70’s Hickey Sidewinder Winch score

[DirtyLarry]

Well this weekend Zoomad75 and I made a Saturday morning trip to an old family friends house to picked up a 1970’s Hickey Sidewinder winch. As a little kid, I remember this exact winch when my dad’s friend bought his ’78 K20 brand new. My dad and this guy used to go up to the mountains and play in the snow with their K20's back in the late 70's and early 80's. Funny thing is...I thought he added the winch after he bought the truck but he was telling us the local Chevrolet dealer installed it for him at delivery when the truck was new.

Sidewinders were not the best winches in the world nor the strongest but $200 isn’t too shabby for a piece of groovy history. It will work fine on the front but I also have plans for a Milemarker SE12000 for the rear winch bumper. (Seems like I need more help pulling myself out of a jamb than further into one) I am thinking of replacing the tiny 5/16 cable with 3/8 AmSteel synthetic winch rope once I get it mounted as well.

After we got it home I have it a big time bath with the ole Landa power washer and some Simple Green, lubed it up and gave it a big look over. This thing still looks like brand new once I got 29 years of grime off of it.

I almost got it mounted Saturday night but found my ORD steering box brace mounting bolt is right smack dab in the way of the rearward mounting bracket. So I will have to deal with that next weekend.

Man, I feel like growing side burns and listening to 70’s disco music playing with 70’s relic.

Anybody have any idea how the heck to wire up the relays on a Sidewinder? If somebody is harboring some old Hickey Sidewinder installation instructions I would definalty appreciate a copy.

And NO, the jackstand is not holding the truck up by the tie rod. (I was using it to hold up the Sidewinder skid plate).

Even the Sambo the shop dog likes it!