3 pt grapple vs skidding winch for single operator?

[plowhog]

Cleaning up my forestry mess, I will often be working alone. Mostly level ground, lots of brush and debris, many trees down, average log size 10", mostly pine, ranging up to very long lengths. I've never done this before. I will have a 50+ hp cab tractor with front grapple and rear landscape rake. I'm wanting to move the trees to a work area, then buck them into rounds and split for firewood. I envision using the grapple to pick up an end of a log, drag it to my work area, grab it again in the center to lift it completely off the ground, then saw it into rounds while off the ground.

I'm looking at a Wallenstein LX5100 3 pt grapple. Or a Wallenstein or Farmi skidding winch. It seems the 3 pt grapple, for a single operator, is more productive. That assumes mostly level terrain and a clear area to work in, and I have both. A grapple lets me back up. grab a tree, and go. The winch requires me to dismount the tractor, pull the cable out to the tree, hook up a choker, winch it in, remount the tractor, and go. But I not ever done either of these tasks so that's just my impressions, which might be wrong?

The winch is clearly superior if you cant back up to the tree or if you need to "thread the needle" through a forest. But for single person operation in an open area, is the grapple better? I am curious to hear from those with experience, as I see many "winch operators" but only very few that use a 3 pt grapple?

 

[Shaneard]

My brother had a 3 point grapple years ago and it worked great. We also used it for brush, we would pile it up then set the grapple on top of it and on we went. For your application with lots of open space you sound like you will be good to go with the grapple, that getting on and off hooking and unhooking will get old quick!

 

[motownbrowne]

The other benefit of a winch is that it allows you and your expensive tractor to be further from the action. If you've got stems that are tangled up together, winching them from a distance is preferable to grabbing something with your grapple and hoping that nothing else shifts and Congress through your rear window, for example.

 

[jeff9366]

If I had a cab tractor with all that glass, so easy to break, I would prioritize a Three Point Hitch PTO winch over a grapple.

Lifting heavy loads of any type with the FEL inherently introduces instability due to the small front wheels and large rear wheels.

I SPECULATE grapple owners outnumber tractor winch owners, 4:1.

 

[motownbrowne]

Another thought, you mention the winch requiring you to pull the cable to the tree and then winch it in. In the case of a log that you could grab with a three point grapple, you don't need to use the cable at all. You can just back up to the tree, wrap a choker around it, and hook it to the winch. The winch allows you to deal with trees that you can't reach, but it's not like you have to park far away.

 

[blooper]

I would say definitely a winch. I just cleared about 5 acres this past year, mostly hardwood but some big logs as well. I cant imagine having to back up to each log individually and driving each one out to the landing (I started that way with just a draw bar) the winch allows you to park on your logging road and hook onto several logs (depending on size) at a time and pulling all of them out at once. Added benefit of not having to drive over/through less than ideal places and avoiding any steep terrain. I have a Norse 450 on my 48 hp Massey with a cab and it will pull just about anything... love it!!

 

[Rustyiron]

The winch is clearly superior if you cant back up to the tree or if you need to "thread the needle" through a forest. But for single person operation in an open area, is the grapple better? I am curious to hear from those with experience, as I see many "winch operators" but only very few that use a 3 pt grapple?

How open of an "open area"? Do you have room to carry out the debris sideway's (loader grapple) and how far are you moving it?
I have a winch with a grapple and a front loader grapple. They each have their place, the rear grapple is better for logs than brush, the front grapple can take and squish a giant pile of brush in 1 bite but you need a 15' (or more) wide road. The winch has it's manual aspect of hooking & dropping but if you have 4 or 5 slides, you can haul a lot of "stuff" out on a narrow path with each trip. :confused3:

 

[Oldpath05]

With a 50+hp tractor, the key words here is>>"Mostly level ground," << on my rough land I prefer winch, but on flat ground, if buying a 3pt grapple, I'd consider something like this with a wide opening, side shift and narrower grapple tinges>>> Valby Tractor Grapples - YouTube

This Wallenstein grapple is more for small tractors>> Wallenstein LX Log Grapple - YouTube <<and the tinges are to wide for logging, better for brush piles, narrow tinge are good for ripping out stumps if needed.

 

[John_Mc]

The big advantage of a logging winch is not having to make a trail to each individual log you want to pick up. The other advantage is that you can generally pull out more logs in one hitch: With a grapple, you are picking up one or maybe two logs and driving out with them. With a winch, you can pull out 4 or 5 at a time.

You'll also find that your work methods vary with the equipment you have. When I'm working on firewood with a winch, I seldom actually skid logs to a landing for processing. I'll set up the tractor and winch, and winch out whatever trees are within reach that I'm taking. Once they are pulled out to the trail near the tractor, rather than driving off with them behind the tractor, I cut and split them right there and load into a trailer right off the splitter. I usually continue cutting rounds, till either my chainsaw is out of gas or I am. I then I haul the first trailer load of split wood home.

Most of my pulls are less than 100 - 150 ft, but I've got 230 ft (70 meters) of cable on my winch. I can pull quite a pile of logs in to one spot and never have to climb on and off the tractor. Typically, the longer pulls are when I'm working with someone, since it can be hard to see what is going on at the other end of a 200+ foot cable. A self-releasing snatch block increases the number of trees I can pull, since I can pull around corners.