Does Anyone Use A Portable Winch For Yarding?

[jimmytango42]

Has anyone used a hydraulic winch like the Milemarker, or Warn? I have been thinking of going that route.

 

[Ductape]

Has anyone used a hydraulic winch like the Milemarker, or Warn? I have been thinking of going that route.

No, but they are nice. I see a few guys using them on their tractors though. Nice way to go with a tractor with hydraulic power readily available.

 

[avalancher]

Has anyone used a hydraulic winch like the Milemarker, or Warn? I have been thinking of going that route.

I had one on an old Dodge Power wagon, and that thing was unstoppable.Great if you are going to be doing extended pulling over a long period of time, they dont overheat like an electric powered winch.

One big downfall to the hydralic powered winch though,if the engine isnt running,you are screwed.Found that out one frosty morning up in the hills.

I was coming down out of the hills back down a road that I didnt take on the way up.Across the entire road was a very short puddle,maybe ten feet across but it covered the road from one side to the other.

As I eased throught the puddle at a crawl, the front end dropped down in a hole and water splashed up into the entire engine compartment.All that was left sticking out of the water was the Bull Dog hood ornament from an old Mac truck that some chimp had bolted to the hood years before I bought the beast.Killed the engine on the spot.
It was a very weary experience, sitting in the middle of the road with 20,000lbs of pulling power sitting underwater and useless unless the engine was running.I climbed up on the hood from the drivers door,popped the hood and sat on the fenders trying to dry things off enough to get the engine running.

All the necessary stuff was up out of the water,carb and distributor cap,etc so I figured that with some time and attention I could get the thing running again,so I began the process of drying out the cap,cleaning plug wires, and hosing everything down with WD40.I had just about got everything done and was thinking about giving it a try when I slipped off the fender and fell right into the drink.
Now I dont know about you,but I dont carry a wardrobe with me when I go hunting.All I had was an extra jacket and it was doing little to warm me up in the 30 degree weather.So I did the next best thing.I got naked and wrapped up in the seat cover that was doing its best to keep the seat from falling apart.
Needless to say, the engine still wouldnt catch,so I climbed back out into the engine compartment and began a second wipe down.Minutes turned into what seemed to be hours and mother nature thought that was an excellent time to make some snow.I was at the point of considering a fire to dry me and my clothes off when I heard an engine off in the distance,crawling its way up the hill some distance off.Thinking at last that help was finally arriving I figured that at last I was going to get out of that hole.

Much sooner than I realized was possible a logging truck came screeching around the corner and stopped at the puddle.All I could see was the driver peering out the windshield as he sat there.

I began wondering if the driver was a little daft,he just sat there with an empty look on his face then I saw him reach for his CB mic.He chatted back and forth a bit then I heard a pickup coming up the hill.

Now, I guess at that point I never took stock in how I must have appeared to that guy.I was froze to the bone,wrapped up in a seat cover,hair sticking straight up thanks to a bad haircut from the orangatain down at the local barber college,neatly covered in a fine dusting of snow, and wearing nothing but a seat cover and a pair of boots.
The crew cabbed pickup arrived, and much to my dismay six loggers climbed down out of the cab and stood at the edge of the puddle.Saying nothing,they all stood at the edge of the puddle and stared.
I realized at that point that any communication was going to have to be initiated by me,so I climbed down out of the engine compartment on my side of the puddle and asked them if they had a rope.Then they all started laughing.
To me,I really didnt see anything funny.I was froze, soaking wet, and madder than a wet hen.But the madder I got, the more they laughed.Finally the oldest guy managed to catch his breath long enough to ask what the devil I was doing and I told the guy I would explain after they threw me a rope.

Now I guess loggers dont carry ropes with them,but they did have a long chain.I slogged my way across the puddle,retrieved the chain, and managed to submerge myself long enough in front of the truck to hook on to the front bumper.
After hooking on the pickup they pulled me out and the guys gave me some old work pants they had in the truck.I explained what had happened,and after poking in the puddle with sticks they got back on the radio and called for a dump truck of gravel to fill in the hole.Seems that an underground spring had popped up on the edge of the road and washed out that section.

Needless to say, I lost all faith in hydralic powered winches.In less than a week I replaced that winch with a nice electric powered winch and gave up on seat covers for blankets for good!

 

[avalancher]

PLEASE!!!!! unwind that cable--and respool it like it was when you bought it----when you have one lay of cable over the top of the other like that--it will crush the lay under it--and you will not only put a kink in the cable--but strands will start to break----------serious---cable is wayyy strong--but start to break a few strands, and the strength starts to go to h fast--

When pulling with the winch I do make sure its spooling up evenly.But at the end of the day and I dont plan on pulling anything more I often just hit the button and pull the cable in without paying attention to how its spooling. Thanks for the tip though!

 

[Ductape]

OK...... finally got to try out the winch today. I yarded a couple logs out of the muck and onto higher ground. I definitely think this has potential. Unfortunately, I didn't use it much as I had hoped because the battery I was using was very weak. I robbed the battery out of my dump trailer, but unfortunately, its six years old and doesn't hold a good charge. There are a couple improvements I need to make. I used one hook in the center, and the winch would want to turn so the motor (heavy) side was down. I feel a hook on either side would keep it more level. I'm going to give the concept a "B", but today's experience a "C-". I'll pick up a good deep cycle battery as soon as the budget allows. Oh..... I think a choker chain is in order also. Sorry about the crappy cell phone pics, but the batteries in my digital camera were dead.

 

[stihl sawing]

Lookin good, Could you not hook the winch up to your truck battery and leave the motor running. Or can you not get the truck where the winch is?

 

[Ductape]

Can't get my truck, or anything else close to where I'm working. I just carried the winch set-up, and the battery by hand (two trips). Not very far, buts its really soft out there. I think a good battery will make all the difference. I also wish the winch had a hundred feet of cable . All in all I'd call the experiment a success.... even though I had to charge the battery after a couple pulls.

 

[stihl sawing]

Can't get my truck, or anything else close to where I'm working. I just carried the winch set-up, and the battery by hand (two trips). Not very far, buts its really soft out there. I think a good battery will make all the difference. I also wish the winch had a hundred feet of cable . All in all I'd call the experiment a success.... even though I had to charge the battery after a couple pulls.

Yeah it would be nice to get the truck there. You can add some length with some more cable. Just make a loop on one end to put in the hook and either a loop or hook on the other end. I've used those cable clamps to loop cable before.

 

[foursaps]

a set of 25+ft jumper cables would do the same thing as having the truck right next to it. you could even fab up a couple wires to bolt right up to your winch and the battery in the truck....

 

[stihl sawing]

a set of 25+ft jumper cables would do the same thing as having the truck right next to it. you could even fab up a couple wires to bolt right up to your winch and the battery in the truck....

Only problem with extension wires is overheating. They would have to be a real heavy gauge to go 25 feet. On something like starting a car that length is fine but for extended hard pulling they would have to be heavy. I did something like that on my truck, I run two heavy cables from the front battery to the rear of the truck so i can hook up the winch on my trailer. It would work but the cost for 25 feet times two would be a killer.

 

[cowtipper]

Also what might help is not setting the battery on the ground. Set it on a log or a piece or wood. With older ones the earth acks like a ground and will suck down the power....

 

[avalancher]

Ductape, if you really want to extend the reach of your winch,try this.
Yard the wire rope off of the winch,get you a nice 100ft length of cheap rope, and use the winch as a capstain.Run the rope out to your wood,bring the loose end back to the winch,wrap a couple of turns around the winch spool, and yard the rope out as you hit the button on your winch.

I took a job last summer,guy had some nut knock down several trees along the top of the ridge where his house stood.The trees fell down into the ravine almost 150ft down.I used an old bull rope,200ft in length and yarded them right up the hill using a yarding cone.Previous bids he had were in the $1100 range to haul them up the hill.I told him I would do it for $600.Took me four hours to get them up the hill and right into the trailer and drove off with the cash and a trailer full of white oak.He was laughing when I pulled into his yard that morning with nothing more than a pickup and empty trailer,but oddly enough he wasnt laughing when he handed me the check four hours later.

 

[coog]

Great trick! I had a capstan on the end of a Power Wagon winch and used it all the time.Never thought of converting a standard winch.

 

[Ductape]

Interesting thought....... using the winch as a capstan. I've never used one, so I have a couple questions. I assume three or four wraps would be sufficient? Also..... I'm going to speculate that I'd have to stand there and pull the rope as it comes off the drum so it doesn't tangle? No reasonable way I can figure to have the rope drop to the ground without tangling. Definitely food for thought here.

One thing i need to add on the ATV winch. It was handy as hell to have the wireless remote control. When the end of the log would dig into the ground (coming out of a low spot) , i could stand at the log with a pinch bar in one hand giving the end of the log a little lift while I controlled the winch with the other hand. I can see that I will lose it before long though. Perhaps a lanyard around my neck or something will post-pone me losing it for a little while.

 

[rtrsam]

One thing about all the electric winches: they are intended for "self-recovery" of a stuck vehicle. If you use them beyond that, you're using them beyond their intended use and there can be consequences. For my dollar, literally EVERY time I've used an electric winch (half a dozen different winches on different vehicles) for something other than a short, basic, simple pull, something has gone wrong. Best case scenario: dead battery. Then on from there: winch breaks (Warn 9000 lb electric ground planetary gears to a silver toothpaste looking substance), lost the windings in an armature. Winch caught fire. Battery cables caught fire. Battery caught fire... All separate incidents, different rigs, etc. I think I've learned about electric winches. if you've had sucess without these failures, I'd say you need to add the word "yet."

I'm very interested in the capstan portable winch: unlimited pulling length, no change in pulling power as the load reels in, motor intended to run either loaded or unloaded for longer periods of time. I'll probably end up getting one in the next year or so and share my experiences. I've seen a few youtube videos of people using them to pull trees against their lean when falling. They look pretty darn functional.

I've also had extermely bad luck with chainsaw winches. I rememeber using one attached to an old Homelite 925 and seeing the clutch pack unscrew itself (whenever I would throttle down, the clutch would start to unscrew itself, then I could blip the throttle and it woudl tighten up, only to unscrew when I let off the throttle). After a couple times I had to let the saw idle down (was runnning out of winch line) and the clutch came of and hit the ground at 9,000 rpm's and took off into teh bushes, never to be seen again...
It was not the fault of the winch, but it left a bad opinion in my head.

I've used the hand operated hoists more than anything else (but grip hoist brand, TU series hoists), dead nuts reliable, never had a hoist fail me. Just slow and a lot of work.

 

[Hddnis]

I've put some really heavy use on the small electric winches.

I had one fail in less than an hour being used to lift a snowplow on garden tractor; hardly heavy lifting. In that case there was a defect that only allowed the sun gear to engage the planetarys about 1/16th of inch instead of the proper 5/8ths. It stripped out after running for an hour in heavy wet snow; replaced under warranty.

With that one exception they have all run fine for hours of hard use. I have seven 2000lb winches, three 6000lb and then two Mile Marker hydraulic winches.


I've got friends who have had worse luck with electric. Mostly they have burned control solinoids.




Mr. HE

 

[avalancher]

One thing about all the electric winches: they are intended for "self-recovery" of a stuck vehicle. If you use them beyond that, you're using them beyond their intended use and there can be consequences. For my dollar, literally EVERY time I've used an electric winch (half a dozen different winches on different vehicles) for something other than a short, basic, simple pull, something has gone wrong. Best case scenario: dead battery. Then on from there: winch breaks (Warn 9000 lb electric ground planetary gears to a silver toothpaste looking substance), lost the windings in an armature. Winch caught fire. Battery cables caught fire. Battery caught fire... All separate incidents, different rigs, etc. I think I've learned about electric winches. if you've had sucess without these failures, I'd say you need to add the word "yet."

I'm very interested in the capstan portable winch: unlimited pulling length, no change in pulling power as the load reels in, motor intended to run either loaded or unloaded for longer periods of time. I'll probably end up getting one in the next year or so and share my experiences. I've seen a few youtube videos of people using them to pull trees against their lean when falling. They look pretty darn functional.

I've also had extermely bad luck with chainsaw winches. I rememeber using one attached to an old Homelite 925 and seeing the clutch pack unscrew itself (whenever I would throttle down, the clutch would start to unscrew itself, then I could blip the throttle and it woudl tighten up, only to unscrew when I let off the throttle). After a couple times I had to let the saw idle down (was runnning out of winch line) and the clutch came of and hit the ground at 9,000 rpm's and took off into teh bushes, never to be seen again...
It was not the fault of the winch, but it left a bad opinion in my head.

I've used the hand operated hoists more than anything else (but grip hoist brand, TU series hoists), dead nuts reliable, never had a hoist fail me. Just slow and a lot of work.

Your absolutely right on that one, and they have to be used with a little common sense.
I have the warn 3700 works winch,and from what I have been told by warn it is designed a little different than an atv winch.however,it does have its limitations.If you expect to work the thing all day long by merely swapping out the battery for a fresh one, you are going to end up with a burned out winch.
With that being said, I work the winch to allow a little cool down period.I dont limb all my stuf,stack up all the logs,and then pull them all into the trailer all in one shot.I will limb up a log, pull it into the trailer, and check the case of the winch for the temp before dragging a bit more in.It also helps to pull a realistic sized load in.If you winch is rated for 4000lbs, cut your load to half of that and give the winch a break.
I have had this 3700 as well as a 1500lb for five years now, and they both get heavy use in the spring time and moderate use the rest of the year.I did have to replace the solenoid on the 3700 last winter for fifty bucks,but I consider that a cheap price to pay for all the work it has saved me.

All things considered, if you use a little common sense a portable winch should last you for years.

I am however building a gas powered capstain winch, when i get it done ill post some pics.

 

[Blowncrewcab]

I run my winch rope out to a snatch block then back to a shackle mounted next to the winch (a big U) which doubles the pulling power with 1/2 the effort from the winch. It slows the reel in speed X 2 but makes using a 2500lb atv winch a breeze. I do have to give it a rest often to cool off.

 

[Splitwood]

Harbor Freight has these winches on sale for $50. Half off the original price. Here is the link and the coupon. The new website is messed up so you have to call in the order.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/common/displayPage.do?pageFile=magurl2.html

They work greater for a log lifter. I will try and get some pics up of it in action.

OK...... finally got to try out the winch today. I yarded a couple logs out of the muck and onto higher ground. I definitely think this has potential. Unfortunately, I didn't use it much as I had hoped because the battery I was using was very weak. I robbed the battery out of my dump trailer, but unfortunately, its six years old and doesn't hold a good charge. There are a couple improvements I need to make. I used one hook in the center, and the winch would want to turn so the motor (heavy) side was down. I feel a hook on either side would keep it more level. I'm going to give the concept a "B", but today's experience a "C-". I'll pick up a good deep cycle battery as soon as the budget allows. Oh..... I think a choker chain is in order also. Sorry about the crappy cell phone pics, but the batteries in my digital camera were dead.