Hydraulic vs electric winch

Mudfarmer · Jan 8, 2012

I have been using a 8000 pound electric winch mounted on the 3 point to yard logs off my tree farm hills. It is reliable, but relatively slow. On both my Kubota B2710 and JD 3005 I have a free rear hydraulic for my log splitter. Would i gain in speed and cable length (i'm now at 100 feet) if I were to switch to hydraulic? If so at what cost? Also interested in comparison to pto logging winches, but really don't want this thread to turn into a cheerleading session for those since I am pretty aware of them from other posts.

Mf

J_J · Jan 8, 2012

Go to the Mile Marker hyd winch web site and read about the cable speeds.

sandman2234 · Jan 8, 2012

The biggest difference I see between electric and pto winches are the duty cycle and how much they will pull for how long. Electric winches run into heat problems long before a hydraulic one will, which is probably why most wreckers use hydraulic or straight mechanical winches. Electric just doesn't handle the heaviest loads for the long haul without plenty of over-engineering.
There are plenty of military style winches on the market, and adapting a hydraulic motor to one isn't that big a deal. I think the pto winch I have is a 20ton Bradenton. The reason I snagged it was it had a lever on it for reverse, which if you run straight mechanical, comes in handy. Using hydraulic, it is easier to just use a valve to reverse the drum.
If you go with one of these large pto winches, most have larger cables, which can be changed out to allow more room for the same size cable your currently using.
David from jax

sandman2234 · Jan 10, 2012

Thought this would bring more discussion than it has...
David from jax

N8ghz · Jan 11, 2012

Why not just use the PTO winch you have? 20 ton ought be enough to pull the tractor in half if you chain it off. Does it have a position to free-spool the cable out? That is very important. I built a very small winch..originally built with a DC motor, but recently machined a C-face adapter to fit a hydraulic motor to the angle gearbox. I modified my base to be a 2" reese-type insert mount and will weld a 2" female reciever on the front of my tractor. I will run it via the third lever (grapple) on my loader valve. I don't have many real large trees, and will just use it to fetch downed stuff that I can't drive to or to get me un-stuck when that happens.

sandman2234 · Jan 14, 2012

N8ghz said:
Why not just use the PTO winch you have? 20 ton ought be enough to pull the tractor in half if you chain it off. Does it have a position to free-spool the cable out? That is very important. I built a very small winch..originally built with a DC motor, but recently machined a C-face adapter to fit a hydraulic motor to the angle gearbox. I modified my base to be a 2" reese-type insert mount and will weld a 2" female reciever on the front of my tractor. I will run it via the third lever (grapple) on my loader valve. I don't have many real large trees, and will just use it to fetch downed stuff that I can't drive to or to get me un-stuck when that happens.

That was me with the 20ton Bradenton, not the original poster. He said he was using an 8K electric.
David from jax