[TowerTalk] The Dayton 3000# Worm Gear winch revisited.

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

We swapped the spur gear winch out that was on the raising fixture for 
the 3000# Dayton worm gear winch.  The Dayton appears to be rugged, but 
like most inexpensive winches, the gears appear to be crude, steel on 
steel, but it is hefty.

I thoroughly greased the worm gear and worm gear wheel. I could find no 
recommended lube and the hand cranked speed as with most winches, is way 
too slow for the preferred method of lubrication.

At least with Dennis (N8ERF)  on the crank it went fairly well, but with 
the tower several feet from vertical, the worm began to chatter. I could 
see it move laterally in the front bushing  (The one closest to the 
handle).  I used LPS-2 which is a penetrant with grease suspension on 
the bushings.  That quieted it down.  Had we used a power drive, it 
would have destroyed the bearing.

I know these companies have to keep the winches affordable and a "good" 
worm gear reducer would cost at least 2 or 3 times the cost of these 
winches alone.  I'm going to price out some commercial reducers and see 
what would be involved with driving the winch drum through the 
commercial reducer.   I found lots of reducers, but no stock prices. I 
can see it requiring some mill and lathe time as well as an adapter from 
the input shaft to a half inch drill motor. I'd use a gear ratio that 
would not overload a heavy duty 1/2" drill motor. So we are probably 
looking at a 100:1, give or take.

With the 50:1 on the Dayton it took roughly  800 to 900 turns of the 
crank handle and those first 50 to 100 turns took a lot of effort. On a 
fairly warm day, in direct sunlight about 10 feet from the shop with no 
wind, Dennis sure worked up a good sweat.

Once the tower is in operation, I plan on replacing the bad bearing with 
an Oil-Lite bushing reamed to fit and drilling both bushing holder and 
bushings to take a Zerk and use BR-2 Grease.
Normally bushings of the Oil-lite type are lifetime lubricated, but I 
think the heavy load and slow rotation might be a bit much. Perhaps I 
could bore out the supports and press in roller bearings. Thin roller 
bearings with lots of rollers and Zerks to keep them properly greased 
would probably work.

Input from a good mechanical engineer on this would be appreciated.

-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)


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