windlass repair 

Thank you! This is very useful. Looking at a boat with a windless which does not work.

Hi John, Great video thank you. I have a Lewmar V4 windlass which has seen 10 years of light service. Lately it screeches under load, labour’s and now trips the circuit breaker once or twice during anchor retrieval. I suspect the screech is bearing noise. I know there is one bearing (replaceable) on the vertical gypsy/drum shaft and would expect there are more bearings in the motor/gearbox (Lewmar don’t offer bearing or parts, but a specialist maybe able to replace/rebuild if this is the problem). In your experience what do you think the cause of the screeching/labouring is likely to be? Thanks in advance. Rob

Thank you, this was a great instruction on the repair I needed.

Do you also check the motor oil?

I have the exact setup and when I tap it with the winch handle it will start working. I'll check those connections before I take it all apart. Unfortunately on my boat, I have to climb into the anchor locker to access this. I replaced the solenoid because the ground wire came off with the blade from the solenoid in it. When I did the "Fonzie" hit, the unit works great for awhile then "click click click". I'll let you know what I find!

How do I find the brushes size?

Hi Fitz, I've got a pre 2008 V2 Drum unit that I want to remove the gearbox/motor to do some work. The bottom of my shaft is recessed into the gearbox over an inch and it's located where I can really only get one hand up under it blind (or with a video camera). Is it necessary to remove the spirol clip in order to separate the above and below deck units? If so, is there a way to drop the shaft down and expose it at or closer to the surface of the bottom of the gear box to work that clip off and when done back on? Even if I got it on I don't think there is any way I would get the clip back on recessed as high up as it is, completely blind and unable to reasonably work on it or see it? (I had to use a video snack camera just to look up into it.

Great! Thank you!!

Do you need to remove the retaining ring and key before dropping the motor and gearbox?

Cool, thanks, helps me with my project.

Can you please tell me what size rope you use in the windlass? I have a similar one with just chain. Would like to add rope .

Thanks helped me alot