A quick look at the Hickey worm gear winch

[jeffahart]

Originally Posted by wazzabie

nice write up. i have a worm drive winch. the clutch handle is stuck and i can't move it to free. what do you think is wrong?

Either the handle shaft or dog are rusted. But everything on the handle side of the case gets rusted. You just need to pull that end of the case off, wire brush it and grease it up. That is most likely the problem. When I first ran mine to test the motor, before disassembly, it kept popping out of gear. And that's because it never fully engaged due to rust. The iron is so heavy that the rust should just wire brush off!