8a gearmatic winch drum removal

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notmeu
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8a gearmatic winch drum removal

Post by notmeu » Sat Sep 19, 2015 4:39 pm

Hello all, I am currently at a disassembly point with my 8a parts winch where I do not know where to go next. So far I have replaced the bearings and the seal in the winch mounting plate and mounted it on the back of my 420. I also rebuilt all of the internals of the winch controller with new parts. I had to buy 2 winches to make one good one since one was missing pretty much the whole clutch and brake side of the winch but the casting was in great shape, the 2nd winch had a terrible winch casting with many welds on the outside, but the internals were all there. I am disassembling the winches to do a complete rebuild, right now the surfaces where the brake and the clutch bands rub need resurfaced due to rust. I am also trying to remove the bearing behind the spider clutch casting and also get to the 2 bearings and o- ring seal on the opposite side of the winch that is behind the crown gear. I am doing this because the winch that I am going to use has a bearing that needs replaced. As you can see the metal bearing cover is damaged. I removed the snap ring that is located around the bearing.


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The manual says that the drum can be removed by a puller using the 2 holes provided.




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or the drum can be drifted off by driving on the cable side of brake flange drum. I have been gently beating on the drum from the cable side towards the clutch side of the drum, but there is no movement at all. That is where I am stumped. Does the rivets on the crown gear need removed first on the other side of the winch before the drum can be removed thru the clutch side? The pto shaft drive pinion has been removed already.



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Can anyone that went thru this very long and painstaking process to rebuild a winch help? It is going to be a great item to have if I can get it rebuilt, it has been a struggle so far!!!!
1956 JD420, gearmatic 8a winch, custom 6 way blade and FOPS.

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notmeu
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Re: 8a gearmatic winch drum removal

Post by notmeu » Sun Sep 20, 2015 5:54 pm

Well to give a update, I read the manual a few times to make sure that I did not forget to remove anything. Then used the rosebud torch tip again, and heated up the damaged bearing photoed above and pounded and pryed the winch drum where the cable should be towards the clutches and with a little swearing and no beer yet, it started to move. It definitely did not come apart like I thought it would. There isn't anything that comes apart easily on these old old winches....



Image
1956 JD420, gearmatic 8a winch, custom 6 way blade and FOPS.

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Paul Buhler
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Re: 8a gearmatic winch drum removal

Post by Paul Buhler » Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:46 pm

Tom: I'm in the process of digging deeper into my winch, like you did. Your pictures and comments helped a lot. I'll be posting pictures as well on my thread. I have everything re-assembled, but couldn't get the brake to bleed/work correctly, so after some head scratching, I dug into my controller and found a badly torn rubber cup, and to my surprise, an incorrect reassembly by someone in the past; the brake end housing and clutch end housing had been switched. More head scratching to make sure I hadn't mixed up parts. Anyway, I have to make some gaskets, and then the controller should be good to go. For others, the rubber cups are available at some parts stores; they are drum brake pistons. I couldn't get ones at 1 1/8 " dia, but 1 3/16" fits well and I think it will work. I honed the controller cylinders with a drum brake cylinder hone - something from another time. Tomorrow, I hope to get everything hooked up including new brake and clutch lines, and hopefully have a winch that works as it should. Paul
Paul Buhler
Killington, VT
420c 5 roll with 62 blade, FOPS, and Gearmatic 8a winch

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gregjo1948
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Re: 8a gearmatic winch drum removal

Post by gregjo1948 » Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:52 am

In the picture where you have 2 bolts screwed into the drum, if they're screwed in farther, will they push the drum free?
JD 350B diesel 6way blade, Case 580B Loader/backhoe, Farmall 504 high crop w/ flail boom mower, International 404 , International 284 diesel w/belly mower, 1972 Ford F600 dump truck, Galion 3-5 roller, Allis Chalmers D17, 1620 Ford

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notmeu
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Re: 8a gearmatic winch drum removal

Post by notmeu » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:10 pm

If I remember correctly those 2 bolt are used to connect something onto it to help pull the drum out. I remember making a bracket of some sort to connect to a large slide hammer that didn’t work too well.
1956 JD420, gearmatic 8a winch, custom 6 way blade and FOPS.

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Paul Buhler
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Re: 8a gearmatic winch drum removal

Post by Paul Buhler » Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:35 am

I agree with Tom: I made up a puller something like the arms on the split puller using allthread to help get the drum off the axle - didn't need it since one of the bearings was loose on the axle, and the inboard one was loose in its housing.
https://www.eastwood.com/fairmount-tool ... 6de3ec07c9
I did use part of this type of puller to get the inboard bearing off the axle. This was a challenge since I didn't want to damage the seal or the lands that the bearing and seal run on. The puller assisted by some chisels between the puller and case got the bearing off. By the way, I removed the brake fluid nipple and put a used flat washer there for the puller screw to work against. I didn't want to damage that area and potentially cause other problems.
Ultimately I decided to remove the crown gear and axle so that I could replace the gearbox seal with a new one - the old seal didn't want to come out nicely, and with the axle removed. it came right out with a drift. This was a good opportunity to clean out the gear housing and refill with clean oil once the new seal was installed and the gearbox put back together.
Paul Buhler
Killington, VT
420c 5 roll with 62 blade, FOPS, and Gearmatic 8a winch

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