Hickey Sidewinder Winch Install
 

I love the vintage 4x4 look that the first gen Blazers have, and I am always on the lookout for vintage accessories to go along with the theme. I have other trucks that I wheel with that have newer equipment that is purely functional, but my Blazer is the place that I hang all of my vintage stuff that just looks cool.

Well, I found a nice Hickey Sidewinder winch a while back, and I just got around to fabbing up the necessary frame mounts and winch plate. I had to do some trimming on the front bumber to move the winch forward enough such that the top if the winch fits snugly against the bottom of the core support without hitting the engine cross member and so that the engagement lever is accessible between the grill and radiator. I think it came out pretty clean, and works nicely. All I need now is to source out a spring loaded, hinged license plate mount to cover the fairlead. Any recommendations on this are appreciated. Anyways, I've attached some pictures.

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Couple more pics.

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Looks good- you could use a magnet-type attached plate instead of a hinge type...

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looks sweet, good job. Have you had a chance to pull anything with it? I know it's old tech but wondering how it really stacks up to a newer winch.

Do you have the install manual? I have the stuff available off the web but never did find an install manual.



Can't wait to get mine installed someday:)

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Dude that is slick. The Blazer is dialed in. I bet you cant wait to test it out.

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Saw this on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hicke...sQ5fLiterature

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Thanks Gary, I've seen that listing. Been holding off buying it, seems a little pricey for a copy. I'm cheap :lol:

Just wondering if anyone had a copy of it and wanted to split the cost etc.

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I bought one if you want I will make some copies.

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AHA, found that somebody :lol:

Gary, that would be wonderful. Easiest way would be if you can scan into a .pdf file and email to me. If this works I can send you my email addy. I would be happy to make a donation of your choosing to your build fund.

:metal:

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I will try when I get it.

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71Jimmy -

I have 7 of the 8 pages of the manual that I collected on the internet. Can send pdfs to you or post them here if you want.

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I got mine in the mail today 9 pages I will have to wait untill my wife comes home from work dont no how to run the scanner.

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Cleskie, I currently have 7 pages of info I downloaded from the internet, probably the same as you have. The info is basically an assembly manual, covers parts breakdown (no parts list however) and electrical. No indication of wether the pages came out of the Owners Manual or ?

The manual Gary bought is the Owners manual. Probably has much the same info and hopefully a little more. Just interested in it for nostalgic reasons (that's probably why I wasn't ready to shell out $20 plus shipping for a copy).

Gary 70 Jimmy, no rush at all, I appreciate you doing this. :metal:
Do you have yours mounted yet?

Wonder how many board members have a Hickey.

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Looks really good. You might try a rear plate mount from a early to mid-70s Chevy. I know the Caprice and the Malibu had rear spring-mounted plates over the filler cap at one time. Another option is motorhome parts. My 91 Pace Arrow had a spring-mounted rear plate.

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Cleskie, did you refurb/rebuild your sidewinder before mounting it? I've finally taken mine apart and am wondering if any of the seals and bearings are available somewhere. My insides actually look pretty good considering the age of this thing but if these parts are somehow available it wouldn't hurt to replace them. The bearing on the worm gear is the worst. The oil inside the winch was all dried up and quite a bit of dirt had found its way inside along with water at some time, but really not too bad for 35 plus years. I would guess it had never been taken apart before.

I really like the way you've mounted yours, I think it looks better than they were originally intended to be mounted. I may ask you for some detailed info when I get mine together again.

thanks

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My winch was a working unit when I obtained it. I did open it up and check things out and everything looked and felt good. I have since winched several other vehicles with it with no issues. I also got a pile of other sidewinder parts with the winch, probably enough to build another complete unit, so I have spares of many of the bearings and seals.

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Thanks for reply Cleskie. I think I can reuse my bearings since I will not be really using the winch, I do want it to work though. After all my work on the Jimmy I'm leaning more and more toward not trashing it anywhere I would possible need a winch. That said, winches are normally just used to pull others out of whatever!!:metal:

Since you reused your seals/bearings etc do you have any leaks?

My thought would be that even brand new back in the day they probably leaked a little. Tolerences etc where just not that tight back then.

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71jimmy,
I just recently opened up two of them, one sounds about like yours, water, dirt, etc. Working on getting those gears cleaned up.

The other looks almost new inside, except the seal at the motor shaft was leaking... the motor was completely full of oil!
I believe the one that leaked is actually just an o-ring, so easily replaced.

I have an older Ramsey style(and probably built) Hickey winch that I did rebuild a few years ago and if I remember correctly, I was able to get the seals not too far from here, at a farm/tractor supply store in Stockton. I may head over there sometime in the next week or so, let you know what I find.

---

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71Jimmy -

No leaks or wetness, and it is full of oil.

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dazza - thanks for chiming in, tractor supply - would have never thought of that. Let me know how you make out.

Cleskie - glad to hear no leaks for you. I'm going to put mine back together, fill it up and see what happens. They are very easy to take apart, so if it leaks at least I'll know from were.

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Hi Cleskie, need a small favor if you can manage. Just completed putting my sidewinder back together and realize I'm missing the spring on the "lever packer". The parts breakout I have (same we all have I think) does not give any specs on the spring. If possible, could you get me the length, diameter and the wire size they used? I'd like to get one as close as I can, not sure how much tension is actually put on the "lever".

Would you happen to have any pics of how you mounted the front and rear of the winch to your frame? To me it seems you were able to mount your winch slightly higher into the frame than some others I have seen (on this board, on later model trucks). I like that it gives you that extra ground clearance.

Thanks, much appreciated

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Tell you what 71, how about I mail you one of my springs, you find yourself a match, then send mine back to me... WITH, a nice little diagram of your new mounting brackets and their measurements. Kinda like a winch-mounting guinea pig! haha. I'm just so busy that mounting mine up is a low priority, although it would be nice to know what I'm in for when the time comes. I'll even do a nice photoshop rendering of the diagram for others here on the board, as I'm sure we won't be the last people to need it.
Let me know,
daz

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71jimmy -

I may have an extra spring for you. I need to check my parts stash.

My mounting is simple. I welded two L channel brackets to the inside of the frame horns. I then mounted a piece of steel diamondplate to the two L brackets with grade 8 bolts. I mounted the winch to the steel diamondplate with grade 8 bolts into the circular pattern mounting bolt holes on the bottom of the winch case. It is a "foot down" mounted winch, unlike some others that are "foot forward" and have mounting bolts on the front of the case that attach to a vertical mounting plate.

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Cleskie - thank you so much for the offer on the spring, let me know. If I can make a donation to your build fund please let me know.

I'm also missing the cover over the solenoids (no, no, not expecting you to have an extra) but if you could provide dimensions and how it mounts it would also be greatly appreciated . It looks to me like the solenoids and the bracket they sit on, screw to the inner fender and are what ground this setup, is that correct? The cover is metal, how does that not shock you? I think later setups got a plastic cover.

Thanks for the explanation on how you hung your winch.

dazza - thanks for the offer, if Cleskie doesn't have one I'll let you know. Regarding dimensions of the mounting brackets I will let you know. My winch came with brackets and skid plate supposedly from a Blazer. I have not been able to see how they fit or if they fit as my frame horns are bent (getting that fixed as we speak). If the brackets fit like they are supposed to I will get dimensions to you probably in the next few weeks. However, if the brackets don't fit and I have to fab something up it could be sometime (good thing your not in a hurry), and you may have to remind me down the road.

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Looks great cant wait to get mine back on. Your bumper fits around it very nicely. My previous owner just chopped a sections out of the bumper to fit it. Did you customize that bumper or buy it like that?