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I've got my USMC winch truck at my friend's house waiting it's turn. I was down there the other day and pulled both filler plugs out of the winch to see how much/if any oil was in there. The drivers's side had oil residue but no oil and the other side had no evidence of oil. What would be a good product for me to fill those up with that wouldn't make things worse but might help me get the thing apart when the time comes??

refit1701 wrote:I've got my USMC winch truck at my friend's house waiting it's turn. I was down there the other day and pulled both filler plugs out of the winch to see how much/if any oil was in there. The drivers's side had oil residue but no oil and the other side had no evidence of oil. What would be a good product for me to fill those up with that wouldn't make things worse but might help me get the thing apart when the time comes??

The winch should get ISO 460 worm gear lube, both ends.

Thanks, Charles!

Do you plan on using the winch in the mean time, or just putting an "oil" in there to fascilitate disassembly at a later date? If the answer is the latter, I would put something in there that will penetrate, and make diassembly easier. My first choice would be ATF, then followed by maybe kerosene or diesel. After the rebuild, and a good cleaning, I would use Charles' choice as the operating lubricant.

The truck is not running and won't be until I tear the engine down for inspection, etc. I just want to keep the winch from deteriorating any further and maybe help free it up. The control lever is frozen now so I know it will need total inspection and rework.

The control lever is very likely stuck because of the dissimilar metal syndrone. Steel shaft / aluminum housing, causes corrosion and issues frequently. No oil or penetrant will get to the whole issue there until you remove the unit from the frame and place it so that the penetrant can get to the correct area. I've rebuilt many winches; abuse or the steel/aluminum issue is always the bigger deal. Good chance no oil will stay in yours since you have already said you found it virtually dry, it's very likely that anything you pour in it will just run out quickly until it is properly rebuilt. Some light fluid might well help with tear down; BUT it will do no good at all if it just runs out.

The best thing you can do at this stage is to remove the winch from the frame; put whatever fluid you decide in it and position it so that as much as possible remains in it, changing that position periodically to get the penetrant to flow to the correct areas of issue.

I've had good luck using a 50/50 mix of diesel and ATF to preserve and free old stuff, but, as Charlse said, it will probably leak out. It doesnt take much seat degredation for the winch to leak.

I have a FYI , on the worm gear oil , www.mscdirect.com has ISO460 oil in quarts and gallons at a decent price . It is fairly easy to find , but usually only in 5 gallon pails . They seem to be a industrial supply ,they have lots of good stuff on line. bob k