[Southgate]

If you go back to my crane's history, you'll see I had built my controls into an MRC power packj. It has transistorized throttle. A transistor controls VOLTAGE, whereas a mechanical resistor (rheostat. if it's variable) limits CURRENT. The prob with that is if the winches use a very small amount of current, the rheostat doesnt limit it enough, or do so consistently under varying loads.

A transistor control is really easy to make, and inexpensive. I have a box of stuff, enough to experiment with so I can go make a test circuit and give ya a rundown on how to build one up for your crane.