My Hunter 50 has a Quick Antares 1000 windlass. It hesitated a few times, then stopped working. The solenoid clicked but nothing moved. I first suspected the brushes, but when I couldn’t even move the gypsy with the winch handle, I suspected the gearbox. I removed the windlass, which was very difficult due to restricted access. I removed the base of the gearbox casing and everything looked fine. It was a good chance to check the seals and inspect the oil which was a bit dirty but not bad. I then discovered that the clutch cone was seized to the gypsy, which was why I couldn’t move it with the winch handle. Easy fix as I cleaned it up and greased it.
Next I opened the electric motor and found that the brushes were split and hung up in the slides. I replaced the brushes and the motor now worked fine. When I went to refill the gearbox with oil, I could not find the oil capacity anywhere. It is a Bonfiglioli MV49 gearbox and the specs say that it is a lifetime sealed unit and they don’t provide the capacity. It says to contact a service representative. I contacted Quick US and they said the capacity was 300 grams of oil ( yes grams) which I calculated to be about 340 ml of oil. I next contacted Bonfiglioli US and they told me the capacity was 120 ml. I think that this is closer to the correct amount. Next was the type of oil. The recommended oil was Shell Omala S 4 WE which of course is nowhere to be found in Martinique. I could only find 80W- 90 gear oil which is not compatible with the existing synthetic so I had to flush the gearbox several times before refilling. I plan to source some better worm gear oil later and replace it, but for now I need to get my windlass working. I was lucky to be in a good anchorage with no time constraints.
Lessons learned:
-Disassemble, clean and grease your windlass yearly.
-Carry a spare set of brushes, prices varied from $20 for generic Bosh on Amazon to $300 for Quick OEM !! I paid $100 for a set of Lofran brushes that were identical. I need to do more research on this, but they all look the same.
-Be wary of maintenance free gearboxes which have no means of checking the oil level or condition. If a seal fails, you will never know until it is too late. Yearly oil change gives you a chance to find a problem before it’s too late, but make sure you know the capacity and can get the proper oil.
Next I opened the electric motor and found that the brushes were split and hung up in the slides. I replaced the brushes and the motor now worked fine. When I went to refill the gearbox with oil, I could not find the oil capacity anywhere. It is a Bonfiglioli MV49 gearbox and the specs say that it is a lifetime sealed unit and they don’t provide the capacity. It says to contact a service representative. I contacted Quick US and they said the capacity was 300 grams of oil ( yes grams) which I calculated to be about 340 ml of oil. I next contacted Bonfiglioli US and they told me the capacity was 120 ml. I think that this is closer to the correct amount. Next was the type of oil. The recommended oil was Shell Omala S 4 WE which of course is nowhere to be found in Martinique. I could only find 80W- 90 gear oil which is not compatible with the existing synthetic so I had to flush the gearbox several times before refilling. I plan to source some better worm gear oil later and replace it, but for now I need to get my windlass working. I was lucky to be in a good anchorage with no time constraints.
Lessons learned:
-Disassemble, clean and grease your windlass yearly.
-Carry a spare set of brushes, prices varied from $20 for generic Bosh on Amazon to $300 for Quick OEM !! I paid $100 for a set of Lofran brushes that were identical. I need to do more research on this, but they all look the same.
-Be wary of maintenance free gearboxes which have no means of checking the oil level or condition. If a seal fails, you will never know until it is too late. Yearly oil change gives you a chance to find a problem before it’s too late, but make sure you know the capacity and can get the proper oil.
