[TowerTalk] Worm drive winches vs conventional?

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

The tilt over winch on my HDX5106 is a K2550, as
supplied by UST.  This seems to be a marginal design
because the cranking effort is really high (at least
50 pounds on the handle) and the brake overheats on
the the way down.  I see that there is a Fulton K3000W
worm drive winch.  It is very similar to the K2550
in most respects and is even rated slightly higher
(3000 lbs vs 2500 lbs).  It has an extra 3:1 mechanical
advantage which should be about right so that cranking
is no longer an athletic event.  The brake overheating
issue also goes away.

The question is: does the worm drive act as a brake or
can the winch still free wheel?  Is there any other
reason why I shouldn't violate the "prime directive" and
replace the K2550 with the K3000W?  I am somewhat apprehensive
since I've never see a worm drive winch on a tower.
It may be that the extra mechanical advantage is not needed
on lesser towers than the 4000 lb HDX5106.

Rick N6RK