What grease and oil to service old winches?

[AZ-Oldguy]

I have a number of old, 1980s vintage winches on my endurance 35. They all need servicing. What Grease and oil should I use after I clean with diesel or mineral spirits? I know I want to put just a little grease on everything else that moves except the palls(sp) and springs, which should get oil.

[pesarsten]

I would also like to hear if I really need to spend big bux on winch lube!

[Vasco]

I've always used white lithium grease and 3 in 1 oil for the pawls. When greasing use sparingly. Too much is worse than not enough, at least that's what the Lewmar guy told me.

[model 10]

The Harken stuff in a tube.

[AZ-Oldguy]

I took one of these winches off the boat, the one that was beginning to seem stiff and slow to work, and looked at a bunch of videos on YouTube about older winches. And carefully took this one completely apart. And then put it back together again without cleaning it or anything right away so that I know I can do it. It is a lewmar 40 2 speed self tailing, and unlike all the lewmar forties that I see being serviced on YouTube this one needs Allen wrenches to disassemble and it has a big snap ring on the bottom. Two brass retainers near the top to hold the main shaft in and a plastic retainer under the bearings to also hold it in place. It is complicated enough that I didn't want to do anything other than put it immediately back together to make sure I remembered how while taking some pictures.

[AZ-Oldguy]

So my plan is to go out and get some grease and oil, and some solvent to clean it up and service it and put it back together a second time. is 3 in 1 oil heavy enough? I would be tempted to use something like fully synthetic motor oil for oil, and something waterproof for the grease?

[Stumble]

Originally Posted by AZ-Oldguy

So my plan is to go out and get some grease and oil, and some solvent to clean it up and service it and put it back together a second time. is 3 in 1 oil heavy enough? I would be tempted to use something like fully synthetic motor oil for oil, and something waterproof for the grease?

Any good quality high viscosity lithium grease works fine. The lewmar/Harken stuff is good, but nothing special. For the springs and paws I really like gun oil (3:1 type), you do not want anything even with the weight of motor oil, you just want a very very thin layer.

[AZ-Oldguy]

Thanks,

[redbeard1]

Hello,

If your Lewmar 40 requires allen wrenches, it may be an EVO model (see attached link pdf page 26).

http://www.lewmar.com/sites/default/...2304iss9_2.pdf


As others have said, less is better on the grease. If we can see the grease with a quick glance, we have used too much. We use the lewmar tube grease and a touch of light motor oil for the pawls/springs.

[Wotname]

You might be overthinking this

The most important thing is actually doing it (i.e. cleaning it and reapplying grease). Any "marine" grease, outboard engine grease, boat trailer wheel bearing grease, waterproof grease etc will be fine. These are not high tech cogs and bearing.

And yes, a light machine oil (3 in 1 etc) is perfect for the springs and pawls.

[thinwater]

Practical Sailor did several articles in the past year testing a variety of greases, including both winch manufacture products and other water proof greases. Tests included oxidation stability, static corrosion, and wash-off.

In fact, there are some big differences between greases, some lasting 5-10 times longer than others. The winch greases were all very good, resisting oxidation and wash off well. But Green Grease (Omni Lubes) was just one of several less expensive product that distinguished themselves. Gears are hardly unique to winches.

Subscribe. The archives are searchable and contain a ton of info.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Note that the reason for using a light weight oil on pawls is so that they don't stick in one position or the other. As they can cause a winch to lock up, or worse, not have anything mechanical holding the loads on the winch. Which could be disasterous, especially if there's a handle in it at the time, & or you're operating it when it happens.


Also, here's one resource for winch (& other) manuals. But also try the C&C owner's site www.cncphotoalbum.com
Marine Manuals

[AZ-Oldguy]

Thanks for all the helpful replies, and I am subscribed to Practical Sailor so I will go and look there as well. Thanks Redbeard1 for the link to the PDFs on the evil witches. I don't see a match but close enough.

I don't know when the winches were last serviced. I've had the boat for a little over a year and a half and only serviced the halyard winch up till now. Which is a simple one speed. I used lithium grease on it.
I don't know what grease was used on these primaries, lewm,ar 2 spd 40st, but it appears to have been pretty heavily greased though not the pawls. The one I am working on is quite dirty, but the grease is still working, and the pawls work freely.

[sailcrazy]

FWIW.....While diesel or gas can be used to clean the parts, we found that a spray can of brake cleaner really work well. It cleans off the old, then rapidly evaporated to leave the parts clean and dry....worked really well!

[oleman]

I accidentally discovered a new lube when I had a leaking lower seal in a commercial mowing machine.
It is "corn head grease" marketed by the John Deere Tractor co.
This is a special purpose synthetic lube, is tinted green, for gear boxes that hard to access. It is about 200 WT cold but does not thin much about 140 WT out as it gets hot. Otherwise it does not run-out seals.
NEVER have used it around the boat but it does NOT blend with water.
A 10 oz tube for a grease gun is only about $4. US.