Mike,

Sounds like you still have the original sheaves in the mast. You want to give Ballanger spars a call and have a couple new ones sent to you. The original ones are for wire halyards and will start eating up your nice high-tech halyards.

To answer your question though, you are probably going to want to drop the mast to replace them. Both halyards and the forestay ride on the same pin. So, to replace the sheave you need to remove the shaft (pin) that goes through both sheaves and the forestay eye. It can be tricky to thread the needle through all three items with the mast down, with the mast up would be very interesting. I suppose it could be done if you held the mast in place with the topping lift, but I would not recommend it.

One hint, when installing the new shives make sure you use a small piece of line looped around the groove of the sheave, as if it were a halyard running around the sheave. If you don't you will likely drop the sheave inside the mast and spend several hours trying to fish it out of the mast. Ask me how I know this!

Cheers, Jason

:: Our jib halyard sheave is very hard to turn. The sheave
:: appears to be intact, but is showing metal fillings on
:: both side as if it is not seated properly, although it
:: looks square to the mast top halyard entrance. How do I
:: take it apart to replace it? DO I need to drop the
:: Mast???
::
:: Mike

:: #80

:: Magic