Problems with winch assembly

[nsternha]

I am having some issues getting my LU4 back together. The bronze gear and the worm drive do not turn freely after assembly. The gears seem to be running centered and true, and turn fine when loosely assembled. However when I start to tighten them it becomes increasingly difficult to turn. It appears from the seal and the way that the gears mesh that the worm gear is being pushed down, which causes the binding. I have taken it apart several times and checked everything over. Any ideas?
Thanks
Nick

[MSeriesRebuild]

I am having some issues getting my LU4 back together. The bronze gear and the worm drive do not turn freely after assembly. The gears seem to be running centered and true, and turn fine when loosely assembled. However when I start to tighten them it becomes increasingly difficult to turn. It appears from the seal and the way that the gears mesh that the worm gear is being pushed down, which causes the binding. I have taken it apart several times and checked everything over. Any ideas?
Thanks
Nick

Could be several issues here. 1st, do you have the worm shaft installed properly with a correct bearing preload set? Once that is known correct, the next question is the bronze gear in the correct position on the drum shaft? It must be exact, just a little too far or not far enough will cause the gear not to be perfectly centered with the worm causing things to bind. The 3rd issue, is the gear housing end cover gasket the correct thickness? We usually cut our own gaskets for this & have found that a too thin gasket will let the cover pull in too far & lock the drum shaft as a result. We use material approximately 1/16" thick to cut this gasket from, usually encounter no problem with that. One of these 3 issues or a combination is more than likely your problem. If the worm is being pressed down as you described, the bronze gear not in the correct position on the drum shaft would be the likely problem.