Locking Winch

jodomcfrodo

jodomcfrodo

Antagonist and Dick
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Illinois
Hi All,
So I have a fairly unique situation. Kids at my school love messing with my jeep. Not maliciously, but they like to screw with it sometimes. Only 81 kids go to my school so it isn't a big deal. For example, when I have no doors, they'll throw it in neutral and roll it away. I recently got a winch, so they are threatening to mess with that. The last thing I need is for them to unspool all the cable. I've been trying to come up with a way to lock the winch so they can't get it into neutral. I thought that taking the lever off would be a good idea. So I've done that except now the rubber stopper I put in the hole where the lever would be keeps falling out. I don't think it would be a good idea to get debris into that hole so I've put the lever back in. Is there any way to lock the winch so that people can't screw with it?

Thanks
 
Hmmm, if anyone had a solution for this (though I'm not sure how common it is) it might be @mrblaine.

I don't know of any way to lock the winch from having the rope unspooled. If it was me I'd get an alarm. Better yet, I'd actually find the kids who are doing this shit and lay the smack down. I know it's just fun and games, but that would piss me off to some degree.
 
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Chris said:
Hmmm, if anyone had a solution for this (though I'm not sure how common it is) it might be @mrblaine.

I don't know of any way to lock the winch from having the rope unspooled. If it was me I'd get an alarm. Better yet, I'd actually find the kids who are doing this shit and lay the smack down. I know it's just fun and games, but that would piss me off to some degree.
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It's a weird dynamic when there are 81 kids in the entire high school. There are only 6 other guys in my grade so I know who is doing it and they even tell me they are doing it. I just laugh about it. Nothing much I can do about it in terms of scaring them away or getting pissed. I just have to make my jeep "screw-proof".
 
Hmmm... Maybe what you should really be thinking is booby traps? :D
 
Chris said:
Hmmm... Maybe what you should really be thinking is booby traps? :D
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That actually isn't a bad idea. I'm not joking about that. I'll have to think of some ideas. I would screw with their cars, but I'm not sure if I want to mess with a 2016, $60,000 Audi. Seems like that could go wrong.
 
Hey I'm just throwing this out there not saying do it ,but a bear trap works great.


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coopking said:
Hey I'm just throwing this out there not saying do it ,but a bear trap works great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sounds like you know from experience. I'm sure I could find a bear trap in Wyoming pretty easily...
 
jodomcfrodo said:
Hi All,
So I have a fairly unique situation. Kids at my school love messing with my jeep. Not maliciously, but they like to screw with it sometimes. Only 81 kids go to my school so it isn't a big deal. For example, when I have no doors, they'll throw it in neutral and roll it away. I recently got a winch, so they are threatening to mess with that. The last thing I need is for them to unspool all the cable. I've been trying to come up with a way to lock the winch so they can't get it into neutral. I thought that taking the lever off would be a good idea. So I've done that except now the rubber stopper I put in the hole where the lever would be keeps falling out. I don't think it would be a good idea to get debris into that hole so I've put the lever back in. Is there any way to lock the winch so that people can't screw with it?

Thanks
Click to expand...
If I wanted to lock a Warn, it would be easy. Make a strap that clamps around the housing with a tab on the backside of the lever that comes up off of the strap that clamps. A lock around the lever and the tab would stop them from getting it into free spool.
 
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mrblaine said:
If I wanted to lock a Warn, it would be easy. Make a strap that clamps around the housing with a tab on the backside of the lever that comes up off of the strap that clamps. A lock around the lever and the tab would stop them from getting it into free spool.
Click to expand...

I'm having a bit of a hard time visualizing this but I think I get what you mean. I'll try to come up with a way to make that. Thanks for the help.
 
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jodomcfrodo said:
I'm having a bit of a hard time visualizing this but I think I get what you mean. I'll try to come up with a way to make that. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
On a Warn, the lever points straight back and you rotate it straight forward to free spool. If there was a small tab right beside the lever while in the spool in position or pointed straight back, you could put a lock around the lever and the tab. You need a way to secure the tab to the winch housing without welding it, so you have to use the two bolts for the tie bar on a non integrated winch or make a clamp that goes around the round part of the housing the lever sticks up out of.
 
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jodomcfrodo said:
That actually isn't a bad idea. I'm not joking about that. I'll have to think of some ideas. I would screw with their cars, but I'm not sure if I want to mess with a 2016, $60,000 Audi. Seems like that could go wrong.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why the price of their vehicle makes any difference. If they are messing with your vehicle, there is no reason that you can not or should not mess with theirs. In fact, I would argue that the pranks are more likely to stop when their expensive sports car starts getting messed with.
 
Serbonze said:
I'm not sure why the price of their vehicle makes any difference. If they are messing with your vehicle, there is no reason that you can not or should not mess with theirs. In fact, I would argue that the pranks are more likely to stop when their expensive sports car starts getting messed with.
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X2 to this.

Mess with their vehicle back. That should stop the nonsense from happening.
 
Serbonze said:
I'm not sure why the price of their vehicle makes any difference. If they are messing with your vehicle, there is no reason that you can not or should not mess with theirs. In fact, I would argue that the pranks are more likely to stop when their expensive sports car starts getting messed with.
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There is every reason in the world to not do it. Be the bigger man, be responsible by not escalating the situation to the point where the damage is life threatening or irrevocable and leads to something that is life changing in a very bad way. It takes maturity and intelligence to prevent childish games from ruining one's life, exercise it.

Don't mess with their vehicles, fix the problem and the problem is stupid games being played by stupid people and that often leads to winning stupid prizes. Don't be stupid.
 
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mrblaine said:
On a Warn, the lever points straight back and you rotate it straight forward to free spool. If there was a small tab right beside the lever while in the spool in position or pointed straight back, you could put a lock around the lever and the tab. You need a way to secure the tab to the winch housing without welding it, so you have to use the two bolts for the tie bar on a non integrated winch or make a clamp that goes around the round part of the housing the lever sticks up out of.
Click to expand...

Ahhh I see what you're saying. On my winch, unless I put the lever in the wrong way, it points forward when locked and you turn it to the right to let it free spool. I'll go check to make sure I put it in the right way. Your idea seems really good. I just have to make it now. The tab will still work with the lever facing forwards. Thanks for all the help!
 
Not much of a good way to mess with this:
http://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/new-models/all-new-xc90

Damaging that would be a huge deal. It's an automatic as well so I can't roll it away. I don't know, I usually like to stay out of trouble. And the people messing with my car are close friends. They're not being malicious or anything, so I don't want to do anything back.
 
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jodomcfrodo said:
Not much of a good way to mess with this:
http://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/new-models/all-new-xc90

Damaging that would be a huge deal. It's an automatic as well so I can't roll it away. I don't know, I usually like to stay out of trouble. And the people messing with my car are close friends. They're not being malicious or anything, so I don't want to do anything back.
Click to expand...

Yes, they are being malicious or anything. "Messing" with anothers property, no matter the value, no matter what it is, is not appropriate. It's a moral and ethical thing, you see. Maturity and wisdom will make that clear in time. There are clear bright lines that need to be drawn in human behaviour, for the good of all and for all time. It's extremely tough in this age of moral and ethical relativity to make that stand or hold that belief because it will disadvantage you in some cases. In the long run it works out to your advantage though. Just saying, give it some serious thought.
 
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Ca_Rick said:
How about not just laughing it off next time, let them know there's a limit to what is funny and what's not.
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I'm a pretty laid back person. Getting pissed off about it will just make them do it more. They've only really screwed with it twice. Rolled it away once and drew of bunch of stuff in the mud that was on it. Besides that, everything else is pretty minor. They haven't messed with the winch yet. If they do, I'll get pissed. Just trying to prevent them from messing with the winch.
 
try a dash cam feeding your cell phone.......... tied to what the school teaches. video is only good if it is used to produce positive change.

Kids are not supposed to steal either. We don't lock the store doors to stop theft. We teach kids to not...............
 
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StG58 said:
Yes, they are being malicious or anything. "Messing" with anothers property, no matter the value, no matter what it is, is not appropriate. It's a moral and ethical thing, you see. Maturity and wisdom will make that clear in time. There are clear bright lines that need to be drawn in human behaviour, for the good of all and for all time. It's extremely tough in this age of moral and ethical relativity to make that stand or hold that belief because it will disadvantage you in some cases. In the long run it works out to your advantage though. Just saying, give it some serious thought.
Click to expand...
this ^^^^^
 
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