Yet another Capstan Question!

Would love a capstan, and thinking about getting one for my Series 3.

Have been looking at fitting them, any major problems you come across when fitting?

Have heard that you need rivet nuts to hold the back of the winch plate to the front crossmember?

Also, think im going to make the Capstan drive dog, for my Crankshaft, by buying another standard one, then attacking it with the grinder, to remove the starting handle slots. Then just grinding in two slots for the winch prop shaft to go into.

But after looking at other posts looks like its going to be a pain to get the old starter dog off?

Anybody know what size socket I'll need? Have read its around 44m, or 1-11/16" (so pretty huge!)


Thanks

i ended up using the old stilson and scafoldin pole technique when i was repairin me engine. couldnt find a big enough spanner anywhere in me sheds! only made some minor teeth marks on it, just got to watch nothin snaps while your hangin off the pole!

Are you seriously thinking of grinding ya starting dog!!!

How strong do thing it will be when you have finished?

just been looking at that diagram.

To be honest, havnt been out to have a look at the one on the car, as weather is crap, and is soo muddy round here.

Was just an idea as I dont really have access to a welder.

Anybody volunteering to make me one = £10?

Surely they must be available, be lucky to get one made for a tenner must be a good coulpe hours work in one of them for a one off. Then standard ones seem to be around £30 new

Thanks

Had a look at that link earlier. As you say they must be available, as nearly all the capstans ive seen dont seem to come with them, so there must be loads of people with this problem!

The standard starter dog for my engine (2.25 Petrol 3Main Bearing) is £6.13 (PN;506665)

Just finding somebody that'll make one, might be able to get access to do it myself, but would have to be perfectly central and all that!

doobie said:

i ended up using the old stilson and scafoldin pole technique when i was repairin me engine. couldnt find a big enough spanner anywhere in me sheds! only made some minor teeth marks on it, just got to watch nothin snaps while your hangin off the pole!

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Does the starter motor technique work like what has been mentioned before for the TDi enigins?

BIOSBILL said:

Thanks

Had a look at that link earlier. As you say they must be available, as nearly all the capstans ive seen dont seem to come with them, so there must be loads of people with this problem!

The standard starter dog for my engine (2.25 Petrol 3Main Bearing) is £6.13 (PN;506665)

Just finding somebody that'll make one, might be able to get access to do it myself, but would have to be perfectly central and all that!

Click to expand...

Sound like ya need a lathe and a milling machine to make em proper

I can get to both. Guess its just a job of finding a big chunk of steel bar, milling a hole out of the middle, then cutting a thread on the other side, which is the same as the one in the end of the crank. The cutting the two slots.

Sounds a bit complicated

BIOSBILL said:

I can get to both. Guess its just a job of finding a big chunk of steel bar, milling a hole out of the middle, then cutting a thread on the other side, which is the same as the one in the end of the crank. The cutting the two slots.

Sounds a bit complicated

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Is there nae Smiddies around ye? Sorry blacksmiths Go to one near me and they only charge a couple of quid max for anything ah go in for

naaaa, get ya chuck of bar mill a couple of spanner flats on it + the slot for the drive. into the lathe bore out the hole on drive side to depth, turn it around, cetralize with DTI, turn to size then thread

bustersbus said:

Is there nae Smiddies around ye? Sorry blacksmiths Go to one near me and they only charge a couple of quid max for anything ah go in for

Click to expand...

ya jammie fooker you

iannotts said:

ya jammie fooker you

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Ah take it that's a no then?
Ah bet there is sumwheres

Never winched them only smoked them Full Strength

BIOSBILL said:

As you say they must be available, as nearly all the capstans ive seen dont seem to come with them, so there must be loads of people with this problem!

Click to expand...

Or lots of unfitted capstans sitting on garage floors!

The drive for capstans used to be like rocking-horse s***, but that was before the days of E-bay

why not get a bolt of the correct size, weld a section of bar to the front and then machine the drive part. saves you half the work and a decent welder will ensure that it is strong enough.

You need the correct part or you need to make the correct part. The proper part has a pin in it that locates into the pulley and provides the drive. This way the drive is not transmitted simply by how tight the bolt is. There are two sizes of part because the crankshaft bolt is different between the 3 &5 brg engines (the 3 brg is smaller) It is very difficult to bore out the proper drive part because the said part is hardened (we buggered about 3 drills, and that was using an industrial radial arm drill).

If you do get (or make a copy of) the right part then you need a small headed bolt to fit down the middle of it. I took the standard crank bolt and cut the drive dogs for the starter handle off and then filed it down until it would fit the largest socket that I had that would fit into the middle of the winch drive.

Regarding the mounting of the winch don't use rivinuts - they pull out of the chassis bolt it right through the x-member instead.

Another couple of points:

Always coat the drive shaft etc with copperslip. I didn't and could not get the shaft realigned after breaking a shear pin. I ended up tying the rope to the bumper just to get the shaft to turn inside the sleeve part to get the old bits out and the new pin in - it nearly ripped the bumper off because the rust had stuck it so tight.

Regarding shear pins they only break when you are using the winch, which is usually in the dark and it is ****ing with rain/sleet/snow etc. The std pin is awkward to fit. I found it was better to use a piece of brass rod of the correct size and hold it in place with a Terry clip (the type you use to hold tools onto a wall). That way when it breaks you only have to slide the clip away and put in a new piece of rod - no messing with screwdrivers etc.

Hope this helps

ZD

I would make the part out of en8 or equivilant (High tensile)

I just used a hi tens bolt, got fed up with sticking shearpins in, didnt have any probs with it being a bit over used
A big no no is using nylon or any rope that has stretch in it as it tends to self servo on to the capstan so it wont stop pulling when you want it to
You have all heard the one about the tree surgeon hoisting his 88 up the tree. I think they even used it in the film featuring kalahari Bushmen cant remember the title at the mo