[EricH]

Originally Posted by Monochron

Re-read the second post I made describing it. The window motor is not directly attached to the winch, it would stay stationary during unwinding.

Now you're clear. The first couple of description posts were very unclear as to where the ratchet was, except that it was on the winch side of the system; the second seems to say that there's a worm drive between the ratchet and the winch--and then talks about "easily" spinning the winch! Now I understand what you're saying: window motor/worm drive--> ratchet --> winch.


To be honest, I can't think of a single ratchet that will switch easily under load. What I might do in your case would be a small 3-gear setup, where one gear is on the motor shaft (through the ratchet, though if you've still got the worm gear that won't be needed), one gear is on the winch shaft, and one gear is on an arm that drops in to connect the other two--a pneumatically-powered arm, if possible. Pull the arm out to unlock the gearbox. I've seen something like that work in LEGO before... You'd want to have the stroke to put the gear back in be slow, possibly at really low pressure, with the motor turning slowly, though.