mounting winch ontop loader

[chuck172]

Has anyone ever mounted an electric winch ontop of the loader for firewood logging?

 

[slowzuki]

I can't remember his username but rbgredon or something like that has. Its on the cross beam.

 

[chuck172]

I found a better spot. On the front of the 4500 above the grill.
The front tractor section is massive. Must be 1/2" steel. Well supported. And the best part is the loader clears the winch and the winch cables are close enough to tie into the battery.
Mounting the winch worked out well.
Curious though, having never owned a winch before, is it weather-proof.
I mean can I just leave it exposed to the elements (rain, snow etc). Or should I keep it covered?

 

[dmay]

Curious though, having never owned a winch before, is it weather-proof. I mean can I just leave it exposed to the elements (rain, snow etc). Or should I keep it covered?

Depends on the winch. Typically cheap units are not sealed. As the price point moves higher you find units that are somewhat sealed to completely sealed and happily survive and work whilst immersed underwater. Else how else would you get out of that creek you thought was not too deep. :laughing:

 

[art]

Anything electrical I recommend finding a old hunk of inner tube and covering. Even for electric deflectors for snow blowers as well as the electric rotators. IT may not be pretty but it can flex and normally will have the snow fall off.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I found a better spot. On the front of the 4500 above the grill.
The front tractor section is massive. Must be 1/2" steel. Well supported. And the best part is the loader clears the winch and the winch cables are close enough to tie into the battery.
Mounting the winch worked out well.
Curious though, having never owned a winch before, is it weather-proof.
I mean can I just leave it exposed to the elements (rain, snow etc). Or should I keep it covered?

What tractor? -- nothing in your stats. Sounds high on the tractor... stability/ strength, etc. I guess you can just plant the bucket when using.
larry

 

[chuck172]

Sorry for not stating the tractor model. My tractor is a 1971 ford 4500 TLB.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Carefull, keep the loader low when winching. You may tip the tractor.

 

[xmoto]

I have one mounted low on the rear roll over bar. Works great. I winch the logs up and skid out with the 3pt.

 

[grsthegreat]

silly people....this is how i skid :laughing: :thumbsup: :laughing:


but seriously, if i have to skid. i hook chain to bucket hooks and pull

 

[DAY]

Carefull, keep the loader low when winching. You may tip the tractor.

I also have a Ford 4500 TLB.

It is a monster, and I doubt there is an aftermarket winch that could tip it.

 

[LD1]

I would advise aginst mounting it where you are planning.

First of all, it will take a prett good sized winch just to be able to out-pull what you can by just chaining and dragging.

That said, with that good sized winch up that high is not a good idea.

Given the tractor is pleanty heavy enough, a tip/rollover is NOT likely unless you are pulling at a pretty good angle. But all that heavy 1/2" plate is your hydraulic resivoir. So aside from the fact that (at least ours) has the large filter and dipstick on top which would make mounting around that a challenge, but that chunk of heavy iron is only bolted with 3 bolts on each side into CAST IRON. And that cast Iron also has to support the front axle as well. And given that you want to mount ON TOP of that (a good 30" above the mount bolts) that will put a pretty good strain on her.

Notice in the pics, the BLUE peice is ALL CAST. And the 3 bolts that hold it are noticable too as they are blue

PLUS, with the cutout windows in the side, it would take very little force if you were polling on an angle to lay the thing over sideways. The little 3" or so sections in front of and behind the side windows arent much.

 

[DAY]

Good points, LD1. Here's another: The ground clearance (at base of hoe) on my 4500 TLB is about six inches- it was NOT built for woodland excursions. Half the time I'm using the backhoe to extricate myself from places I should not have gone!

I plan to buy a hundred feet of cable to use with my log chain (and maybe a snatch block or two) to get logs out of my steep and rocky terrain. Anyone have a comment on what size cable to get? i've seen it at Harbor Freight, but never looked at the diameter or rated capacity.

 

[LD1]

I plan to buy a hundred feet of cable to use with my log chain (and maybe a snatch block or two) to get logs out of my steep and rocky terrain. Anyone have a comment on what size cable to get? i've seen it at Harbor Freight, but never looked at the diameter or rated capacity.

Depends on how you plan on attaching the cable to pull with.

If you are planning on just pulling with the tractor power, or using the hoe to coax a log up a hill.

If I remember correctly, the hoe has ~7500lb bucket force and ~ 5500lbs dipperstick force. That said, I would probabally want a cable rated for at least 9-10k .

I forgot to ask, since you own a 4500, what transmission do you have???

 

[DAY]

It has the 4 speed Torque Converter power reverse transmission.
I have been using the log chain on the bucket to "skid" logs to where I can saw them into firewood length and put them in the 6' bucket, ( or a wagon pulled by a JD 850).
There a lot of deadfall, mostly locust, that I can't get to this way, so the cable, hooked to the loader and reverse gear is the plan. The backhoe would require too many ons and offs the machine for these old bones!

I joined TBN in Feb., looking for info on 21st Century machinery, and would love to solve my problem(s) with a 4WD CUT. Unfortunately, I have oak, poplar, walnut and locust, but I haven't found a Money Tree out there.

 

[chuck172]

I'm talking about mounting the winch not on top of the hood, but right above the grill. That would be 18" above the cast iron. In front, where the "Ford" name plate is. Also, I don't have the windows that you show. Just solid steel on the right side and a round access door for the air filter on the left. Is that a 4500 your working on?

The loader cross-member just clears it.

 

[kebo]

Carefull, keep the loader low when winching. You may tip the tractor.

Someone posted a picture of an 8000 lb pull winch they had mounted on the top of the bucket with a neat 2" tube setup so they could slide it in or out very easily/quickly.

Think about it.... do you really want to pull with more than maybe a 1000 lbs or so of winching force from the top of the bucket??? With the winch so far forward of the frame attachment points to the tractor, it could get a lot of leverage against the FEL frame if the pull is off-centerline of the tractor.

Mounting a winch to the frame will be the way to go, as you are planning to do. That should work just fine and you can pull from almost any angle with a fairlead on the winch.

 

[LD1]

I'm talking about mounting the winch not on top of the hood, but right above the grill. That would be 18" above the cast iron. In front, where the "Ford" name plate is. Also, I don't have the windows that you show. Just solid steel on the right side and a round access door for the air filter on the left. Is that a 4500 your working on?

The loader cross-member just clears it.

Yes it is a 4500. A 1967 model. And the windows are normally covered by panels that have slots in them and a wingnut or two and there off. The picture I posted doesn't show them.
I just did a google images search for "ford 4500" and it does appear that some do NOT have the windows.

And I even saw one that the loader frame mounts to the peice you are refering to.

Do you have any pictures of yours??

Either way, I still wouldn't want to mount a winch there. TOO high and TOO much leverage for a peice that is bolted to cast iron IMO.

I I personally would run an electric winch on one of these older tractors anyway. They suck ALOT of juice for just a generator. But since they have a HUGH hydraulic pump, I'd probabally find a way to mount a hydraulic winch off the back and run it off the BH hydraulics.

 

[magicheater]

I guess you can just plant the bucket when using.
larry

Agreed, Winches need ground contact somehow to be safe, IMHO.

 

[plumbstraight]

I have posted this before so bear with me. this one is hyd and works well. I don't use it for yarding, that is pulling by backing. I use this more than anything I have as far as emplements. always picking up something or handling odd size things that won't stay in the bucket. I have had this one on a long time and need to repair the fairlead, but hardly use a fairlead.

Also one for the rear is handy.