Abstract: A winch assembly includes a housing member, a drum rotatably coupled to the housing member, a drive shaft extending through the drum and into the housing member, a gear train located within the housing member and driven by the shaft, a coupling member axially fixed to the shaft, and a clutch assembly including a clutch knob. The shaft is fixed for rotation with and axially displaceable relative to a drive input. The clutch knob is rotatably coupled to the housing member and includes an axially extending ramped surface that axially displaces the shaft in first and second axial directions upon rotation of the clutch knob in first and second rotary directions. Rotation in the first rotary direction rotationally couples the drum to the gear train through engagement with the coupling member and rotation in the second rotary direction disengages the drum from rotational engagement with the gear train.