Skidding winch

[plumbstraight]

The electric works well, my hydraulic works better. I used to build pto winches, wish that koenig still made winches.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My tractor is tied up with a chipper so having a 3ph winch is not an option. I want something for the front of my wheel loader. Thanks for the video, it's actually the first time I have ever seen a 3ph logging winch in action. Impressive.

 

[Rustyiron]

Thanks. I wonder if you could get that speed and power out of a hydraulic (affordable) winch.

Depends on what you view as "affordable" along with your log size. Ramsey has a 8000# hyd planetary winch that runs around a ft./second for around $1200. Slow compared to pto winches but on my rocky & previously timbered (stumps) property, I'd get in trouble or break something at 2+ feet a second. Like anything, there are clear advantages to each. One is the speed & cable capacity (pto) vs. having reverse (huge in my use). I'll get jammed up against something and moving the valve lever is much simpler than mounting the tractor and backing up. MileMarker makes a 2 speed hyd. winch that the military put's on the Humvees that also has a decent line speed but iirc the high (fast) speed is greatly reduced in power but for a firewood cutter hauling smaller stems or thinning might just a good economical fit.

 

[John_Mc]

Depends on what you view as "affordable" along with your log size. Ramsey has a 8000# hyd planetary winch that runs around a ft./second for around $1200. Slow compared to pto winches but on my rocky & previously timbered (stumps) property, I'd get in trouble or break something at 2+ feet a second. Like anything, there are clear advantages to each. One is the speed & cable capacity (pto) vs. having reverse (huge in my use). I'll get jammed up against something and moving the valve lever is much simpler than mounting the tractor and backing up. MileMarker makes a 2 speed hyd. winch that the military put's on the Humvees that also has a decent line speed but iirc the high (fast) speed is greatly reduced in power but for a firewood cutter hauling smaller stems or thinning might just a good economical fit.

You don't have to mount the tractor and back up to remove tension from a PTO driven logging winch, just release the brake/clutch and the cable free-spools out.

 

[CobyRupert]

Depends on what you view as "affordable" along with your log size. Ramsey has a 8000# hyd planetary winch that runs around a ft./second for around $1200. Slow compared to pto winches but on my rocky & previously timbered (stumps) property, I'd get in trouble or break something at 2+ feet a second. Like anything, there are clear advantages to each. One is the speed & cable capacity (pto) vs. having reverse (huge in my use). I'll get jammed up against something and moving the valve lever is much simpler than mounting the tractor and backing up.

I don't follow.
With a PTO winch when you stop pulling (i.e. disengage the clutch on the winch that links the tractor's pto to the winch's cable drum) the cable goes slack, (i.e. spool can free-wheel). You can then pull extra cable off the drum, or manually lock the drum so that you can pull the load without the spool unwinding.

I don't see where a hydraulic winch being able to reverse is an advantage. Like George Burns said: "You can't push rope." - but I think he was talking about other problems a 90 year old might have before the blue pill was invented. :laughing:

 

[Rustyiron]

My error on the operation. :confused2: I was thinking of a mechanical winch that does not have the clutch mechanism that a tractor winch has along with a very high mechanical advantage (gearing) like a tow truck boom. Under load you can't throw the free spool lever.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I guess the bigger the drum, the easier it is to pay out line by hand. Can one easily pull out a hundred feet of line by hand on a 3ph logging winch?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I guess the bigger the drum, the easier it is to pay out line by hand. Can one easily pull out a hundred feet of line by hand on a 3ph logging winch?

My wife has no problem doing it and she's built like a woman, not a man... lol

Bigger drum means the wire rope last longer too...

SR

 

[plumbstraight]

You cannot pull the line out of a worm gear winch and if it is tight and if you can't back up the tractor for slack you can't relieve the jawclutch. I used Koenig winches with 36to1 and they would not spool out. I started to use 9to1 gearing in them. they would spool out easily under tractor power to get slack. I had them made with extended shafts on the worm and put a pawl on. I could release when pulling to get slack to undo the chokers. With that gearing they were fast, especially when using high gear in the pto of the yanmar. In a hard pull I would use the 540, easy pulls 1000. I did build a couple 12000lb units with 18to1 and they would spool out also.

 

[Jstpssng]

I guess the bigger the drum, the easier it is to pay out line by hand. Can one easily pull out a hundred feet of line by hand on a 3ph logging winch?

I have a Uniforest 35 and last winter I was routinely pulling out 200+ feet on snowshoes, plus 3-5 choker chains. The only hitch is when you don't have the clutch brake properly adjusted and it locks 1/2 way out, it brings you to a very sudden stop.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Well I looked for used hydraulic winches again. A guy could spend $20,000 on a used winch, no problem at all! And what a gamble on the cheaper units. It probably says, what junk, by comparison, consumer winches are.

My project is to pull dead pine out of the bush for chipping, not to build a winch and have yet another (unfinished) project.

I will probably try and get a used 3ph skidding winch and hopefully I can operate it by remote control if I can control the electric PTO on the JD. Not sure about the clutch operation.

I'm curious. On a commercial skidder, does a man pull out the cable?

 

[Jstpssng]

If you're just looking to pull one tree out you can do it a heck of a lot less expensively with a length of chain hooking it onto a crossbar on your 3 pth. (or cable, depending on how close you can get the tractor to it.) It's a bit of a pain and more time consuming than having a winch; yet still quicker than the time it would take you to build something. I cut a 10 cord load of tree length fir that way. I had several choker chains which I hooked onto my middle buster -often after dragging several trees out to to the trail with a chain- put the tractor in gear and went with it.
and yes, in a commercial operation if cutting with a chainsaw and cable skidder he drags the cable out to every tree. If cutting with a "feller buncher" which cuts trees, collects them, and leaves them in 1-2 cord piles, the skidder has a grapple so the operator doesn't get off the machine.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have a lot of dead pine to pull out of difficult terrain. And I have to do it by myself. People are willing to help me, but I can't expect that level of slavery!

When we had the place logged for a pre-commercial thinning, they used a Harvester and a couple of forwarders. Not a boot on the ground! So I really don't know how it's done with a skidder.

 

[Jstpssng]

If you have a lot of trees than some type of winch is advantageous. If you aren't in a hurry and keep checking Craigslist you might be able to find a decent used 3pth that you can use and recover most or all of your money when you're done with it. I've had two used winches, and finally bought a new one which is a good match for my tractor... and I didn't need to rebuild the bleeping thing before I used it. :thumbsup:
The harvester you had on your lot probably limbed and bucked the trees in the woods? Carrying it out on a forwarder gives nice clean wood and leaves a lot fewer scars on the trees. The only disadvantage is limbs everywhere, and I like to walk my land.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I am always in favour of buying something high quality, used and common. So, a used 3ph logging winch fits that bill. Even if not perfect for my application.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^
It also holds it's resale value better than a custom made, when you are done with it.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Yeah. Like better to sell a stock vehicle, than those guys who claim to have 20K INVESTED!

 

[Stomper]

The electric works well, my hydraulic works better. I used to build pto winches, wish that koenig still made winches.

Thats an interesting design

 

[John_Mc]

Nobody seems to sell those logging winches once they own them, but I'll share a trick guaranteed to turn up a few nice used ones at a decent price: go out and buy a new one.

I shopped for years for a used logging winch in a size that would fit my tractor. The only ones I saw were "project" winches which had been torn up from abuse (and were so old that parts were no longer available). I finally gave up and bought new. Within a week, one came up for sale. Within a couple months, two more came up for sale (one of those guys actually called me to say "I'm selling, I know you were looking for one...")

 

[52wej]

Guaranteed to work technique!!!:laughing:

Once you own a winch, even a small one, you will wish you had bought it sooner! W. Jones