winch question...

[lawdog]

My dad has a Polaris Sportsman 500 H.O. with a Warn winch on the front. The winch pulls fine and has plenty of power, but I used it to lift something through a pully, and when I let off the in switch, the line winds back out, in other words, it couldn't hold 700 lbs up through a block and tackle. Shouldn't it hold that without the line winding back out? What would be the fix to this? I don't want to have to take the winch out as they are a pain to get to...

THANKS.

[Dave]

That model winch probably doesn't have a mechanical brake. Even if it did, manufacturer's state that winches are not to be used to lift and hold loads. This is obviously why.