Advice on tuning pegs

[Daniel Bradbury]

My old Washburn banjo was converted to planetary tuners in the 1970's as I was playing with steel strings.  I have a recurring problem with breaking Nylagut fifth strings.  I believe it is my geared tuner causing the problem, perhaps caused by the reel overloading.  I have no problem with the La Bella nylon 5th strings, but wish to play on heavier gauge strings.  

I can change it out for a mechanical friction tuner or another style of geared fifth tuner.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I am now considering restoring it to friction tuners.  The original holes were enlarged for the planetary tuners to fit and the fifth string hole was tapered, so using the very old-style violin type pegs is probably out of the question.  Will there likely be a problem using the newer grover style friction pegs in the larger holes? 

Daniel