Facnor SD 165 Furling Drum

[nigel1]

Good day, my first post, so hello all, and a plea for advise.

The inner forestay on my boat is fitted with a Facnor SD 165 furling system. When I purchased the boat, the inner forestay had been in storage for about 4 years, but I had it re-rigged.
At the time I noted the drum unit was not turning easily, not rough by any means, but stiff, which has eased with use, but nowhere near as free turning as it should be.

I plan to strip the drum down and rebuild. I contacted the UK distributers, but they advise me that parts are no longer supplied by Facnor. However, I believe the bearings used in this unit are sealed stainless steel ball bearings, with lip seals fitted to keep watertight. My guess is that these parts should be available from a bearing supplier.

Question is, has anyone stripped one of these drums down, and can confirm the above??

Any advise would be appreciated

Cheers

[Brion Toss]

Hi there,
If the bearings are sealed stainless, then they are probably an industrial standard, still available. The trick will be to remove them without destroying the unit. If you can do that, you might be able to discern a serial number. Failing that, carry it into a car parts store or bearing supplier, and see if they can find a match.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[nigel1]

Thanks,

The two parts of the drum are held together with large circlips, once they are out, the two parts should drift apart. I have access to a decent workshop, so should be able to remove the bearings and seals.
Be nice to hear from someone who has actually dismantled on of the Facnor SD drums

Cheers

[SV Papillon]

The bearings in the unit are most likely a simple roller bearing. If you are lucky they will list the size in the parts manual if you have it. They are most likely a 62XX bearing like a 6209 or 6207. The bearing number and manufacture will be labled on the outer race of the bearing on one side It will read the (Man) the (bearing number) and usually a letter number combo desig seal type. Ex. (SKF 6206 2RSJEM). All you really need is the bearing number though. For a replacement you will want to get a stainless steal bearing with plastic seals not metal. If you can read the info off the old ones or just take them with you to a industrail supplier, they usually have these in stock. Stick with a good manufacture, SKF, FAG or NTN. Don't sub for a cheeper chinese one as the quality is all over the place. Once you get the new bearings you will need to pack them with grease. Using a small flathead screwdriver you can pop the seals out, put it in by the inner race on one side and gently work it around till it pops out, you only need to do one side. I would use a synthetic grease brand is not realy important and fill the entire cavity. Then pop the seal back in place. If these are re-packed every couple years they should last for a very long time.

Regardign the lip seals they will most liekly be a easy to get piece as well, on the surface of the seal it will have the dim 00 x 00 x 00, As its from the UK it will most likely be a metric lip seal they are measured in OD x ID x Height in mm and are single lip or double lip, you want a rubber double lip

[nigel1]

Thanks, getting the new bearings and seals should not be a problem, have a bearing supplier near by who stocks most bearings.
Managed to hunt down someone from Eurospar who are UK distributor for Facnor, and has stripped down number of these furlers. The good thing to hear was that the bearings are not a tight fit, and once the circlip is removed, they should drop out of the housing

[peter.holding]

Hi Nigel, I also have a 165 that is stiff and I have also found that Euro spars will only offer a complete drum. I would be interested to know how you got on and what the bearing and seal numbers were and what kind of a job it was to replace them. Cheers