Sorry jeremy... Im not sure about the sprocket sizes off the top of my head.. and my friends have the winch up in cleveland this week.. they are doing a few modifications. After using it all night at our rail jam we have a few very minor things to adjust. I can let you know about the gearing when i get the winch back here to columbus.
Here are a few good links for some good building advice...
http://winchskating.com/forums/ http://www.tahitimx.com/winch/ Mike, to answer your question, the line does not wind evenly on the spool. If the rider cuts left or right, the line will build up on that side of the spool. Its pretty minor though, the driver does not need to adjust the speed any differently.. I guess the only real important thing to keeping a nicely wound spool is get the unused line on there nice and tight... For instance, my line is 1000 ft long. When I am winching a 300 ft long pond, i want to make sure that the first 700 ft is on there super tight so that the line doesnt dig into itself so to speak... this is necessary for a smoother pull...!
I was lucky, i had a friend do the powder coating for free. Im not sure how much it would have costed... but It is definitely worth doing! Its alot easier then prepping and painting, and it makes it so nice so much nicer and easier to carry, touch, clean, ect...