Winch de-greasing

[tilwinter]

Getting ready to service my Andersen winches. Andersen recommends "petrol" which I assume is gasoline. I reviewed the old posts on this site, and others have mentioned kerosene, diesel oil, and even carburetor cleaner.

It seems to me that kerosene would be safer than gasoline, and perhaps a little more effective than diesel.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Loren Beach]

a vote for kero

I also vote for Kerosine. Many years ago, tried some acetone once when short of solvents...
Took the black die right off the drum! (Which proves that imagination and common sense are not at all the same!)


Gasoline would be second choice, though.
Loren

 

[tenders]

Last time I cleaned my winches I put them one at a time in one of those gallon paint-cans of carburetor cleaner and sloshed them around. Smelled weird, worked great, minimal mess.

 

[tilwinter]

Winch cleaning.

Loren:

Funny you should mention acetone, because I have some sitting on a shelf and I was wondering.......

I guess it is a little TOO strong.

I am not familiar with the chemical components of carb cleaner

 

[Gary G]

Automobile brake cleaner

In the past I have used automobile brake cleaning solution to clean/degrease my winches. Seems to work pretty well.

 

[Chris Miller]

Harken suggests either kerosene or mineral spirits... I have found that either works fine- if it's still dirty, just soak it longer.

 

[Guy Stevens]

What jug to grab.....Hmmmm....

Mineral spirits have never caused an issue on any of the winches that I have taken apart and cleaned rebuilt. I have made a fair buck replacing the bearings in the plastic sleeves when a customer decided that acetone was the best way to go.

Guy

 

[footrope]

Mineral Spirits!

I used mineral spirits when I cleaned up my ancient Barients. I had lots of dried crud that still required scrubbing with an old toothbrush. I think gasoline smells the best. Kerosene might be harder on your eyes - I know burnt Jet-A stings my eyes like crazy. Anyway, I wanted to ask you about your Andersens. I talked to the Andersen guys at the Seattle Boat Show this year and they made a lot of sense with their stainless drums and ribs, instead of the abrasive finish on my anodized drums. Can you pass along your experience and any comparisons to other winches? Supposedly the Andersens drum design helps to avoid overwraps because the line can ride up the drum easier. My Barients definitely tend to overwrap when there's more than 3 wraps or so.

Thanks,

 

[Guy Stevens]

Fair Leads.

If you are getting overrides on a winch it isn't the winch, it is the leads to the winch.

Guy

 

[footrope]

Time for a new thread

Good point, Guy, and that means pictures and additional off-topic discussion. So, I think I'll start a new thread.

 

[P Abele]

Sounds like I'm the only one who uses diesel for this.

Each spring I take my oil extractor pump and stick the tube down into my diesel fuel tank and suck some off the bottom. This helps me to see that the fuel in there is basically okay and gives a good idea of the condition of the bottom of the tank. I have occasionally gotten some slugs of black crud out of there but basically this just gives me peace of mind that I don't have and aquarium growing in there each spring before starting the motor, and helps to clear junk out of there which my fuel filters then won't.

Now to the topic, I then pour some of the (relatively) clean diesel off of the top of my oil extractor into a small bucket and use that to soak winch parts. It may not be the most aggressive solvent but seems to work decent along with a toothbrush and is a whole lot safer than gasoline (one errant spark and you are dead and possibly your boat and even the entire marina burns).

 

[Kim Schoedel]

Nope, you are not the only one that uses diesel to clean winch parts. It also leaves a nice thin coat of diesel for lubrication. That with bushing on a thin coat of winch grease on the shafts and gears (not the springs and pawls) finishes the job quite well.

Yes, the first time, when the PO has over greased everything, it takes some time and patience to clean each part, but after that it is easy to do.

 

[tilwinter]

Andersen Winches

I bought my Andersen's 5 years ago. They had a factory trade in rebate and I got a super low price at that Rigging place in Boston (name escapes me now) so the total price was very low. Got two self-tailing 40's for 1200, I think. Have been very happy with them, but I don't have a wealth of direct comparisons to make.