winch maintenance

Ken Silver

New Member
I would appreciate input about how best to service my Barient self tailing winches, i.e disassembly, cleaning, and lubrication.
 

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Which models? There are some Barient diagrams out in the documentation section, and we can get others as well...

//sse
 

ccorcoran

Member II
Sean's recommendation is a great starting place (when all else fails, instructions can be very helpful). Most Barient self-tailing winches have similar parts/construction. Disassembly, cleaning and inspection aren't too hard. In the event there are some damaged parts, I've found a great source - http://www.arco-winches.com/ - an Australian company that's making bits and pieces for Barient winches. Good luck.
 
B

Brent Wright

Guest
The following Service Information is of a general nature and applies equally to all ARCO, BARIENT & BARLOW winches.

1) Dismantling the winch
a) Almost all models can be fully serviced without removing the winch from the deck. Be sure to pay special attention to the following:
* Lay-out or remember the various parts in order of disassembly
* When removing the drum, the drum bearings may stay in the drum and fall out when you least expect it and roll off the deck. Consequently there are any amount of Bearings on the bottom of the oceans.
* Ratchet Pawl Springs are also easily lost. A part costing a few cents could render your winch unserviceable. It is advisable to keep a supply of Ratchet Pawl Springs. If you do not have any spare Springs, it would be good sense to order some before starting service of the winch.
* Wash all parts in a petroleum solvent (kerosene, paraffin etc) and let dry or wipe dry with a lint free cloth.
* Visually inspect all parts for damage or obvious wear, i.e. extremely worn, bend or broken gear teeth, ratchet pawls that appear to be very loose in - or fall out off - their sockets and check for parts that have excessive clearance on bearings and shafts. As with most things mechanical, early attention to a potential problem may save money or prevent an injury down the line.

2) Lubricating the Winch
* Sparingly lubricate all mating parts and bearing surfaces with a waterproof grease, such as lubricants that are being used for machinery in the food industry. In an emergency, Petroleum Jelly is an acceptable alternative. Avoid greases with added 'Teflon'.
* Lubricate the Ratchet Pawls and Springs with light machine oil. Avoid large amounts of grease in the Ratchet Pawl areas - the grease might become somewhat 'sticky' over a period of time and prevent the pawls from operating freely.

3) Assembling the Winch
* Repeatedly 'flick' the Ratchet Pawls to ensure uninhibited operation
* Ensure that the Ratchet Pawls engage squarely in the mating ratchet teeth - some ratchet gears can be assembled the wrong way and that will result in the winch slipping back when under load.
* Assemble the rest of the components in the reverse order of disassembly.
* Check the operation of the winch, if possible before that important race.

GOOD SAILING :)

P.S. I took this from the ARCO we site :devil:
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
If you are servicing the winch when the boat is afloat, it helps to cut a hole in the bottom of a box the size of the winch base and place it over the winch before you remove the drum. Any errant parts will have a better chance of staying in the boat.
 

Mindscape

Member III
Dismantling tool??

I'm a new owner of a 1985 32-3. The winches on my boat all need to be serviced. They are Barient 10's (2 of these), an 18 (2 speed) and 2 24's. It would appear that I need a dismantling tool?? What the heck is this and where can I get one?? I've been out to the ARCO site and a couple of others. It sounds like there may be some alternatives to using the 'tool', but that the simpliest solution would be to have a dismantling tool. If it's not possible to get one of these tools, is it possible to make one?? I have no idea what one of these may look like. Thanks in advance for your help.
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
I don't think you need a special tool. The 24's have cap screw inside the winch handle socket. When this is removed with an Allen wrench, the whole drum lifts off. I believe the 18's are secured with a split ring (or maybe a cap screw). Engineering diagrams of Barient (and Barlow) winches with a listing of all the parts can be found here:

http://www.cncphotoalbum.com/winches/


PS I see that the diagrams refer to something called a "dismantling handle". I'm not sure what that is. I do know I was able to disassemble the 24's with just an Allen wrench.
 
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Mindscape

Member III
Thanks for getting back Geoff - between your comments and the diagrams I should be able to get this done.
 

Mindscape

Member III
Follow up

First thanks to everyone for getting back. Second - my bad - the sheeting winches are self tailing 27's. But over the wk'end I was able to put to use the info from the different sources and get each of the winches apart.

The 10's - there is plunger type arrangement, you simply push down and the drum releases.

The 18 - it has an allen head cap screw, no big problem.

The 27's - they have a ring on the top (the ring that has the US Patent number on it) with two small holes. This is where the barient dismantling tool comes in - you insert it into the holes and unscrew this piece to release the drum. After further exploration I found this tool in the nav. table. Looks to me like this ring could be removed using the technique descirbed on the ARCO site if the tool was not available.
 

Ed Balun

Member I
WINCH OVERHAUL

Hi guys. Two winters ago I decided to overhaul my noisey winches. The gizmo that unscrews the top of the winch is the same tool that unscrews the emergency tiller cover in the cockpit. It is a triangular piece of metal about 8 inches long. Check out the West Marine catalog 2003, page 456. It is a stainless deck plate key and sells for 5.99. If you don't have this, you can't get to your emergency tiller either. I would not recommend disassembly on deck. Pull the drum, unscrew the allen head bolts and stick it in a can and cap it. Take it home and carefully disassemble it. Clean with motor oil. apply oil to the palls and grease everything else. I pulled the small inboard winch first. This was my #17. It was the noisiest (mainsheeet). I then pulled the #17 (main halyard). Then #21 (jib halyard). Lastly, each of the #27's. These were 2-speed winches with twice the guts. Starting with the single speed winches was a good idea. The rewards are smooth and quiet winch operation. I have a 1987 E32-3. We bought the boat 2/00. Upon checking, the emergency tiller was still in the factory sealed bag. I pulled it and the piece that fits in the deck was the same size as the below deck fitting. I had to have a new one made with a smaller diameter. I was the 4th owner and the first to check the thing. Kinda frightening!! GOOD LUCK.
 

Mindscape

Member III
Emergency Tiller

Ed - Once we get a warm (realativly speaking) wk'end I'll try the emergency tiller. I'm the 3'rd owner and it doesn't look like anyone has tried the emergency tiller before. Thanks for the tips.
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
I haven't tried mine either, although its not in its orignal packaging. I have a below deck autopilot (a hydraulic ram mounted to the quadrant which has been reinforced with 1/4" aluminum plate) and plan to use that if the cables ever give way. If the steering fails for any other reason (e.g. the welds inside the rudder fail), I don't think the emergency steering will help. That's when you have to get creative (like a cushion strapped to the spinnaker pole used as a sweep).
 

Mindscape

Member III
Emergency Tiller

Hmmm.......that means I'll need to make sure the pole is long enough (with the cushion strapped to it) to act as a rudder :)

What unit did you use for the below deck auto pilot? Are you happy with it?
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
I have a Simrad AP22. It's more than I need (rated for boats up to 80 feet) but it works like a dream. The boat came with a Robertson 1000 (Robertson was purchased by Simrad) but it was getting a little long in the tooth and the ram started to leak oil so I replaced it due to the high cost of repair (first the ram and then the head a few years later). The ram is mounted on a shelf protruding from a vertical plywood support next to the quaterberth so it runs fore and aft as opposed to athwartships (gotta love those nautical terms), which is the normal arrangement on bigger boats.
 
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