In addition to lubing the gears and inspecting the strap, lube the shaft the large gear turns on with spray lube. Also, inspect the tip-out to body seals and the tip-out cover lock straps for damage.
I did not feel comfortable relying on two straps to hold the tip-out cover closed (think of the damage that could happen if it were to come unlatched in front at highway speed). I ordered two additional latching strap assemblies and installed them above the existing ones.
Incidentally, some of the tip-out winches had a recall some years ago. I believe they had a bad batch of gear shafts. The winch manufacturer will still honor the recall, but you need to provide them the winch part and serial numbers to see if its affected. On mine this is impossible to get without completely removing the winch. So I chose to ignore it.
Raul
