Lewmar 43 wavegrip replacement crowns

[jopesleffrey]

Hello everyone, I'm a cruiser forums lurker. usually just come on here when i need to search for advice. this is my first actual post.

I have a Beneteau 35s5, with lewmar 43 wavegrip winches.

it's Been years since the self tailoring has worked on these. I scoured the internet to try and find a replacement jaw kit. No luck. P2marine.com doesnt have any, which usually is my major parts supplier.

was wondering if anyone knew where to buy them, if someone makes custom fabrications for these older style winches.

Any help would much appreciated.

Thanks
-Jeff

[jordanbigel]

I'm wondering if the self-tailer for the ST44 might fit. Don't ask me why I think it might, I just think it's worth checking.

I once found a lewmar winch part made by some guy, in England I think - it was a plastic spacer thingy which I could not find, but that was 8 years ago maybe and I don't recall who or what. But maybe try searching online for keywords like "fabricate" and "aftermarket" or other synonyms combined with Lewmar and winch...

[jopesleffrey]

I thought the same thing. I’ve tried searching those on google. No luck yet though. These were popular winches. Not sure why they don’t make these parts anymore. The winches last forever when they are kept up with.

[tkeithlu]

In the meantime, welcome to the forum, jopesleffrey. Do you pronounce your on-line name jxwdtrbzjh?

[jopesleffrey]

No I pronounce it x4−8x3+17x2−8x+1=0.

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[chesapkedrifter]

Wanted to chime in and share my hack for this problem. The wavegrip lewmars have a 4 screw pattern and are a couple of design generations old at this point. The top crowns which weather and crack are not available, though a couple of places may custom make the part. My winch is a 4 screw wavegrip lewmar 40st. I believe this may work on other sizes.

I ordered the latest generation #48000449 which is a totally different setup with spring locking mechanism for the jaws. As a kit it will not work on these old wavegrip lewmars. However the top crown can be modified and can replace the old cracked crown.

The kit comes with springs, four screws, and upper and lower jaw, and a stripper ring. Set the springs aside, you won't need them.

First as you can see in this picture the bottom crown is very different, with different inner diameter. This could not be used in my project. The old lower crown must be serviceable for this to work. The new lower crown is not useable in this hack.



The stripper bar was also different, so you must reuse the old one.


The first step is to measure the thickness of the old crown assembly with a slide micrometer. I found this was easiest to do with the metal feeder arm part of the assembly. The goal when you are done is to have the exact thickness of the old assembly, and ultimately you are only replacing one part so this should be straight forward.

The next step is to sand off the small lip on the lower crown/jaw. Do this on a flat surface. I laid down a piece of 100 grit paper followed by some 220 grit to smooth it out a bit. Just grind the lip off. This lip does not fit in the upper jaw and grinding it off allows for less material to be removed from the upper jaw.

Here it is midway sanded.


The main step and most difficult is to remove material from the upper crown.
I did not snap a photo before this process so holding it together here as if before the cut.


You have to decide based on your measurement how much material to remove from the new crown. I rough cut it so it was thicker than needed, and sanded down the remaining until the dimensions were very close. I used a 4" fence on a metal band saw, though I suspect a wood bandsaw with fine blade would work fine. The fence was a must for a straight cut.

Here is the old and the new rough cut crown side by side. Note the thickness is much closer.



After sanding with 100 and 220 grit on a smooth surface with even pressure I am closer to the final.



It is important to measure along the way. You want the same components to measure the exact dimensions as the old. I dry fit mine on the winch and finished sanding. It took a bit of time.

Here is the assembly. The old lower crown sitting on the winch ready for the upper crown with the lip sanded off. This doesn't rotate so I did not worry about finish here.



Her you can see the upper crown mounted to it. The 3 screw patterns were not perfectly identical, but close enough that it worked fine.



Lastly here it is reassembled. If it is difficult to reassemble the retaining clips and they don't fit in their slots then you might need to sand down some additional material on the top crown. A little detail is that for me I had to lift up 1/16" on the inner winch spindle by grabbing the splines in the top of the winch to fit the retainer clips in snuggly, or it would not go back together. Took awhile to figure that out!



Works nicely.. holds the line well. I will report back if any issues. The top and bottom jaw teeth line up slightly different than the original but seems to work fine.. and its a 40$ dollar hack that saves a new winch purchase.

Hope it helps someone who has the same problem of cracked jaw or crown on these older Lewmars.

[jopesleffrey]

That’s actually an awesome hack. Let me know how it feels after a season of use

[chesapkedrifter]

Just reporting back in on this earlier post. The Lewmar 43 wavegrip replacement crown hack is still working great. No issues, grips the line well, and works as if the original crown.