I'm rebuilding my Hickey Sidewinder

[SilverMiner]

Hello, folks -

So, I'm in the middle of rebuilding the Hickey Sidewinder winch that had been installed on my '78 Jimmy since at least 1978. I bought the rig in 1989 and was the second owner. Sadly, in 1998 or so circumstances conspired against me (Ice, the Bilderburgers, and the Illuminatie) and I fatally shock-loaded the winch while sliding down an icy logging road.

Pro-tip for those of you who own or intend to use a Hickey Sidewinder - don't shock-load the cable. The bull-gear simply won't stand for it, and the first picture shown below is the result; many, many stripped teeth. Probably not bad advice for any winch, I suppose.

Some years later I acquired a "parts Hickey" from a local seller via Craigslist for the sole purpose of acquiring a new bull gear. Now, many years later I've finally tackled the project of changing out that bull gear.

But of course once I've got it opened up I figure I should make as many improvements as possible. At the very least I thought I should replace the cable, but it seems to be keyed into the drum in an fashion I'm not familiar with. See the final photo.

Has anyone replaced the cable on a Hickey Sidewinder? How the heck did you do it? I have the drum removed, and I still can't figure it out. I can't imagine how I might accomplish it if the winch were still installed.

[SilverMiner]

Well, not a lot of interest in this subject here. Perhaps I'll try again over in the 4x4 section.

But for the purpose of helping somebody who may find this via a search, I did find the answer to my question about how to replace the cable. There is an allen-head set screw just upstream from where the cable enters the drum. In my case, the head of the set screw had been obscured by wear over the decades and was very difficult to identify. But rest assured, it will be there. The cable end appears to have been soldered to facilitate stabbing it into the small opening and also to give the set screw something to work against.

Hope this helps somebody,

SilverMiner

[andrewmp6]

Going by this http://www.supermotors.net/registry/21979/81387-2 looks like it has a small set screw next to the hole the cable is stuck in.

[86c20]

i just wish i could find one.

[1774btcrew]

SilverMiner, I am in the same position as you. I bought a Sidewinder off Ebay and the gear was stripped I bought another one at a local auction and I am hoping the gear in it is good. I need to replace my cable as well so I will be watching this post

[SilverMiner]

1774btcrew - as I said in my first post, while these old Sidewinder's may be stout as can be, their real weak link is the teeth on the bull-gear. They absolutely cannot withstand ANY shock loading. It took me quite a while to locate a "parts winch" via craigslist that DIDN'T have the gear stripped the same as mine. After being burned by the first one, I made sure to pop the top and inspect the gear before exchanging any cash.

There seems to be two failure modes that cause folks to throw their old Sidewinder up for sale - either a stripped gear or a dead motor. The gear can be tough to hunt down, but fortunately the motors can still be relatively easily purchased.

BUT BEWARE: Not all the gears are the same, despite having identical part numbers HE101371A cast into them! See the pictures below - fortunately the outer teeth are identical, but the inner hub gear can have a different spline count. This dismayed me greatly, until I realized how simple it was to swap the correctly splined axle from the "parts winch". More good reason to buy an entire parts winch versus attempting to hunt down individual parts. There are a number of other very small but potentially fatal incompatibility issues between my two winches that are a real surprise in otherwise visually identical units. I haven't found or figured out where a serial number might be located, but clearly changes occurred during the production run.

[SilverMiner]

Well, a bit of a hitch in the process. I was at the final re-assembly step of installing the top plate on the drum, and it just won't seat flush. The drum axle is sitting too high, and in fact the clutch part of the drum axle won't depress far enough to allow the drum to free-spool.

So, everything comes back apart again because I think I may have an obstruction in the cup on the bottom frame that the drum and axle sits on. I'm putting the "parts winch" axle into my existing drum and cup, so I hope there isn't any difference between the replacement and the original because I have to use the replacement in order for the splines to match the bull gear.

Fortunately, they aren't too hard to disassemble. I quit tonight to prevent bad decisions due to frustration.

[bluek5]

I wish I would have found this thread earlier. I could have helped with the cable set screw question. I did not have to loosen the set screw on mine the cable pulled right out. I have both the coarse and fine spline center shafts they look like they should be interchangeable.
Paul

[bluek5]

Here are the center shafts I have side by side.

[max 02]

Digging up the past...

I am trying to rebuild a sidewinder as well. Can anyone tell me how to get the drum shaft or " center shaft like in the pic above " out of the drum. I looked at all the info could find on the internet, but just don't see how?

I don't want to destroy the hub.

[bluek5]

Originally Posted by max 02

Digging up the past...

I am trying to rebuild a sidewinder as well. Can anyone tell me how to get the drum shaft or " center shaft like in the pic above " out of the drum. I looked at all the info could find on the internet, but just don't see how?

I don't want to destroy the hub.

It's been awhile, I think you just need to depress the center pin and rotate the shaft 90 degrees and pull it out.

[max 02]

Originally Posted by bluek5

It's been awhile, I think you just need to depress the center pin and rotate the shaft 90 degrees and pull it out.

Thank you.

I got it yesterday...it was stuck. A dead plow hammer got it to move.

The winch I got doesn't look like it has worked in many years. Almost everything was seized up. I got it completely apart now.


I can start cleaning and getting it back together.

[andyh1956]

I remember the adds for these winches, they had winched a K5 Blazer up a tree!

[fusspilz]

Hoping you guys that are/have rebuilt these winches can help me.... I'm looking for spare parts, specifically the center shaft. I bought a 76 3+3 4WD about a year ago and just cracked the winch open. Ugly.

It was filled with dust/dirt/muck all the way to the top of the top cover. All other parts were salvageable. The center shaft is essentially fused together. No amount of PB or anything else has been effective.

I'm hoping BlueK5 can maybe help? It seems you have 2 shafts? Mine is the shaft with higher spline count. Any chance that's the one you swapped out? FWIW I grew up in AF and went to AF High, any chance you can help a neighbor out?

Thanks!

[bluek5]

Originally Posted by fusspilz

Hoping you guys that are/have rebuilt these winches can help me.... I'm looking for spare parts, specifically the center shaft. I bought a 76 3+3 4WD about a year ago and just cracked the winch open. Ugly.

It was filled with dust/dirt/muck all the way to the top of the top cover. All other parts were salvageable. The center shaft is essentially fused together. No amount of PB or anything else has been effective.

I'm hoping BlueK5 can maybe help? It seems you have 2 shafts? Mine is the shaft with higher spline count. Any chance that's the one you swapped out? FWIW I grew up in AF and went to AF High, any chance you can help a neighbor out?

Thanks!

I'll take a look and see what I have. I don't recall having a extra shaft though.

[max 02]

I had the same problem, mine was stuck real good too.

That shaft comes out from the bottom of the spool up. There is really nothing but friction holding it in... I just got a bit mad with mine! Carefully mind you! Lol!

[BLT gmc]

If you want to get the original shaft apart, soak it under water in a pail for several days or weeks. What ever it takes. I don't have any parts, they are like hens teeth. Sometimes you have to buy a whole spare winch. Pop it open before you buy it. Bruce
Posted via Mobile Device

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by SilverMiner

Hello, folks -

So, I'm in the middle of rebuilding the Hickey Sidewinder winch that had been installed on my '78 Jimmy since at least 1978. I bought the rig in 1989 and was the second owner. Sadly, in 1998 or so circumstances conspired against me (Ice, the Bilderburgers, and the Illuminatie) and I fatally shock-loaded the winch while sliding down an icy logging road.

Pro-tip for those of you who own or intend to use a Hickey Sidewinder - don't shock-load the cable. The bull-gear simply won't stand for it, and the first picture shown below is the result; many, many stripped teeth. Probably not bad advice for any winch, I suppose.

Some years later I acquired a "parts Hickey" from a local seller via Craigslist for the sole purpose of acquiring a new bull gear. Now, many years later I've finally tackled the project of changing out that bull gear.

Attachment 1380851

I've repaired back gears on lathes that looked like that after Bubba removed a stuck thread on chuck with a hammer by locking the back gear in without releasing the bull gear pin. He destroyed a pretty decent Skinner four jaw chuck too. I started by building up the damaged area with Nickel rod and then annealed the weld. The easy part was cutting round on the lathe, and re-cutting the teeth with a single point cutter and rotary table with indexing plates on a horizontal milling machine.
I have a buddy that repaired a starter ring gear ona D7 Bulldozer by welding up the missing teeth and grinding them back to profile with a Dremel and files. If you don't have lots of patience and very steady hands don't try that one at home kids.... Shaking my head.

I've seen lathe and milling machine back gears brazed back up with set screw cores and silicon bronze rod then machined back into shape. They were only missing parts of a few teeth not an entire section of gear like my lathe and that winch gear.

[1774btcrew]

Originally Posted by hatzie

I've repaired back gears on lathes that looked like that after Bubba removed a stuck thread on chuck with a hammer by locking the back gear in without releasing the bull gear pin. He destroyed a pretty decent Skinner four jaw chuck too. I started by building up the damaged area with Nickel rod and then annealed the weld. The easy part was cutting round on the lathe, and re-cutting the teeth with a single point cutter and rotary table with indexing plates on a horizontal milling machine.
I have a buddy that repaired a starter ring gear ona D7 Bulldozer by welding up the missing teeth and grinding them back to profile with a Dremel and files. If you don't have lots of patience and very steady hands don't try that one at home kids.... Shaking my head.

I've seen lathe and milling machine back gears brazed back up with set screw cores and silicon bronze rod then machined back into shape. They were only missing parts of a few teeth not an entire section of gear like my lathe and that winch gear.

I think there are enough of us that need these gears that someone should make them. I can't help but think CNCed aluminum would be better than these cast aluminum pieces. It is a shame to have such a cool item that can't be used.