This winch has a lot of opposite things going on. The clutch side of the winch had nice gear oil, no water. Clutch dogs were nice with no visible wear.
I measured the bushings for the shaft and they came in at 1.75. But the large worm was really worked over. I am wondering if the destruction of the bronze worm happened over a short stint because the steel bottom worm had rusted and got really pitted.
I was trying to get the clutch shaft off of the handle and it was being a real pain in the bum. I soaked and heated and repeated for a few days. I just couldn't get the shaft to budge any and started worrying that I would destroy the handle.
So I drilled the shaft out in stages and ended up using a hacksaw blade to cut slots in the remaining band of the shaft.
After my initial bearing measure I decided to get out the micrometer and decide if I need new shaft bearings.
Here is what I found:
Inside diameter of housing bearing - New 1.749 - 1.751 Limit 1.756 - same limits for other housing bearings.
Worm side outer Result - 1.755
Worm side inner Result - 1.756 - Right at the limit.
Clutch side Result - 1.754
Inside diameter of cable drum bearings - New 1.750 - 1.756 Limit 1.761
Result - 1.757
Outside diameter of cable drum shaft (The Manual Says - New 1.747 - 1.750 Limit 1.745)
Now here is where I am confused. Either the manual is wrong or something else is going on. The shaft measured 1.752 in all places. That's larger than the new specs. And it is really snug going back through the drum bearings.
Anyone else have different specs for the drum shaft?
Overall I think I am okay with these. I could replace the Worm Inner bearing. Thoughts?
Bummer, I don't know why I spent all that time measuring the cable drum shaft. I got to cleaning the places of the shaft were the bronze bearings ride on the worm gear side. I buffed it with really fine steel wool so I could see the surface well.
Result, lots of surface pits from either abuse or rust in there at one time. Time for a new cable drum shaft.
It seems I get pulled in 9 different directions at once. I got back to the winch this weekend and made some progress. I set the preload on the worm bearings and got them just right. Then put the cover on the winch brake wheel and now the bugger is hard to turn either way. The brake band is new and is set as loose as it can be. Is it normal for the worm gear to be really hard to turn once the brake band and cover is installed? Maybe it will loosen up?
I have no experience with the winch, but I do have some experience with worm gears, since they are in the drive system of my two Coots (an antique ATV/UTV). They are generally easy to turn from the worm side, but it an be tough to turn from the ring gear side (depending on the pitch of the worm). In addition, even a very slight drag on the worm side can make it very tough to turn from the ring side. (The brake on my 1000# Coot is just a tiny disk and caliper from a Murray go cart - the size cart that fits a small child. When properly adjusted, you can skid the wheels before turning them when pushing the Coot with that tiny brake set)
Last edited by John Mc on Tue Mar 17, 2020 5:37 am, edited 3 times in total.
Did you ever figure out how to get the winch to loosen up?
I am figuring that it will loosen up when it starts getting used. I can turn it when I put a rod in the hole the shear pin goes in. I just don't know how hard it should be to turn by hand.