Building a Winch
 

So my buddy and I are thinking about building a winch. We have a 6.5hp lawn mower engine to use and a spool. We are going to build it up on a frame too. My concern is that it may not work since its a vertical drive shaft instead of horizontal and we could run into problems. Has anybody ever done this and gotten it to work?

Yes, you need a Right Angle Gearbox, a transaxle out of golf cart or rider mower, or a conversion head kit.

By the time you buy all that you'd be money ahead to sell the vertical engine and find a used horizontal shaft.

I have a simular motor and was thinking of doing the same thing. Guess I will try to get it sold to invest in a different one. Any other suggestions for making it?

do you have a harbor freight in town? Thats where i bought my motor....go to their parking lot sale and pick up one of the used ones....people buy em and run generators and stuff like that for a weekend and then return them...they had 6 when i went. dont remember the $ but i do remember thinking "smokin deal!"

Look into Torque-A-verters (TAV) i ordered mine from bulletlines.com, not sure if they are still available....much better than a centrifugal clutch!

Take into account the moment that the spool will put on the rest of the frame if you plan on using it when its not mounted to the hitch of a vehicle....my buddys was nasty to run on the beach, it wanted to flip over pretty bad.

I do have a harbor freight in town, ill have to go look there. We might look into a horizontal shaft engine. If I spend the money on a torque converter than I might as well look for a cheeper horizontal shaft engine.

Norwalk - I'm from Omaha NE and will sell you mine - way easier! I made it from scratch, 6.5HP engine, with upgrades to 8hp. TAV, 600' of line, runs like a champ. Hit me up. If you need a reference, hit up Mark from Johnston with the Maristar, we're buds.

Oh, shoot me a PM if interested, I may forget to check back on the thread