Portable winch

A pulling tool, comprising:

• a drum including a first flange and a second flange, wherein a plurality of splined teeth is disposed along an outer circumference of one of the first flange and the second flange of the drum at an output end of the drum;
• an externally actuated input drive shaft driving an output driven shaft;
• a differential planetary transmission driven by the output driven shaft and including a rotatable ring gear meshing with the splined teeth and including a fixed ring gear;
• and
• a clutch mechanism comprising:
• a plurality of spring pins adapted to interface with corresponding grooves in the fixed ring gear;
• and
• a rotatable clutch lock, where the clutch lock is adapted to rotate and retract the plurality of spring pins out of engagement with the fixed clutch ring in order to enable free-spooling of the pulling tool.

A pulling tool, comprising:

• a drum including a first flange and a second flange, wherein a plurality of splined teeth is disposed along an outer circumference of one of the first flange and the second flange of the drum at an output end of the drum;
• an input drive shaft adapted to be externally actuated;
• an output driven shaft driven by the input drive shaft and driving a differential planetary gear train, the differential planetary gear train comprising a rotatable ring gear meshing with the splined teeth and a fixed ring gear;
• and
• a clutch mechanism comprising:
• a plurality of spring pins adapted to interface with corresponding grooves in the fixed ring gear, each of the plurality of spring pins including a return spring that provides a refraction force on a corresponding spring pin of the plurality of spring pins;
• and
• a rotatable clutch lock, where the clutch lock is adapted to rotate and retract the plurality of spring pins out of engagement with the fixed clutch ring in order to enable free-spooling of the pulling tool only when a load on the pulling tool is less than a threshold load, where the threshold load is based on the retraction force of the return springs.