L2501 forestry winch too small to be useful? Other options?

[thclimer]

I'm in Middle Tennessee. I placed a couple of calls after my original post. My closest dealer said he could get a Wallenstein FX40 for $4,300 plus $200 shipping. A dealer further away who deals in sawmill equipment said he could get a Uniforest 35 for $3,995 plus $350 shipping.

I think I've seen maybe one used forestry winch in my area in the last year or so. They don't seem to be common here to my knowledge.

I think they are a little more popular in the northeast.

I was seriously considering the 35M myself a while ago. I currently just used a 120 foot long cable and a snatch block that I hang with a strap in a large tree maybe 6-8' high from the trunk) then use my tractor to pull the cable from the drawbar.

 

[JJT]

35m specs say it has 230' of 3/8 cable and weighs 540 lbs. One thing I don't know that is important to me is whether the cable tends to birdsnest or whether there is some kind of guide that makes it roll back onto the drum without getting kinked or tangled?

No backlash on my Igland winch in 10 years of use. It has a brake to keep it the cable from making a mess on the spool. I'm good about respooling it under tension at least once or twice a season. I set the brake so I have to pull fairly hard to get slack, you don't want it free spooling. I can see how that could result in a rats nest of tangled cable.

 

[2manyrocks]

No backlash on my Igland winch in 10 years of use. It has a brake to keep it the cable from making a mess on the spool. I'm good about respooling it under tension at least once or twice a season. I set the brake so I have to pull fairly hard to get slack, you don't want it free spooling. I can see how that could result in a rats nest of tangled cable.

Thanks for that.

Another thing that is giving me reservations is I'm not sure my L2501 is the right size tractor. I suspect your L3710 would be a much better weight and size for winching logs.

 

[ericm979]

35m specs say it has 230' of 3/8 cable and weighs 540 lbs. One thing I don't know that is important to me is whether the cable tends to birdsnest or whether there is some kind of guide that makes it roll back onto the drum without getting kinked or tangled?

I have a 35M. There's no guide but when the cable is wound back under tension the geometry of the drum and the top pulley make it lay down pretty evenly on the drum.

The limitation with the winch isn't engine power but tractor weight. I rarely run my tractor at more than 1700 rpm when winching and have never needed full power. I use the engine speed more as a way to set winching speed. However winching something large really moves the tractor around. My Brason weighs about 6300 lbs including loader, loaded tires and winch. I would hesitate to winch heavy logs with a much lighter tractor. But there is a whole lot of useful work that you can do with a winch that isn't pulling heavy logs.

What kind of logs do you want to winch with it?

 

[WranglerX]

Keep in mind, a "recovery" winch, either electric or hydraulic is intended for intermittent use when vehicles ability to navigate on its own is compromised(?) ... A logging winch is meant for continuous duty as for work like extraction wood and maybe other uses.... Yes there is a difference in designed application/usage...

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Once you are done with the forestry winch, you can easily sell it and get most or all of your money back!

Using a "proper" tool for nearly FREE is hard to beat!

SR

 

[Jstpssng]

Thanks for that.

Another thing that is giving me reservations is I'm not sure my L2501 is the right size tractor. I suspect your L3710 would be a much better weight and size for winching logs.

I have the a 3301, which is the same weight and essentially the same tractor, except for the HP rating. There are 2 other 3301 tractors in town. Every one of us has a 35M ,and have never had any problems.

I think I've seen maybe one used forestry winch in my area in the last year or so. They don't seem to be common here to my knowledge.

They aren't very common here either. I've bought a couple of used winches over the years but they each had been used hard before I bought them. That's why I broke down and bought a new one.

Once you are done with the forestry winch, you can easily sell it and get most or all of your money back!

Using a "proper" tool for nearly FREE is hard to beat!

Exactly!!! I wouldn't hurry to sell it though, you may find that it's more useful than you expected. Among other things I have pulled my truck out of the mud or snow on several occasions.

 

[2manyrocks]

I have a 35M. There's no guide but when the cable is wound back under tension the geometry of the drum and the top pulley make it lay down pretty evenly on the drum.

The limitation with the winch isn't engine power but tractor weight. I rarely run my tractor at more than 1700 rpm when winching and have never needed full power. I use the engine speed more as a way to set winching speed. However winching something large really moves the tractor around. My Brason weighs about 6300 lbs including loader, loaded tires and winch. I would hesitate to winch heavy logs with a much lighter tractor. But there is a whole lot of useful work that you can do with a winch that isn't pulling heavy logs.

What kind of logs do you want to winch with it?

Some examples of what I'm currently working on.

This afternoon's 6 hour project was dragging these hackberrys off a hillside with a chain attached to my L2501 drawbar. The center hackberry had a 9 inch trunk where it was cutoff and was 25' long. I dragged it down the hillside in one piece to a flatter area where I sectioned it into three sections to make it lighter to drag away.

The second picture is an area of cedar trees that the wind blew down into some other trees I wanted to remove. I had to cut the cedars back to be able to reliably down the trees I wanted to remove.

The third picture is a hackberry that is leaning towards my shed. I don't know that I'd try removing this one myself, but I was thinking that a forestry winch would be useful downing something like this leaner if I could figure out how to notch it just enough that the winch could pull it away from the shed before the limb could break off and fall on the roof.

so....do you think a forestry winch would save me time or work for these kinds of projects?

 

[Gordon Gould]

I wouldn't be afraid to put the 30M on either tractor. I've had a Farmi JL290 on my 30 hp L3010 for 20 years. It is a 6600 lb winch and will pull just fine. The smaller size would be a big advantage on your L2501 I think. For tractors in the 30 hp class what you can winch has more to do with the weight of the tractor than the pull rating of the winch.

gg

 

[Gordon Gould]

Some examples of what I'm currently working on.

This afternoon's 6 hour project was dragging these hackberrys off a hillside with a chain attached to my L2501 drawbar. The center hackberry had a 9 inch trunk where it was cutoff and was 25' long. I dragged it down the hillside in one piece to a flatter area where I sectioned it into three sections to make it lighter to drag away.

The second picture is an area of cedar trees that the wind blew down into some other trees I wanted to remove. I had to cut the cedars back to be able to reliably down the trees I wanted to remove.

The third picture is a hackberry that is leaning towards my shed. I don't know that I'd try removing this one myself, but I was thinking that a forestry winch would be useful downing something like this leaner if I could figure out how to notch it just enough that the winch could pull it away from the shed before the limb could break off and fall on the roof.

so....do you think a forestry winch would save me time or work for these kinds of projects?



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No question. It would save plenty of time.

gg