Build Mother's $100 Winch... for $35!

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Sooner or later every homeowner needs a good winch. Not necessarily a heavy-duty industrial model ... but a reliable unit that can lift a ton without raising a sweat. Something that won't cost an arm and a leg but that'll handle those occasional engine—hoisting, stump-pulling, and other load-lifting chores which pop up from time to time around every house, apartment, garage, and basement in North America.

Well sir (and ma'am), MOTHER'S inventive researchers have put together just such a winch that almost anyone can use and afford because [1] it's hand operated, [2] it costs less than $35 to build, and [3] it's every bit as good as commercial models with the same load capacity ... but which sell for $100 or more!

Start this project by scrounging up a discarded "manual shift" car or truck transmission (available from your friendly local scrap-iron dealer for as little as $5.00, or at an auto wrecking yard for a bit more). Just about any make or model of manual gearbox will do, but you'll find that the "top loader" type pictured here works best. This is because the gear-changing mechanism is built right into the transmission's cover plate ... hence, there's no shift linkage outside the box to mess with. (Tip: Most cars constructed prior to the Second World War, and many pickups presently on the road especially those equipped with 4-speed drive use"top loader" transmissions of this type.)

You'll also need an assortment of channel, angle, and flat iron to make the base and various supports for your winch. Again, your neighborhood scrap-iron dealer is the man to see . . . or the local steel supply house, if you don't mind paying a little more for the same thing. The remainder of the components you see here are also available as scrap ... including the automotive parts, the pipe, and the pulley and belt (both of which can be salvaged from an old washing machine).

Remove the tail-shaft housing (that "extra" piece which holds the speedometer cable and is bolted to the rear of the gearbox) from your recycled transmission and cut out a scrap of rubber inner tube the same size and shape as the box's rear plate. This piece of rubber will serve as a gasket between the transmission and the cut-down U-channel which supports that end of the gearbox. (When you cut out the gasket, remember to spot and make holes in the rubber for the mounting bolts and the transmission's main shaft ... which, of course, will all pass through the gasket.)

All four of the 3/16" X 3" X 10" X 7" main support brackets are cut from one 28"-long piece of 3/16" X 3" X 10" X 3" U-shaped channel. (If you don't own a gas torch, you should be able to persuade a local welder to do all of this project's metal cutting—there's really not a great deal—for a nominal fee.)

Lay the 30"-long section of 3/16" X 2" X 7" X 2" channel iron (the winch's base) down and place the transmission on it "for position". Then turn two of the main support brackets up "on edge" (with one of the 3" side lips flush against the base) and set them against the gearbox's main shaft, one in front and the other at the rear of the transmission. Cut these brackets off about 1/12" above the top of the shaft, drill a 3/4" hole through each metal plate where it touches the shaft's end, and then trim both brackets down to form the tapered shape you see in the accompanying illustrations. These will be the crank and drum brackets.

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