Lofrans Tigres rewinding

Last year my windlass still worked OK.
This year not so much. I got anything from nothing at all to a half hearted pull when I pressed the button to hoist.
In poking around under the windlass, cleaning prior to some varnishing, I put my finger through the power cable just where it penetrates the decking, heading down to the anchor locker, where the solenoids reside. That led immediately to a full replacement of the three cables, up, down and ground. Surprisingly, when I took the cover off the motor, everything looked like it was brand new.
Nope, nothing changed.
Next on the hit list were the rusty solenoids. Here I went to a local marine store (doubles as a Husqvarna dealer, so I wasn't expecting much). His cheapest solenoids were $75 each. Off to the Auto Parts store, 2/$75.
Again, nothing changed.
Took the windlass off, upended it, unbolted the motor from the windlass, lifted it out of the gear case. The oil in the gear case looks like it was put in yesterday, though I suspect it dates from 1980. The worm gear looks like it has never been used. I have lifted far more with this windlass than it was ever designed to lift, including a 20' car trailer that fouled my anchor in Ruxton Passage several years ago.
I called the Lofrans dealer in Vancouver. He told me that a new motor is $800.
I took it in to the local Auto Parts store, who sent it to a motor shop in Victoria. Their quote for a full rewind and brushes, which they say is necessary, is $490.00.
I don't know how much a whole new windlass would be, though I have been following ASD's windlass replacement in Ketchikan, so I know it would cost me at least a boat buck more.
The turn around time should see mine back in use before the long weekend.

Removing the motor from the gear case vertically wasn't something I would necessarily have done, but since I did it that way, I avoided losing any of the oil. Had I unbolted the motor in place, I am sure I would have lost at least a cupful and would have had a mess to clean up. Good luck, not good management. In my installation, the motor cover is pressed against the samson post, so the whole windlass had to be removed before that could be undone.

Hope it works out for you! Maybe replace bearings anyway?

I recently went through a windlass problem. Mine is an old Ideal. At first I thought the motor was toast, but the brushes still have some life and it was spinning fine with no load. In my case the gearcase had virtually no oil in it. The main thrust bearing was worn, and binding under load and stalling the motor. New thrust bearings (2) from a local shop for $40, new gaskets cut and fitted with permatex and I'm up and running. Maybe not as full design pull, hard to know. A new windlass was going to be about $4000. I've delayed that for a time, hopefully a long time!

Good luck with the rewind.
I bought a new Tigres about 3 yrs ago and the bill was about $2600 or so.
The rewind is a good way to go.

We had the motor fail in a Muir Cheetah horizontal windlass a while back. I removed it, they are seriously heavy,took it to Muir who put a new motor in it. The gearbox in this 1981 windlass tested perfect. Picking it up,I was disappointed the new more powerful motor did not fit within the casing bottom plate. Muir said a new windlass was over 4K and it was the only motor they could source, so I got on with it, making a timber spacer plinth to accommodate the new motor, which draws so many amps it promptly fried the ammeter. The windlass functions perfectly, and it`s fast.
Windlasses are bit like the old axe you had for years, even though it`s had 2 new heads and one new handle. Maintenance and repair can keep them going.