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

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Follow the same procedure with the two channel-iron brackets that fit right up against the faces of the gearbox itself. (Only, this time, you'll have to drill holes in the plates to match the mounting pattern on the front and rear of your particular transmission. You'll also have to cut out a slot on the front bracket large enough to allow the gearbox's case to mount flush against the support.) Once the two brackets have been cut to size and drilled, slip your newly made rubber gasket onto the rear of the transmission and bolt the supports firmly to the gearbox with the original hardware that came with the unit.

Now position the front of the transmission about eight inches from one end of the channel-iron base, drill a couple of holes through each of its two support brackets' "feet", and bolt the box in place with four 5/16" X 1-1/4" bolts, nuts, and lock washers. (NOTE: An additional, 3/8" flat washer—with an edge bent up and drilled as shown—is slipped under one of the bolt heads before it's cinched down. The tension spring for a ratchet pawl will hook into the drilled hole later, during the final assembly of your winch's accessory hardware.)

We all know that the longer the handle we put on a winch like this, the more leverage we'll have and the easier it'll be to "wind up" a heavy load. And that's why MOTHER's designers outfitted this winch with a hefty pipe handle that's approximately a foot and a half long. This is longer by several inches than the distance that the unit's main shaft is positioned above the winch's base . . . which very definitely could create clearance problems during the operation of the hoist. In this case, though, that's no problem for two reasons: [1] this winch is designed, under normal conditions, to be mounted close enough to the edge of a truck bed, a bolted-down shop bench, a loading dock, etc. to allow absolutely free clearance of its handle during a full turn, and [2] MOTHER's ingenious inventors have built an automatic lock and a splined handle into the unit so that anytime the crank's rotation is limited—you have only to pull out on the handle, turn it to a "free" position, push the crank back in, make a half-turn, and repeat until the load you're trying to raise is lifted despite the tight clearance around the hoist's handle.

The key element which makes this nifty feature work is a scrounged-up clutch plate which has a hub with splines that fit those on your winch's input shaft. Cut the hub out and weld it to the 2-1/2"-long 3/4" pipe nipple. Then slip the unit through the 3/4" hole (it should be a loose but not a sloppy fit) at the top of one of the triangular support brackets (note that the support is turned so its lip faces the transmission), and thread a 314" pipe elbow onto the nipple's other end. Position the bracket so it's easy to both slip the hub onto and pull it off the transmission's shaft, then drill two 5/16" holes and bolt the support securely to the base.

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