Lewmar 34 winch?

[Bigjim]

I bought a 1978 Columbia in December and have been working on it to get it back in shape again. Lots of projects.

I was working on my winches this week and had a problem. I can't figure out how to disassemble the Lewmar 34s. I popped off the self tailer with little trouble, but then there's no obvious way to remove the outer housing. Is it supposed to just pop off once the self-tailer is removed? I can't find any pins, clips or washers holding the housing down. Here are some photos:





I can't find anything on the Internet on this model. All the other diagrams I found are not the same design.

I'm feeling that the gunk inside the housing is keeping it from sliding up and off.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


I'm feeling that the gunk inside the housing is keeping it from sliding up and off.

Jim, that is most likely the cause.

[Bigjim]

OK. I finally figured out how to open up these winches. I tried everything with no success before this. I even tried contacting Lewmar but the winch was so old that they had no manuals or documentation on them.

It turned out to be too simple. Of course, the solution was not easy to discover because I had two screws that were stripped and fused to the top cover. I finally drilled them out and pried the cap off.

While I was removing the top cap I noticed something that gave me the solution. I had a screw retractor and when I got one screw out the entire cap started to turn. I got the last screw out on one winch and started unscrewing the top fitting. Once this piece was removed the winch drum slipped off easily!

The guts of the winch were dirty but nothing as bad as the Lewmar 44s I opened and cleaned out when I first bought the boat.

I cleaned and greased the bearings and oil up the spring clips. When I have more time I may disassemble the whole winch. But I'm worried that replacement parts won't be available.

Finally, the long nightmare is over!