Just for grins - and before you get too far along in trying to rebuild your windlass - make sure it's installed properly. Hunter installs these windlasses all day, so you'd think they did each one correctly. Not so. The Lewmar windlass are two halves - the outside drum/gypsy and the inside gear/motor. They're joined together with four stud bolts. Because the fiberglass is not even/vertical/smooth/etc. the two halves have a real tendancy not to come together in parallel. As a result either halve will bind the spindle. What Hunter does to fix all this is to add washer to the studs and shims the two pieces together. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. To evaluate your setup, Lewmar suggests removing the chain/rode completely from the gypsy. Remove the gypsy and attempt to rotate the spindel and determining if it spins freely or tends to bind. If it is stiff/binds/etc. the two halves need to be reshimed. It may take a few attempts, but refitting these halves together is much cheaper than replacing parts that are don't need replacing. Just MHO.
