How to Reassemble Simpson Lawrence HySpeed Windlass

[chesnutt]

cburger: I'd love to see photos as well.

I'm about to tackle disassembly of our Hyspeed 510. Its freewheeling and I'm sure the chain probably broke when we were pulling up the anchor last year.

I'm starting disassembly with removal of the rope Gypsy (appears to be simply held in place by a keyway). Headed over to get a gear puller from the auto supply place to pull it off. Feel free to stop me if I'm headed down the wrong path.

Thanks!

[cburger]

A puller would be a good idea for the gypsy. Of course you took the securing bolt out?

[cburger]

Indicate what side of windlass you are taking off a gypsy or wildcat, I may be able to save you some headaches.

[roverhi]

I wouldn't be putting a 510 on a boat as heavy as a Westsail. These windlasses were designed for small boats both in strength of the unit and pulling power. I had a 555 windlass for our Westsail which was supposedly designed for a boat as heavy as a W32. In cruising around SoCal back in the '70s before leaving, noticed everyone of the SL510, mostly, and 555 windlasses that we ran across were non functioning. A non scientific survey but it was 100% broken for more than 10 winches we ran across. The SL510 had a severe problem with corrosion between the stainless shafts and the aluminum casing locking them up. Believe they went to a phenolic bearing on later models to alleviate this problem. That still didn't cure the problem with the fragility of the chain drives. I seem to remember that the chain for the drive was some odd ball size that was nearly impossible to source from anywhere else but SL.

It bothered me enough to sell the 555 and buy a simple ratchet and pawl, two handled Stainless Steel and Bronze windlass made in Costa Mesa. Unfortunately, OSHA put the Moritz Foundry, that made them, out of business or I'd encourage you to look for one of them. Dead simple, ultra reliable, fast with two handles and as much power as the length of the lever you used to crank it.

In any case, I wouldn't be using a 510 on a Westsail 32. The 555's come up occasionally on Ebay and would be my choice if you must have an SL manual windlass. There was also a far east copy of the 555 availalble. Don't know if it was any better than the 555 or had other problems of its own.

FWIW, there was a couple cruising on an Ingrid with an electric windlass. The ease of upping the anchor on their boat gave me a severe case of powered windlass envy. They'd move their 30,000# boat around like a dinghy pulling the anchor and motoring a few hundred feet for new diving territory at the drop of a hat.

[cburger]

roverhi, Thanks for the nice post. I have come to the same conclusion with the SL's. I have been looking at the windlasses made by Ideal: IDEAL WINDLASS COMPANY out of Rhode Island, a 12 volt powered horizontal with the thought to upsize the tackle a bit. Do you know this brand?

[roverhi]

cburger, I was just in Blue Pelican, a consignment store here in the Bay Area. They have two manual windlasses. One is a heavy duty big unit that would certainly be up to your needs. The other is a bronze one that used to be real popular back in the '70s. It's not a super powerful winch but saw more than one on a W32. Think Blue Pelican is on line but if not, I can get you the information on how to contact them.

[cburger]

roverhri

Thanks for taking the time to post the info regarding the used windlasses, I will definately have a look see. I think I want to get an electric driven unit, also with a maker who i still in business and hopefully not goiing anywhere anytime soon, (Spare parts and service)

[chesnutt]

Originally Posted by cburger

Indicate what side of windlass you are taking off a gypsy or wildcat, I may be able to save you some headaches.

Well. My goal is to get the unit open so I can replace the chain. I thought I probably had to take off the rope side first. At least it made sense to me that it was just held on by a keyway and that maybe it would be easiest.

My "puller" plan doesn't seem to be working yet.

Is there an easier way to get the unit open? Should I be starting with the wildcat?

Thanks for any help!

[conachair]

Hi, I have the same windlass. The rope side was seized solid so I used a drift to remove the small pin holding the friction cone on and could remove the cover from the gypsy side. It was fiddly to replace the chain (i used ordinary bycyle chain) but not that bad.

[pressuredrop]

allright, i scored a frozen one of these for 50 bucks and finally got it freed up today. i have been struggling to get the shaft out. i have the wildcat and rope gypsy off... i still have the clutch cone on the shaft and atleast one chain is still connected, i think the both might be.

anyways, when i first freed it it would go back and forth as described further up in this thread indicating that atleast one freewheel sprocket is broken. well i fiddled with the long enough that now the sprockets just spin on the shaft both ways.

like i said i am having trouble getting the shaft out since the chain is still on and the sprockets dont want to leave the shaft. in the drawing it looks as though they are threaded on? how do i get the sprocket off the shaft?

with the case open i can pull the handle and see the sprockets spin both ways on the shaft. but i can only open the case so far since the chain(s) are connected...

any and all help greatly appreciated

Ben

[conachair]

There is a pin through the clutch cone, tap that out with the right size of drift then take the cone off and the case cover off. Then you can take the pins holding the little diverting pulleys out with the pulleys, it should all make more sense then.
But don´t do what I did, very carefully tap a screwdriver behind the clutch cone to get it off...... them PING, off it came at high speed and landed in the river with 4Kn current never to be seen again...

[pressuredrop]

Conachair - bummer on the clutch cone, luckly mine will only make it to the other side of the warehouse. anyways i will attempt at getting the clutch cone off, is there someone behind the clutch cone that i cant see now that enables the sprockets to seperate from the shaft? currently i can remove the shaft/cover/clutchcone, but only 1" becuase the chain is connected and the sprockets wont come off the shaft, hope you understand what im saying and thanks for all the help!

Ben

[gpeacock]

After using a car jack and lots of wood I managed to get the plate off the gypsy side and now have mine apart... Aside from needing a new bushing I am missing 2 of the small balls off the gear bearings... anyone know where to still get parts? If I can get those then all I have to do it put it back together

[pressuredrop]

cburger - What procedure and materials did you use to paint your windlass?

[Inthewind]

[QUOTE=gpeacock;390483]After using a car jack and lots of wood I managed to get the plate off the gypsy side and now have mine apart... Aside from needing a new bushing I am missing 2 of the small balls off the gear bearings... anyone know where to still get parts? If I can get those then all I have to do it put it back together [/QUOT]

Here is where I purchased my parts. I had this site stored in my favorites.

SL Parts Hyspeed