portable winch

[codog]

I know this isn't large equipment, but thought this might be the appropriate place to ask about this. Portable winches with the Honda engines. Do many of you use these. I was on their website, and am thinking one of these might come in handy. If you have one, can you tell me a little about it. Are you happy with it? How much did you pay?

Thanks in advance.

 

[squish9173]

i have the chainsaw model i love it for tipping trees over i havent used mine for much else yet.i worked line clearance for 5yrs and we loved them for pulling trees over.one downfall is to use them safely & to their full potential you need 3 people to run the chainsaw model & probably 2 for the one w/its own motor.just my 2 cents. lol.

 

[rdbrumfield]

I have a chainsaw winch that I have had for over 30yrs. It is a handy tool when you need a pull. I once yarded an elk for over a mile, one hundred feet at a time. Just a gascan and some oil and myself. Uphill, downhill, through brush you name it. I just sewed it back up after dressing, put the line around it's neck and a halfhitch on the nose and away we went. Like the lamb and mary, everywhere the winch went, the elk was sure to follow.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

I have a harbegger winch which is awesome, powered by a 66 and running a cable kind of like an open breech tirfir its simply gold on those jobs where you have to move the big stuff in bad place. Make a drum type winch look like a pita and just makes your 2 man team have some moving muscle in the woods and since the cable takes about 5 seconds to take out of the mechanism its fast on turnaround. Winched my 3.5 tonne truck and chipper up some muddy hills to. Ah bless it.

I also have a chainsaw powered capstan winch which is great as well but I have snapped a few lines with it.

 

[kiwiclimber]

I have a harbegger winch which is awesome, powered by a 66 and running a cable kind of like an open breech tirfir its simply gold on those jobs where you have to move the big stuff in bad place. Make a drum type winch look like a pita and just makes your 2 man team have some moving muscle in the woods and since the cable takes about 5 seconds to take out of the mechanism its fast on turnaround. Winched my 3.5 tonne truck and chipper up some muddy hills to. Ah bless it.

I also have a chainsaw powered capstan winch which is great as well but I have snapped a few lines with it.

Is there any one in New zealand that stocks the habegger winch?I take it you have the hit trac 16?

 

[tree_beard]

honda engined rope winch

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=81803

here is reg's videos of the portable honda powered winch in action....


i wouldnt buy one

 

[B-Edwards]

Codog, I have never used these portable winches but I'm betting they are the cat's meow. Also if you buy a mini-skid the fellow who sells the Branch Manager Grapple was developing a capstain winch for the mini skids. That thing has huge potential as you can hook up so fast with ropes. If I had stayed in the tree biz I would have one.

 

[Panama]

I bought one several years ago when you had to get them from Canada, and I have been very happy with it. It is amazing how light it is, and very compact. We only use it to apply lean for felling, but it is easy to set up and use and has great pull. I changed the spool to an optional larger one, which increases line speed some and decreases max straight line pull to around 1500lbs. The standard spool is a 2500 lb straight line pull. Also, they now sell a receiver mount and a tree mount, but you need the receiver mount to use the tree mount. They are on my "wants" list, but it is always a very long list.
I wouldn't buy it for a few pulls, but if it seems like you are Always using a come-a-long for something, and you wish you could make long pulls, it's probably for you.