I hope I spelled it write. In any case I have all four of my winches from my HL 35 sitting in the kitchen for their spring cleaning and rehab. Any recommendations as to a good solvent or cleaning method to remove the old grease and grime from the gears and center post ?? Am about to resort to auto carb cleaner as it is fairly strong. Also considered taking the gears and post to a radiator shop and have them soak the parts in their radiator cleaning soup. Any guidance would be appreciated. RD
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Gunk
Gets some Gunk from your local auto parts store and use it. Wipe off as much of the old grease as is possible. Don't use the Gunk unless you can't wipe the gears clean. After softening the remaining grease with Gunk you can use water to wash it off. Dry it and then relube all the parts with a thin lube. I use Lubreplate (sp) and then regrease it as you put it back together. Another good cleaner is Varsol.
Gets some Gunk from your local auto parts store and use it. Wipe off as much of the old grease as is possible. Don't use the Gunk unless you can't wipe the gears clean. After softening the remaining grease with Gunk you can use water to wash it off. Dry it and then relube all the parts with a thin lube. I use Lubreplate (sp) and then regrease it as you put it back together. Another good cleaner is Varsol.
Kerosene
I've had success with kerosene, which is usually available at the hardware store. I use rubber or latex gloves (and a pan or tin can that will hold the parts and kerosene to soak for a few minutes.) Take the parts out individually and use a toothbrush or other suitable brush to remove the remaining grease. Rinse in clean kerosene and drain on newspapers or paper towels. Dry with paper towels or rags and you're ready to reassemble with winch grease (except on the pawls, where you want to use a light oil.) There are some good directions for this process on the web, searching for winches by brand. I'll try to add a link below.
I've had success with kerosene, which is usually available at the hardware store. I use rubber or latex gloves (and a pan or tin can that will hold the parts and kerosene to soak for a few minutes.) Take the parts out individually and use a toothbrush or other suitable brush to remove the remaining grease. Rinse in clean kerosene and drain on newspapers or paper towels. Dry with paper towels or rags and you're ready to reassemble with winch grease (except on the pawls, where you want to use a light oil.) There are some good directions for this process on the web, searching for winches by brand. I'll try to add a link below.
Speelling's just phine
Ed's right. No need for high power or other stuff. Toothbrush and Q tips are handy helpers. Kerosene bath in a big bucket with rubber gloves. Only advantage to taking it elsewhere is that someone else does the dirty work. If you do that, take the pawls and springs off. When I did mine, I drew a sketch of how the pawls and springs went back in. Many people do one at a time and leave the second one as a model for the first. Stu
Ed's right. No need for high power or other stuff. Toothbrush and Q tips are handy helpers. Kerosene bath in a big bucket with rubber gloves. Only advantage to taking it elsewhere is that someone else does the dirty work. If you do that, take the pawls and springs off. When I did mine, I drew a sketch of how the pawls and springs went back in. Many people do one at a time and leave the second one as a model for the first. Stu
If you don't have a manual or diagram of your winches, do what Stu does and make one. Or do what I do, use a handy digital camera and take pictures of the steps and parts as they come off. You can print these later if you need them. I have been using inexpensive mineral spirits and a small paint brush to clean the winch innards. I also soak some of the gears and bearings in the mineral spirits. Seems to take off lots of gunk. When I take mine apart, I lay out the parts on a clean towel on the lazrette seat in the order they came off. This is a job that seems more difficult than it really is. Just be careful of springs and pawls jumping overboard (they always try to escape captivity) -- and make sure you get them back in the way they came out.
Why take them off??
I clean mine right onboard where they are mounted. Simply cut a round hole in the center of a box bottom the size of the winch base. After removing the drum, slip the box over the winch to catch any small parts that could pop out. The box also will contain any of the dirt and grime. If you do this on the water, the box will catch anything that otherwise would have surely fallen overboard.
I clean mine right onboard where they are mounted. Simply cut a round hole in the center of a box bottom the size of the winch base. After removing the drum, slip the box over the winch to catch any small parts that could pop out. The box also will contain any of the dirt and grime. If you do this on the water, the box will catch anything that otherwise would have surely fallen overboard.
This does not apply to Capt'n Bob because he has the winches off the boat but if yours are on the boat when you break them down, a good tip is to cut a round hole in the bottom of a big box and slip it over the winch itself and then proceed to disassemble the winch. The box contains and prevents things from flying all over the place.It sure is a pain when a pawl or spring goes overboard and you watch it slowly disappear out of sight on its way to the bottom. Speaking of things going over board - a friend of mine was installing a Garhauer adjustable fairlead system. I told him read the sticker on the car and not to remove the car from the shipping track - you push the shipping track up against the the fairlead track and just slide the car onto the track. I even offered to install it for him but he wanted to do it himself. I was below deck and I heard the jingle of little balls hitting the deck and then a series of plopps in the water!! I asked him what he had done and he said I did what you told me but the ball bearings just fell out. Yeah, sure they did!!
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