[TowerTalk] Electric winches

[Steve Maki]

Frederick R. Ashley wrote:
> 
> Hi gang,
> 
> My old Towtec electric winch is just about shot after many years of use on
> my Hygain 52-ft crank-up tower.  I will be needing to replace it in the near
> future, and was wondering what brand of winch would make a good replacement?
> Anyone else using an electric winch with a Hygain crank up??

I have a 52' Hygain on a trailer.  My solution was to replace the standard
hand winch with a worm-gear hand winch (available for around $60.00), cut
off the handle, and use an electric drill motor on the 1/2" shaft stub
which was left over after cutting off the handle.

Incidently, a second similarly modified worm-gear winch is used with an
electric drill to raise the tower to vertical on my trailer.

I chose this route not only to save money, but it allows me to keep the
motor out of the weather easily.

I'm not sure I would use this method on a permanent installation, but it
is easy and cheap.

One caveat if you try it:  keep the worm gears well lubricated, especially
just prior to use.

-- 
Steve Maki K8LX
steve@oakcom.com

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