Has Anyone Had Experience With a Gas Engine Powered Winch
Are you one of those cooks that "hops up" Ford long shaft starter motors. A guy in my area does the same thing. Ball bearings, adjustable timing, cooling fins, replaceable brushes, etc. He has fun with it.
A gas winch? Why? The electromagnetic clutch would work, but then you have to have a battery. Getting rid of the battery is presumably the reason for the IC engine, right?
BTW, I work at Warn Industries. We make winches for 4x4 vehicles. Our drum brakes use cone clutches and work quite well. You may be able to incorporate a cone clutch between the drum and engine shaft. You will have to isolate some components with bearings and have a control that applies pressure between the shaft cone and drum cone. A spring releases the cones. A foot pedal would be cool. The governor on the IC engine should keep control of load.
I can give you more details if interested.
Sounds cool!