Has Anyone Had Experience With a Gas Engine Powered Winch
 

I'm thinking about building a winch powered by a gasoline engine. I'd like to hear from anyone with experience using an engine-powered winch, good or bad.

I've seen one which used a loose v-belt between the engine and drum. Stepping on the pedal tightened the belt. I never saw it used, though. I built a small one that used a centrifugal clutch between the engine and drum. It worked OK, but the 32cc 2-stroke engine was only powerful enough for planes up to three pounds or so. Both of these designed suffered from "line creep" as the drag on the drum would slowly spool in the line while the engine idled.

The design I have in mind will solve the line creep problem and I plan to use at least a 5 horsepower engine. An electric clutch would be used to drive the drum. The drum and brake would be similar to what I used successfully on the Clutch Winch. Let me know if you have any suggestions or comments.

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!

Has Anyone Had Experience With a Gas Engine Powered Winch
 

Yep, I've converted a bunch of longshaft Ford motors to dual ball bearings, but I don't "retime" the brushes. I don't see the need for the fins, but I did install a muffin fan on one to keep it cool.

I prefer to work on GM starters. I think they're better than the longshafts, but the shaft has to be extended to support the drum.

It won't take much power to run the clutch for an afternoon of flying. Besides, I need the electrical power to operate the solenoid that works the brake. With the freewheeling drum, the brake tends to chatter if it is just connected to the brake arm. I use the brake arm to close a switch which has a "latching" relay to hold the brake until there is no tension on the line.

Can you send me a link to info about the cone clutches. Might be something I can use there.

Thanks

Has Anyone Had Experience With a Gas Engine Powered Winch
 

A guy in our club http://www.downeastsoaring.org built one from a chain saw and rigged a pedal to the throttle lever. I dont have any pictures, but if you are interested I can give him your email address and he can send you some ?

MDM

Has Anyone Had Experience With a Gas Engine Powered Winch
 

I'd like to see the photos. Please send him my email address:
[email protected]
Thanks

Here's my Sagitta XC.