Better boom car for Z-Spars furling main (gets stuck)

[George_SD]

Hi all,
I got a Z-Spars (US Spars now) furling mast and boom. Boom has a 25mm external track for a small boom car riding on Torlon bearings.

When unfurling the main - the car often jams as soon as the sail comes to it during unfurling. I can pull the main out by hand and the car slides OK (but not great) by itself. It almost feels like it is a bit loose. I can see Torlon bearings run most of the time, but when the tension and angle on the boom car is just right - bearings stop running and just lock in place. I'm wondering if there is a better setup available.

To fix the jam I've tried
- cleaning track
- cleaning bearings (as much as possible from the outside)
- playing with boom height
- changing tension on sheets when furling and unfurling.
- STILL TO DO - test different halyard tension

I'm at a point where I'm tired of messing with it and want to fix it. I know I can get new bearings, but loading them is going to be a pain without having a carrier track since the bearings are only held in place by the track itself. There is no way to load them into the car in its normal position. The track and car have to be up-site-down when loading.



Anyone dealt with similar issue or know of a compatible car with better design?

Here is what I have:



This is the type of a car that I think would work better, but it won't work with my track or the slot.

[George_SD]

For those who may end up in a similar situation. It took the boom down, removed the track with the car and took the car off. Since i did it above a towel laid on the ground, i didn't lose a single old Torlon ball. Cleaned the track, car (it had a ton of old, hard, dirty grease) and repacked it with new torlon balls.

Old ones were chewed up and no longer uniform and round.

After mounting the boom back and testing - the car is definitely running better and I can actually bring the sail out with the outhaul, but it's not the same feeling as new. At this point it's working, so paying $25 for this fix is much better than $250 for a new car with bearings.

[Donsweeneyny]

I made an insert out of cardboard the width of the track. Put a second piece a little less wide on top and then a third layer a little wider. See photo. Slide the car almost completely on it. Leave enough room at one end to slide the balls in and then push it to close. Invert it in line with the boom track and roll the car onto the track. There was trial and error of course but it worked fine.

[George_SD]

Hi!
So I've actually fixed my issue completely by installing a D-ring through the sheave and tying the outhaul to it. Now the force is better centered causing the boom-car to run more level. If you look at the picture - the original setup used a stainless eye at the end of the car, which pulled it up on side side, causing the opposite end to dig in.

[guitarrich]

Thank you very much for a really useful post. We have exactly the same problem on our Jeaneau 37.1, and I look forward to implementing what I’ve learned here.

This is exactly what this forum is for, and I’m very grateful for it.

Rich