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Posted by David Sherman [216.18.131.128] on Monday, March 01, 2010 at 11:46:49 :
In Reply to: Re: More MU-2 madness... posted by Jon Kelly [32.176.229.219] on Monday, March 01, 2010 at 08:46:07 :
Okay, I understand what you're doing. Maybe it was run dry so much that it heated the bronze bushings up to where they softened and deformed and seized on the shaft or at least took a set that matched the worn-down part of the shaft where they are. It would have been interesting, while it was still together and mounted on the truck, to fill it up with oil (up above shaft level) and run it a while to get plenty of oil back into the bushings. That might have been all it needed to make it a good functional winch. As Keith pointed out, some wear on the teeth is okay, and it sure sounds like your shaft and bushings aren't worn out (deformed perhaps, and too tight, but not worn out). With some running-in under lube, the shaft might work the bushings back into a reasonable clearance. If nothing else, it would have loosened them up so you job of getting it all apart would be easier.
Unless you want to put it all back together (w/o the drum) and back on the truck or with some other way to power it, I guess you're stuck now with trying to get it apart. I would still be leery of beating it (especially the cover) much or taking a torch to it. A winch that has some wear on the gear, but still has flats showing on the outer ends of the teeth (mine were down to knife edges) is better than a winch with a broken housing and a perfect gear. Plus, the gears are very expensive.
I understand its unsatisfying to put something back together when you know it's not perfect inside, but sometimes "perfect" is the enemy of "good". Otherwise, if you MUST get it apart, and you can't re-assemble it enough to power it up and spin it under power, at least figure out a way to spin it some as is. That will improve the clearances at both bushings. For example, maybe you could clamp the shaft in a big vise or to a bench or bumper with some clamps, and then spin the housing around by hand (assuming you took the screw gear out already). Keep at it, which squirting oil on the shaft/bushing until it spins freely. Likewise, with the cover, maybe put a long bolt into one of the cover holds to use as a crank handle and crank the cover around a lot by hand, while oiling it, until it spins freely. I have found that when shafts don't slide in and out of bushings, spinning them in place will usually make them slide, assuming you have no rust or burrs on the shaft. If muscle power isn't enough to turn the housing or cover on the shaft where it is, knock it back into where it was, spin it some there until it spins freely, back it out until it just starts to bind, spin it some there until it frees up, and so on, until it's all the way off.