After weeks of trying to figure out what would make the best…and cheapest winch we found we had the solution sitting under the porch the whole time. Our crusty old go-kart.

So we drug it out, cleaned it off and started the old 5hp up. Amazing it started up considering that its sat under the porch for the past 5 years. After the mandatory victory lap it was time to start the build.

We decided to try and use as much of the go kart as possible to keep the cost as low as possible. The first thing we did was remove the wheels. Then we disassembled a wheel to build the spool. More on that later. The next step was turning the motor around…simple so far right. Then we turned the seat frame around to give us something to mount the spool to. The seat frame is adjustable so we figured it would be an easy way to let tension off the chain if we ended up needing it to free spool. We then welded some slotted angle iron (the shiz you hang your garage doors with) diagonally to the seat frame. First a few more cold ones(coca-cola’s) and on to building the f***in spool. We thought we had it all figured out, cut the frame where the axle bearings are and weld them to our diagonal pieces. Easy. We then took the the hubs from the wheels we disassembled and drilled holes trough them and the axle and bolted the hub to the axle. Next we bolted up some grinding plates and slid the axle into the bearings(our ghetto pillowblocks) we welded to the diagonal angle iron.

A few more cold ones and we go to bolt on the TAV2 torque converter we got at Northern. Turns out vintage Briggs 5hp’s aren’t made to bolt on accessories. We realize we won’t be riding this evening and call it a day.

The next morning me brotha gets up and heads over to the local Harbor Freight and picks up a knock off Honda 6.5 hp for 165.00 brand new. I meet him over at his garage and he’s already got everything bolted up and ready to go and it just so happens he just got the 600′ uv coated spectra line from Bullet Lines. As a side note this is a nice line for the money. We looked everywhere for a better deal and could not find anything that came close to the quality or price of this one. So we tie the rope on the spool, fire up the engine and start spooling the line up and our one of our quality welds breaks free from one of the ghetto pillow blocks. To the depot for some u bolts. Get back bolt it up nice and tight, finish spooling the line an its test time. We carry it out to the road and grab a skateboard. We both take a few pulls and it works like it should. To the lake. We get everything set up at the lake and my brother swims out to try a deepwater start. Fire it up, line tightens up and bang…the aluminum hubs we used broke. Back to the store for some more parts. Here is a pic of the winch as it sits now.