Skidding winch

[Gordon Gould]

Very impressive !

That is what I thought too !!


Hey OldPath how come you have to hold your tractor back with your foot ?????????? Must be your winch blade doesn't dig in when the ground is frozen or maybe that was part of the acting you mentioned

gg

 

[CobyRupert]

That is what I thought too !!


Hey OldPath how come you have to hold your tractor back with your foot ?????????? Must be your winch blade doesn't dig in when the ground is frozen or maybe that was part of the acting you mentioned

gg

Most likely so he doesn't get blind-sided and run over by the tire when watching the log.
It's almost better to watch the cable right at the winch than to watch the log. If the cable is moving, the log is moving, the winch clutch isn't slipping, and you see if the winch (tractor) is moving too.

 

[Rustyiron]

For people who like to back up to the trees, this would be a handy rig. It would be even nicer if Virx1 integrated his hydraulic winch into the system.

Here's my version of that.

 

[Oldpath05]

That is what I thought too !!


Hey OldPath how come you have to hold your tractor back with your foot ?????????? Must be your winch blade doesn't dig in when the ground is frozen or maybe that was part of the acting you mentioned

gg

Yeah I noticed the tractor moved to when I first watched it, but didn't notice the tractor move when winching, I was to concern with making sure I wasn't over acting. Last year when I winched up some trees on a ice pack woods road, my tractor kept sliding back 6-12' so had to set over in front of stump, yup you know it's slippery when tractors slides and you should be wearing ice cleats.

 

[Oldpath05]

Most likely so he doesn't get blind-sided and run over by the tire when watching the log.
It's almost better to watch the cable right at the winch than to watch the log. If the cable is moving, the log is moving, the winch clutch isn't slipping, and you see if the winch (tractor) is moving too.

I tend to watch where and what the tree butt will possibly catch on, I thought it was going to catch on that stump, if it did I'd let go of rope then holler CUT, then re-set, take 2, action..................

 

[Jstpssng]

Here's my version of that.
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That's a slick looking setup. I couldn't blow the photo up enough to read the manufacturer's label though. How much of that is your own modification?

 

[Rustyiron]

I bought the winch, grapple & rotator.
The idea started with a log arch type thing that with my newly built hydraulic top link I could lower the end close to the ground to hitch up small poles for firewood dragging them out with just the far end in the dirt. Then one day I saw 2 "drops" at American steel - the 6x6 sq. tube and evolved from there, way over budget.

 

[Jstpssng]

I bought the winch, grapple & rotator.
The idea started with a log arch type thing that with my newly built hydraulic top link I could lower the end close to the ground to hitch up small poles for firewood dragging them out with just the far end in the dirt. Then one day I saw 2 "drops" at American steel - the 6x6 sq. tube and evolved from there, way over budget.

In the long run I'm sure that it's worth every penny you paid. It's too big for any tractor I will ever have, but it sure looks like a sweet setup.

PS; I like the horseshoe on the side, too. :thumbsup:

 

[Rustyiron]

Thank's, it is fun to use and I've learned to take advantage of some of it's (unintended) design benefit's - like bucking to stove length.

It keep's the bar off the ground and me from bending over. :laughing:
Kinda hard to see but there's a long birch with at least 30' in the air ready to become 26" firewood for the boiler (in a few years) in the pic below.

All my woods is recovering from the logger that owned it before me. This tool is perfect for this property/tree size and my use. Sometimes I'm hauling from a mile away to where I process the wood and not gouging up my pretty nice roads when there not frozen or ice covered and it saves me from cutting the poles shorter and loading & un loading off of the trailer.:thumbsup:

 

[CobyRupert]

I tend to watch where and what the tree butt will possibly catch on, I thought it was going to catch on that stump, if it did I'd let go of rope then holler CUT, then re-set, take 2, action..................

Yes, all of the above, but you don’t know if it’s really going to plow over that stump or plow through that boulder or hang up on it until the clutch slips, and watching the cable at the winch is fastest way to tell than a log 80’ away.

 

[hslogger]

^^^^^
That's a good point, and a trick I use often to roll the tree from behind the stump.

What is that tuck in your signature? There isn't enough of it showing to tel, but it looks like something older which you restored.

1967 International Harvester Loadstar 1700. Mine since 1978.

 

[Coyote Kilr]

I would go to Harbor Freight and buy a &10,000 pound electric winch and get a good invertor for your tractor to power it

If it's a 12 volt winch why do you need an inverter to power it?

 

[WranglerX]

If it's a 12 volt winch why do you need an inverter to power it?

Also electric winch will kill your tractor battery in a few pulls..... You are going to need at least 100-150 AMP alternator and BIG battery for any sustained pulls...IF winch is anything over about 2500 pounds...

This is why almost all logging and heavy winch work is either hydraulic or PTO....

Dale

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Also electric winch will kill your tractor battery in a few pulls..... You are going to need at least 100-150 AMP alternator and BIG battery for any sustained pulls...IF winch is anything over about 2500 pounds...

This is why almost all logging and heavy winch work is either hydraulic or PTO....

Dale

Not to mention the "duty cycle" of those HF winches, is REALLY low! IF you ignore the duty cycle, you will burn the winch up and HF does not have to honor the warr...

SR

 

[muddstopper]

I read all the post and didnt see it mentioned , so I will.
The OP thred starter was about a homemade skidding Winch, I watched the video and altho interesting design, not my cup of tea. The suggestions about buying a factory skidding winch misses the point about home made. I will agree if one has the money to buy, it might be cheaper and certainly faster to aquire factory equipment in the overall whole picture of things. Getting back to the whole homemade skidding winch, I suspect not many here have every seen or used one of the old bigstick cable log loaders. First one we owned was on a almost new 1964 1 ton ford truck. They have been around for a while. I think if I was going to home build a skidder winch, the bigstick winch is the design I would copy.

I searched the internet for pic of just the winch, but didnt find one. The bigstick winch ran off a pto on the side of the truck transmission. there was a long shaft that ran thru pillow block bearing with a sprocket in the middle of the shaft. This sprocket turned a #100 roller chain to another larger sprocket on the winch, similar to the belt drive in the OP's video, chain instead of belt. That is about where the similarity end. The Bigstick winch used a old, GMC I think, double brake master cyl. One section worked the brakes and the other the hyd clutch. The winch drum was mounted on a shaft that had been drilled to accept a metal brake line on one end. The clutch of the winch was actually a front brake drum., I suspect off a similar old gmc truck front end. The drum and its backing plate was mounted on the shaft, like a car spindle complete with bearing, and a brakeline was attached to the wheel cyl to activate the brake pads. The Large chain driven sprocket was mounted on the lugs of the brake drum. When the Master cyl was activated and braking power was applied, the brake shoes would engage the drum and turn the shaft. The cable drum was attached to the shaft and would pull in the cable. For a brake, on the opposite end of the winch shaft was mounted a band type brake drum with a band. The band had what I believe was the hyd clutch slave cyl off that same old gmc truck. The second section of the dual master cyl was connected to the slave cyl for braking power. With this setup, you had two hand levers, connected to the dual master cyl, one for the clutch and one for the brake. It was a very simple design and worked very well for loading logs. You could control winch speed by hand pressure allowing the winch to slip to slow it down or fully engage for full speed. Of course overall power and speed was controlled by engine rpms. The brake and clutch could be released to allow the cable to free spool off the winch. You could adjust the brake band to apply just enough friction so the cable didnt just freewheel the cable off into a birdnest. Our Bigstick loader carried 200ft of 3/8 cable so reach was hardly ever a issue and the winch had more than enough power to turn the truck over, seen that happen a time or two.

We used the bigstick loader way up into the late 1970, and altho we broke the drive chain a time or two, I cant ever remembering having to change out brake shoes, but we did wear out the little swivel fitting that carried the brake fluid to the winch drum a few time. I think that fitting was around $4 or $5 at that time. When we sold the bigstick loader, we bought a Kennemer cable loader, the Kennemer loader had a little stronger winch, but it was the same design as the bigstick, I believe the only real difference was the sprocket gearing. I do believe someone with a good scrounge source could find enough junk yard parts to build the complete winch, except for needing the winch shaft machined, and once built, it would prove very reliable, fast, and strong enough for any firewood or logging operation. Unless in the PNW and logging big redwoods. Might run out of power trying to winch a tree big enough to drive a car thru. Anyway, thats my thoughts on a homemade skidding winch. Mount the bigstick style winch on a 3pt hitch and run the winch off the pto shaft and go get some wood.