Need opinions on servo motor control for heavy applications

Does the hand crank drive a cable winch? If so it shouldn't be too hard to replace that with an electrical winch.

With an electrical winch you could use a simple switch to count turns of the motor and a limit switch to indicate the "Full Up" position. To get to the other three positions you can move up or down and count turns of the winch. It won't give you millimeter precision but it won't cost a fortune, either.