Has this winch cable had its day

[HeavyPizzaz]

When it's in free spool the motor is disconnected so if it won't turn it's something in the gearbox, not the motor.

Ah yeah good point, thanks. So I guess the physics question is how easy should I expect it to be to turn the drum spool by hand versus pulling the end of a winch cable. I’m just trying to avoid pulling it apart again unless I have to (time and effort) but if the consensus is “pulling the winch cable won’t give you that much extra leverage” then I’ll bite the bullet and crack it open.