). After carefully reviewing the price (!), I won't be replacing it this time around, unless it's completely shot. What do you think?
> 
> Regards,
> BRad


One of my favorite saying " If it ain't broke ____ ____ __"


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## thinplaces (Dec 30, 2009)

Brad,

I know some will disagree, but once you're 'inside' a piece of equipment like that, I would be inclined to think that you're then in a typical industrial atmosphere.

Given that assumption, I would bet that those brushes, and the gear, are pretty typical industrial components.

Perhaps in the future you could check industrial suppliers for the brushes and for the gears.

Also, 30% mechanical wear off of a motor brush doesn't equate to 30% reduction in service life.

Because you need (about) 30% of the length of the brush to hold it in proper position, therefore you can only use the remaining 70% of the length (from when new), so I think those brushes are approaching 50% of life expectancy.

I don't claim to be an expert, but you mentioned that the brushes were replaced once, so perhaps you could check the brushes at the end of the '10 sailing season?

Great thread.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

When I suggested Krytox, I wasn't aware that the parts in question were in an oil bath.  I wouldn't have suggesting using Krytox in that situation.


hellosailor said:


> sd-
> I'm a Krytox fan, but if those parts are in the oil bath, wouldn't that be a waste? Better to stick with greases and oils that use the same base (petroleum or otherwise) if they're going to contact each other.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

SD,

I figured you meant the springs and other (very few) things that get greased separately from the oil bath. And I think that's what you meant. So no harm done.

Regards,
Brad


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Damn, that Bene505 is a bright boy... 



Bene505 said:


> SD,
> 
> I figured you meant the springs and other (very few) things that get greased separately from the oil bath. And I think that's what you meant. So no harm done.
> 
> ...


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

Bene505 said:


> SD,
> 
> I figured you meant the springs and other (very few) things that get greased separately from the oil bath. And I think that's what you meant. So no harm done.
> 
> ...


He didn't...but he thanks you for giving him a graceful out...:laugher


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Too bad SR is so slow... 


Stillraining said:


> He didn't...but he thanks you for giving him a graceful out...:laugher


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Well it's a good clarification, for the next guy who opens up their windlass, so bravo to you both for the overall discussion -- without which I'd be a lot more fearful of tackling something like this.

Now I just have to pursue Thinny's suggestion and see if the motor has a model number on it anywhere. Judging by the $76 that I paid for 6 "O" rings (I kid you not), there's got to be a cheaper source for brushes. ...and I have a few days before the $30 spring arrives.

Regards,
Brad


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

While I'm handing out kudos, I'd like to say that if you are anywhere near Floral Park (Nassau County), NY that you'd be hard pressed to find a better, more trustworthy auto mechanic than Billy Anzelone. My brother clued me in to him about a dozen years ago, and it's allowed me to keep my cars around a lot longer, when others would need to frequently replace theirs. (Either that, or being an IT guy in a town of stockbrokers and salespeople means I have to keep my car longer than them. But I'd rather not think about it THAT way.)

Regards,
Brad


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## thinplaces (Dec 30, 2009)

"Judging by the $76 that I paid for 6 "O" rings (I kid you not)," Oh man that sucks.

Generally O-Rings are pretty universal, try to match the material for the application. I think that generally Viton O-rings are the best for most applications.

Don't match the new O-ring to the old one. The old one will be compressed, and the cross section diameter of the old one won't match the correct new one. You may have to buy 3 of the correct diameter and then try to fit them until you find the one with the correct cross section.

If you have the parts diagram, the original manufacturer may actually list the SAE O-ring part number, instead of some in-house part number. If that is the case then you can purchase the correct o-ring with no trouble.

Springs are tougher, if you have the parts diagram, it may list the specs on the spring (I doubt it). If you have a source where you know you can trust the quality you may be able to purchase three or four and see what works. I would be hesitant to go this route, maybe $30 is worth the reduction in time and effort to find a part that may or may not work properly for the next 10 years.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Thin,

Since I have the "O" rings now, I could match them pretty easily, and maybe ship them back? (Is that ethical considering they took the time to send them to me? Maybe I could put a fiver in the box.)

In other news, the spring is here! One thing about those IMTRA guys, they ship really fast. I made the on-line order on Sunday and it was here on Tuesday. One little spring, well padded in about an 8x6x6 box. With that kind of packing, I'd have no reservations about ordering anything from them, except maybe for the price, of course.

And now that I see the spring intact, it looks like no other spring I've seen. It has an unusual tapering shape near the end, probably so it doesn't interfere with the "finger" piece that slots in place (latches) against the "no backing up" gear. And the ends where the screws go through are at different angles from each other too. I'm very glad I spent the money on it.

[I have a picture of the spring, but can't post to my ftp site just now. Please check back in a day or two.]

Thanks for the encouragement and guidance on the brushes. I spent some time online Sunday, looking for the brushes for the CIMA motor. CIMA is an Italian company, so there's not a lot of companies in the US that carry their brushes. There's an outfit that listed CIMA on their website and I've sent them an email. If they work out, we could all use them for these types of brushes.

In other news, I keep thinking about that rust around the motor casing "O" ring. It's bothering me. When our bow is taking green water, that whole windlass is a couple feet under rushing water, getting dunked again and again. Leaving that improper seal seems like I'm inviting a motor failure and then a rebuild or replacement. I think I'll do the naval jelly, emory cloth thing and then once I get shiny metal immediately apply rustoleum. (The "O' ring there still looks servicable, but I'll probably spend a couple cycles lookng for one.)

I'm scheming to leave the guts of the motor in place while I apply naval jelly to the edge of the case and rinse it off afterwards. Not sure I'll be able to though. It will depend on how far the rust goes around the edge to the inside of the case, and (if not too far) whether I can use duct tape or something to seal off the internals while I'm working. I'll probably have to remove the guts, something I'm not looking forward to.

It seems I've gone down the rabbit hole a bit, successively finding another thing needing work inside each thing I work on. I do believe I can get it all back together though. <-- Isn't that the essence (and optimism) of boat projects?

*Big thanks everyone for the encouragement and guidance, on everything from springs and brushes, to gears and grease.* Up until a few weeks ago, I though grease was a musical! (grin)

Regards,
Brad


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Brad-
Instead of naval jelly, what about one of the rust convertor products? You paint them on the rust, they convert it to a non-porous black material and then paint directly over it. Available as liquid or spray, in the auto body/paint repair shelves, from Loctite and others IIRC.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

HS's point about using something like OSPHO, is a good one.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Good point. I tried that stuff last year for something else. It wouldn't eat away at the inside of the case where I can't easily reach. It would let me sand it down smooth and then paint it, and then the "O" ring would have something flat to get a good waterproof seal against.

*I think you just saved me several hours of work!!*

(Always liked the phrase Naval Jelly. For some reason it's a funny phrase. It reminds me of when the Naval Academy had a mispelling on their diplomas and couldn't give them out at graduation.)

By the way, is Rustoleum the right paint for an application where there will be some severe dunking taking place? I'm thinking I may need to go with a 2-part marine paint or something. (...and therefore a trip to West Marine, I guess.)

Regards,
Brad


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

Brad, I would think that for a o ring to seal correctly you would want it to seat in shinny pit free grove. Using a rust converter will not achieve this. I also would not coat it with rustoleum. With the emery cloth I would get the grove/ channel as smooth and shinny as I could and grease up the o-ring with plumbers grease and reinstall it.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Thanks Bubb. Is this the right product? I see it is "heat proof" which sounds like something I need.

Heat Proof Plumber's Grease

Regards,
Brad


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

that would be fine, but any plumbers grease will work. think ace hardware. what you are trying to do with the plumbers grease is to protect the O-ring from drying out and loosing it's seal.


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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

Brad, I've use Evapo-Rust Rust Remover Home
It does what it says it does. If something is badly enough rusted however it will be pitted.
If you are depending on a seal between an smooth metal surface and a compression ring the pits may cause leakage.
I've never done it but a coating of epoxy (sanded) over the steel may fill in the pits to recreate the flat surface to seal with an o-ring.

How much is the housing?


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

David,

I've been thinking the same thing, that a replacement housing would be good.

Regards,
Brad


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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

Don't leave us hanging Bene, waiting for parts?


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## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

Great post please keep us informed as to what has happened.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

All parts are in. And I bought a gear puller off eBay.

Try as I might, I couldn't get the remaining part off the shaft. The part is best seen at the bottom of this picture:









I was pulling on the disk-shaped part that bolts onto the side of the housing, since I couldn't get the arms (hands?) of the puller around the other piece. Maybe that's the problem. I could grind down the hands so they'd fit in the gap between the 2 disks. That might work, since I think there might be somthing on the shaft to keep the rotating part from rubbing against the housing-part.

By the way, I noticed the puller is made in India. The threads on the big, threaded bolt are easily damaged. Maybe inferior steel? You get what you pay for with pullers, I guess.

Trying to get that list disk off.









What does everyone think, should I leave the disk in place and replace all the other "O" Rings, or grind down the hands of the gear puller so I can get behind the disk and replace that last "O" ring too. After all, the season is about to start and I have a bunch more projects to do.

(Oh, I know the answer. Just making conversation, I guess. Where's that grinder?)

Regards,
Brad


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## thinplaces (Dec 30, 2009)

You're trying to pull that casting off to replace an o-ring, right?
Another option would be to try to remove everything from the other end first.

Do you have the schematic? Make sure that you're supposed to disassemble it in that direction, there may be a shoulder on the shaft that you can't see.

If you have to remove it the other direction try using a short piece of pipe to drive everything off, be sure to protect the far end of the shaft (rest it on plywood) and maybe even use a large washer to protect the part of the case that the pipe rest on.

I would also try using plenty of PB blast, although once you start doing that will have to replace the o-ring then, and removal of the case becomes mandatory.
Check for any clips or pins that hold the gear in place, it would stink to pull the case apart and find out that you've dragged a pin across the o-ring sealing surface.
Also check for a partially sheared shaft key.

You also may be able to rent a shaft puller that has a 15 inches of reach from a rental store.

Hope this helps.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Thin,

Good advice. I've been using a little WD-40. No PB blaster yet. Here's the breakout.

http://www.lofrans.it/esplosi/schemi/B11101.pdf



















It helps visualise everything if you first look at the Brake Band (#441) as a large ring. The big part behind it is a separate part, partially blocked from view by the Brake Band.

It's the Clutch Cone (#436) that won't come off. Behind it is an O ring and a seal (I have both parts). Behind the seal is the Cover (#445). I'm yanking on the cover because there's no room between the Cover and the Clutch Cone - when I'm not yanking on it, there's 1/4 of an inch gap between them.

I got the puller for next to nothing on eBay, and don't mind having a special "Lofrans Falcon Windlass Clutch Cone Removal Tool" in the future. So I'm planning to grind down the "hand" on the puller arms so they'll fit between the clutch cone and the cover. Then I'll pull the clutch cone off. (The cover is already loose.)

Regards,
Brad


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Separate question... Does anyone know how to make the corroded surface of the windlass look nicer? Do you recommend some white paint, or should I apply something else to it?

Regards,
Brad


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

I just want to know if your family is mad that you're making them eat on the floor.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Is there a key or something hidden in the shaft that is blocking the pull?

Other than the gunsmiths in the Khyber Pass...India is known for ship breakers (literally) and cheap steel tools, yes. But I don't think I'd invest time in grinding down and weakening the puller, if you can find a machine shop or autoshop they can probably pull that apart for $5-10 and IF there's something you aren't seeing that is holding it in place, sometimes the extra eyes are worthwhile.

Caveat on the grease: That URL for plumber's grease talks about an MSDS for teflon food-grade pipe dope, but shows a petroleum based product. They're confused and that's not a good thing.

With o-rings and lubes, the rings will fail if you use an incompatible lubricant. So, you don't use petroleum-based lubes on nylon and synthetics, you use synthetic (silicon, teflon, krytox) grease on them. Petroleum-based products often rot the synthetics, when in doubt you need to confirm what you've got. Rubber, Buna-n, silicone, all kinds of o-rings out there. (Yeah, go figure, grease ain't just grease and o-rings ain't just o-rings.)


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Smack -- The windlass is on the floor in the corner of the living room. I can maintain my personal subcutaneous flotation at the dinner table.

The windlass is going back on the table for the final assembly.

Regards,
Brad


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

This thread continues on a new thread, located here:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/64084-put-my-windlass-back-together-works-great.html#post595988

To make it easy for readers please put any replies on that thread, not here.

Regards,
Brad


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