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!

[wazzabie]

Why do you not like the mounts?

Originally Posted by jeffahart

I finally had some time to take a good look at the Hickey Enterprises worm drive that's been relegated to the corner of my garage since my folks dropped it off on Thanksgiving weekend. Been busy! I hooked the motor to a battery and it winds both directions, nice and strong motor, but it pops out of gear easily though... not sure what's up with that.

I will drain oils and clean it up; then if it seems fit for duty, I will begin the bumper build.

Any how, here's some pics and my thoughts. Any input is welcome, especially if you have some hands on with one.

I initially was going to pick up a hydraulic winch, I like them. Then this came up and I jumped on it. I like it because it's period correct.

I weighed it, it dresses out at 120lbs with cable mount iron and oil, not bad!
Attachment 1500048

The original mounting flat iron on front and rear angle iron is 5/16 and I don't dig that huge chop around the case on the flat iron.
Attachment 1500049

The angle iron is cut at both mounting ends, I don't really dig that either.
Attachment 1500050

Looks like you can rotate the gearbox plate, so plug can be worm down or worm up mount. They have it setup for worm on top. I will keep it that way.
It looks like any way you mount it is OK, worm up, worm down, over drum pull, under drum pull.
Attachment 1500053

See the other side the Hickey Enterprises verbiage is upside down!
Attachment 1500055

[jeffahart]

Originally Posted by wazzabie

Why do you not like the mounts?

I was critical of the mounts on my first visual inspection because of the notch. That was just my first thoughts really. But the mount iron is 5/16(darn thick!). So I'm guessing they accounted for the notching with the thicker iron. I'm guessing some other things will bend before the mounts. No longer an issue for me.

I will be leaving the winch mounted as is.

[jeffahart]

Got rid of the roller fairlead and replaced with a steel hawse. Painted everything black and did some painting on the grill. Working on second battery now.



j

[jjzepplin]

Originally Posted by jeffahart

Got rid of the roller fairlead and replaced with a steel hawse. Painted everything black and did some painting on the grill. Working on second battery now.

Attachment 1700243

j

That IS very nice! Good job.

[snj8198]

that's a nice option that keeps the stock pumper. grats!

[Orange Crate]

jeffahart and dazza,
Thanks for the great pictures and install/rebuild info. I might be the proud owner of one of these by the end of the week. I paid by Paypal and have tracking numbers but sometimes you just never know about interweb purchases.....If I need to go through it when it arrives I'll be using your guidance here for sure so thanks again.

jeffahart, I like the clean look of the hawse fairlead, I'll be using the same set up on my bumper that just got delivered last week. Here is what it is going on. I have tow hooks so I'll be skipping the shackles.

[jeffahart]

Originally Posted by Orange Crate

jeffahart and dazza,
Thanks for the great pictures and install/rebuild info. I might be the proud owner of one of these by the end of the week. I paid by Paypal and have tracking numbers but sometimes you just never know about interweb purchases.....If I need to go through it when it arrives I'll be using your guidance here for sure so thanks again.

jeffahart, I like the clean look of the hawse fairlead, I'll be using the same set up on my bumper that just got delivered last week. Here is what it is going on. I have tow hooks so I'll be skipping the shackles.

Nice, post some pics if you can... no two installs go the same!

[jeffahart]

One of the things you can do with a steel hawse is stick your finger around a ball or u-joint and finger scrape a bit of excess grease; and then swab the hawse hole before you run line. Helps a bit, especially if you have a used hawse with a bit of rust.

[jeffahart]

Also, as long as you have to do some mounting fab... if you have good clamps, clamp the thing up there and put the bumper up to it. It's a tight fit and maybe you could jockey a 1/4" this way or that to make sure the bumper fits nice, before you drill the frame. I hate drilling my frame!

[Orange Crate]

Hey, thanks again. I won't be buying any mounts I'll make my own for sure. I apperciate the tip on mounting the bumper, I wouldn't have thought about doing that. I just bought a new front bumper so good reason to unwrap that thing.

[Orange Crate]

So I ended up reusing the mounts that came with the winch. I cut the feet off of the rear mount and re-welded them. At the same time I put the mounts on top of the frame before re-welding. It was a good thing that I cut those feet off the mount, it didn't take much, just two quick cuts with a cut off wheel and they snapped right off. The rear mount is 1/2' thick but the feet were just butt welded. The 1/2" ends weren't beveled to provide good penetration of the weld. I beveled the ends and used to passes to fill in the valleys. First pic is drives side and second is the other. I have plenty of clearance from the motor to the radiator support. I just have to reverse the hardware for my tow hooks and maybe work on the winch mount ends a little to remove some material to let the bolts fit beside them. Alright it's cookin' time. Happy T day.

[jeffahart]

Switched over from oil to #0 Corn Head grease.

Did some puttering in the garage on Fathers Day. I decided to take care of the lube job. The winch is now a part of my LO. It needs to be because it hangs there and is really susceptible to neglect. I try to run it every time I wash the truck but I mostly forget. So keeping the fluids changed is really important, because it rarely gets run and for only a short couple minutes. For me, this winch is mostly a period artifact. But it does need to be maintained in working order, it can't just hang there and be expected to perform after months of neglect! I figure once the grease liquefies and splatters, the internals will have a protective coating that will stick. I really think it's a problem with 30W in the transfer.

Onto the maintenance free solution! I ditched the oils and pumped in the #0 Corn Head grease. Here's what I did and how much I used.

I ran the winch for a bit to get the oils warmed up for draining.

I made an adapter for the grease gun and screwed it into the bottom of the Main gear case then the bottom of the transfer case. I used one tube in the transfer and a tube and a quarter in the main gear case. I ran the winch occasionally as I pumped in the grease.

Below you will see that the transfer gear with only a few pumps of oil, enough for the gear to dip it's toe, will dredge the grease and liquefy it quickly.

Anyhow, onto the application. After the application, the winch runs way smoother.



Below you can see the transfer gear viewed from the top of the case




I ran the winch motor after only a few pumps of grease in the transfer case. You can see a small bead of grease running on top of the gear.




It's hard to tell from the picture, but I posted it for illustration. With only a few pumps the grease is already liquefied and running on the gear.




After about 6oz, the recommended capacity for oil, the grease is everywhere and blocking the hole at the top of the case. I pumped in the rest of the tube. Probably about 12 to 13oz.




This is the oil fill hole in the main case running the motor with recommended 6oz fluid capacity. I pumped in the rest of the tube and another few ounces from a third tube. Total of about 16oz.






j

[jeffahart]

Another item on my Fathers Day puttering in the garage. I made a steel On/Off label for my Moroso power switch. The red sticker made it look like a service panel switch.

Used 1/16 plate and painted like the hasp plate. Sometimes I just can't leave the garage and need to tinker!

Red Sticker from Moroso


Letter paint


Mounted



j

[Green Monster]

Two year old thread but wanted to mention this looks so clean! Nice work and thanks for sharing.