Anyone ever build a log winch?

[kentuckydiesel]

I could really use a log winch for my JD 5200. Being a 45hp MFWD with flipped wheels (added stability) and a loader, I can do much of what I need with it...but there are a lot of places on my property where I will NEED to winch out a tree just because they are so steep.

I've been considering building a fairly heavy log winch...just thought I'd check to see if anyone had done it before/might have any tips.

Thanks, Phillip

 

[Ductape]

Check youtube. There is a nice log winch a guy built using a hydraulic Superwinch run off of his tractors hydraulics. I think you would need to reduce the pressure to the winch, but that is done easy enough. To me, that would be alot better than using a PTO winch off of a wrecker or something similar.

 

[genesis5521]

I could really use a log winch for my JD 5200. Being a 45hp MFWD with flipped wheels (added stability) and a loader, I can do much of what I need with it...but there are a lot of places on my property where I will NEED to winch out a tree just because they are so steep.

I've been considering building a fairly heavy log winch...just thought I'd check to see if anyone had done it before/might have any tips.

Thanks, Phillip

You could try using a cable with a few anchor points along the way to direct the path, and pull them with your tractor. I thought about trying this with my pickem-up truck. You'd need the cable anyway to build a winch. A skidding cone would keep the tree from digging in to the ground. You'll see one in the below video.

Watch this video, and imagine your tractor moving forward to do the pulling instead of using a winch.
[video=youtube;nxzdSCQTV9I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxzdSCQTV9I[/video]

This website has all of the snatch blocks and the skidding cone. The skidding cone is around $150.
http://www.portablewinch.com/en/05.asp#acc15

Their video gallery may give you some further ideas.
http://www.portablewinch.com/en/06.asp#videos

Their tips page has some good info.
http://www.portablewinch.com/en/13.asp

Hope all this gives ya some food for thought.

Don <><

 

[dancan]

Find a dealer that sells Farmi/Fransgard/Tajfun/Wallenstein etc and get them to demo a logging winch , pay attention to the pulling speed and versatility and you'll see that it's hard to beat .

 

[redneck51587]

Just put a Lewis winch on an 066. That's all you need to pull ANYTHING!

 

[timbrjackrussel]

Find a dealer that sells Farmi/Fransgard/Tajfun/Wallenstein etc and get them to demo a logging winch , pay attention to the pulling speed and versatility and you'll see that it's hard to beat .

Add Norse to that list. Check Labonville a site sponsor.
http://www.labonville.com/winches/Winch400.pdf
Check for used winches, very rare. I found a good Norse 400 for $2000.00!
http://www.labonville.com/shop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=76

 

[rwoods]

I started building a winch but haven't gotten back to it following my injury a year back. It is based on the winch formerly used by the militrary on the 5 ton trucks (i.e. the big brother to the deuce and a half). My design was meant to allow me to transport it with the 3 point hitch of my little 4400 John Deere, chain the winch to a tree, park the Deere to the side out of the line of pull, and operate the winch off the tractor's hydraulic system. If I had a tractor your size and the fab skills I would mount it on a skidder type frame and blade similar to the commercial winches referenced in earlier posts. Although the winch housing is aluminum, it is one heavy beast with a full spool of cable. I placed an eighteen inch Cresent wrench in the pictures so you can get an idea of the scale of the winch. These winches are fairly plentiful as government surplus but the hydraulic adapter and motor are a little harder to come by as surplus. The snatch block probably weighs 80#s. The motor is shown wrapped in plastic in the third picture. Ron

 

[timbrjackrussel]

I started building a winch but haven't gotten back to it following my injury a year back. It is based on the winch formerly used by the militrary on the 5 ton trucks (i.e. the big brother to the deuce and a half). My design was meant to allow me to transport it with the 3 point hitch of my little 4400 John Deere, chain the winch to a tree, park the Deere to the side out of the line of pull, and operate the winch off the tractor's hydraulic system. If I had a tractor your size and the fab skills I would mount it on a skidder type frame and blade similar to the commercial winches referenced in earlier posts. Although the winch housing is aluminum, it is one heavy beast with a full spool of cable. I placed an eighteen inch Cresent wrench in the pictures so you can get an idea of the scale of the winch. These winches are fairly plentiful as government surplus but the hydraulic adapter and motor are a little harder to come by as surplus. The snatch block probably weighs 80#s. The motor is shown wrapped in plastic in the third picture. Ron

What a winch!
That winch would move a mountain. (If you had another mountain to anchor it to)
Tractor logging winches may not be that strong but are about 1.3 metres per second.

 

[KYLogger]

I log with one a buddy of mine put together. I will try to post pictures soon. It's a 15 ton winch off of a wrecker housed in a heavy duty frame, made to accept a three point hitch. Had to fix a pto shaft and a sprocket (took some doing to figure out proper ratio) to power winch. Has a screen to prevent broken cable from whackin' operators head off! Pulls like a champ, will drag my 80 hp Massey FWA with a loader backwards if you put a heckuva load on it. I run 150' of cable and 2 chokers on it, works good for me and I can skid faster with the tractor than the dozer.

Tom

 

[Ted Jenkins]

I was searching or surfing looking for information about winches when I came upon this sight. I am disappointed to find that there are not any winches to buy under $50,000. I have not personally run a Farmi, but worked on a crew a few years ago that had one. I thought it was a home built piece of crud, but found out it cost nearly $5,000 and it was almost new. It required a tractor to run it and the tractor kept falling over or gave the operator a thrill every time it slid down the hill. The winch I have I designed and built more than 35 years ago. It has a 20'' spool with 600' of 3/8 aircraft cable. It started life with a 3 1/2 hp Tecumseh motor and required an operator to run the winch with an additional field person to setup the chokers. It has about 6,000 to 10,000 lbs capacity which seems to work well. My latest modifications include a 10 hp Tecumseh and a timer to engage the clutch/throttle. Now I want to have the thing run completely remote control and the spool with a self centering fairlead. In the past few years I would pull out about 200' or 300' of cable start the motor set the timer for about 10 minutes walk down the hill with the cable snap the choker in place and wait for the thing to start pulling. But if I do not guess just right the log catches on another tree or a rock and the motor dies. So I have to walk back to the winch disconnect the clutch unreel some cable set the timer again and hope that I guessed right to unstick the log on whatever it hung up on to finish bringing the log up to the landing. Any body with any ideas? Thanks

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I could really use a log winch for my JD 5200. Being a 45hp MFWD with flipped wheels (added stability) and a loader, I can do much of what I need with it...but there are a lot of places on my property where I will NEED to winch out a tree just because they are so steep.

I've been considering building a fairly heavy log winch...just thought I'd check to see if anyone had done it before/might have any tips.

Thanks, Phillip

This question comes up quite often and it always ends up the same way....

Yes you can build "something", but you can't build one that compares to a factory skidding winch for much less than buying one... UNLESS you are willing to give up quite a few features that makes a "skidding winch" GOOD!!

Go run one and you will see what I mean...

Unless you are only pulling a few tree's every once in a while, you will soon wish you have bought a real skidding winch!!

Mine was less than $4,000.00, it came with three chains and is worth EVERY penny I paid for it!

Plus, if I ever sell it, it has excellent resale.....to get most of my money back!

SR

 

[Hddnis]

Four year old thread alert!!!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

not any more... lol