Need help dismantling a Mayflower PTO mech drum winch

[Effortless]

Hi all,

bumped into this forum whilst trying to find answers to dismantling my Mayflower winch. Seems to be a huge amount of accumulated knowledge here, so I thought I'd ask for help.

I bought it about 7 years ago, and I'm only now having a serious go at dismantling it. I need to strip it, clean it and rebuild it to get it up and running again. This is it...

I've managed to get the end plate off, and get the worm and its associated bearings and seals out, as here...

Even though I have the installation and parts manual, I can't see how to split the winch down further... I'm a bit of a muppet with these things!!! How do I get the ends apart? I can't see how to get the worm wheel out either.

Here are the associated frame bits 'n pieces, and the shafts and UJ's for the drive. One of the Woodruff keys is missing from one shaft. Anyone have any ideas where I can get one from? No doubt as a 30 year old installation, all the bits will be imperial and hard to get hold of.

The PTO is already installed on the back of the gearbox and seems to be operating OK.

I have a supply of the correct shear pins (.185" for 11mm cable).

As for the worm itself, what is the forum opinion on this? The work side of the teeth have got so hot at some stage that they have blued, and show tiny little surface cracks. Is this scrap, or can the winch still be used for light duties? It seems to have been worked hard in its life at some stage, as there seems to be plenty of worm wheel material 'smeared' onto the worm.

Hope someone can help,

Effortless

[western]

Welcome to LR4x4.com have a chat with the guys here they used to work at Superwinch in Devon & know their stuff about all types of winch.

the worm looks scrap to me.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

I have played with bits of these over the years.

To be honest I would NOT try to strip down further than you have, these are pretty much bullet proof, and you'll find that if you do pull apart further little wear

The wheel off the shaft is a nightmare time, you would work up a mighyu sweat, and struggle, and risk dmage, these are massively overengineeered

The part / covers you have off are the ones that leak, so sort those out, oh and you what SAE140W Oil too which is difficuly to find and smells 10x stronger than EP90 on a hot day

The shear pins are in my humble a waste of time, they will pop when you least want them too, and at a low pull, most people who have these shove a "Manky old bolt" rated shear pin in

Yes...I know....but we all do

And welcome BTW

Nige

[Effortless]

The shear pins are in my humble a waste of time, they will pop when you least want them too, and at a low pull, most people who have these shove a "Manky old bolt" rated shear pin in

Funny that... have heard of this happening a few times!!! So a mild steel or high tensile bolt??

Thanks for the replies by the way.

Effortless

[AndyEvans]

looking at this it looks simialar to a big skidder winch. the only way to get the big gear off is a beam puller (there should be a couple of holes in the gear which u can put big bolts through to the beam. and pull with the biggest puller u have. u may still need to heat the gear up to get it to move if its stuck solid.

hope this helps

[Jon W]

I kept losing woodruff keys for my winch like this, and then got a standard but of wood ruff key length and chopped it down to size, sorry i don't know what size it is but any engineering shop should be able to help.

Jon

[ltwt1981]

I have two in my shed, one came off the Hybrid from Hell, the other is hardly used.

Awesome pulling power all day, I had high tensile bolts instead of a shear pin and 12mm cables.

But use plasma its better.

Best of luck, they are properly engineered and Phil at PG winches is your best contact.

[edwardatherton]

SAE140W Oil too which is difficuly to find and smells 10x stronger than EP90 on a hot day

I have loads of SAE140 in the garage.

It doesn't say in your profile where you are, but if you are anywhere near me you are welcome to get some - but bring your own tub!

[Jon White]

I've had one of these apart and it was an absolute piggy! Invovled it clamping in a sodding great vice, me holding a large "drift" and hybrid from hell beating the carp out of the thing with a sledge hammer! They're very very well engineered and hence everythign is a very very good fit!

I'd agree with Nige. Leave it well alone and put it all back together again. Fill with the correct grade of oil, grease all the linkages and just leave it well alone. You wont break it.

Check the U/J's and especially the slider. I've never seen a slider that wasnt completely knackered so ended up making a new one for mine.

I never broke a shear pin in all the time I had mine.

PG winches is about the only source for spares, but they're not easy to come by or cheap. If you need spares you're better off either making parts or aquiring a broken winch to use as a source of spares.

Jon

[Effortless]

Thanks for all the tips, info and offers folks.

The only reason I wanted to split it was just to clean it all up. It feels very gritty when I turn it by hand, and looks likes its been totally immersed in muddy water a few times. Although I'm not aiming to make it like new, I just wanted to clean everything out, put in new seals and gaskets, fill it up with EP140, and winch away.

However, I'm starting to see the problems of splitting an over-engineered thing that hasn't been opened for 40 years!!

Effortless