Hi there quick question I’m busy with rebuilding two winches and wile they are apart currently I would like to get the break shaft threaded in the end. Does this need to be done at a machine shop? We tried clamping it in the lathe yesterday at my shop but my drill bits won’t even make a dent in the material it’s so hard. Any help would be greatly appreciated.To assemble the winch I started with the brake assembly.
It was easier than expected and doesn't require a clamp or any special tooling. I found that you can easily compress the brake discs by hand and fit the circlip with the other if you position everything carefully.
My winch was pretty old and the spring and the hub (item 38) were a little different to the replacement items, but turned out fine after assembly.
Old hub and spring on the left (no recess in hub and shorter spring), new hub and spring on the right.
I used a light film of Shell Nautilus Marine Grease for the shaft and seals but made sure the bearings and brake area were completely free. Grease will only reduce friction in the brakes and that's not helpful. Do not use grease to secure the ball-bearings in place!
Assembly in the vice using aluminium soft jaws to protect the brake shaft
This was a trial assembly of the brake shaft, it was my first attempt and wasn't sure how it would go. It was easy and in hindsight I should've fitted the bushing and cardboard sleeve first time. Anyway no problem to quickly take it apart and put those two items in.
Next step was to fit the drum into the lower housing and this stopped me in my tracks. In the picture below you may notice that with all items correctly fitted, the main shaft does not sit far enough into the housing. The groove for the retaining plate is not completely exposed and this had me confused.
I had fitted the bushing, quad seal and thrust washer per the instructions but still it was not right. Here you can clearly see that the bushing partially obscures the groove for the retaining plate.
The thickness of the housing matches the distance from the shoulder of the thrust washer to the end of the bushing so it really did seem to be an issue of the drum not going in far enough. But why? I could only think that the thrust washer was perhaps not needed because there was already a step on the +76mm drum. So who better to ask than Gigglepin. Here is their reply:
What can I say, apart from "that should've been obvious"
Don't make the mistake I did here, above, where I'd forgotten to fit the intermediate gear onto the brake shaft / splined cam. This meant knocking the brake shaft + bushing + seal back out of the housing. It was actually not too difficult but something to be avoided I can tell you! I used a large aluminium drift (seen In the photo below) together with the gympie hammer and it came out after a few firm strikes without damage to bushing or seal.
The rest of the assembly went easy.
Few greasy smears makes it look a little messy, but it cleaned up very well afterwards!
I used Loctite RTV silicone for the gasket seal, and Loctite 243 (medium thread locking compound) for all the fasteners. I also used Shell Nautilus Marine Grease for all running surfaces, seals, and for greasing the brake pawl, and lastly 200mL of 80W/90 gear oil.
Last job for the winch is fit a safety thimble and then to load the 50m of 11mm Dyneema rope onto the drum.
Looking good I reckon, and I'm almost there.
Last edited:
