Questions on winch

[capetrees]

I have a potential job coming up, still need to bid, and was considering the prtable gas powered winch offered through Wesspur and Sherrill. I was wondering if anyone has experience with these and are they really worth it? The job is a pretty steep grade and I'll need to bring up about 40 trees, 10"-14" dia., 60'-70' long pitch pines about 100'-150'. The winch is rated for 2500#. Any insight?

Also considering the distance, I'll be buying over 200' of rope for the winch, (if I do buy one). Any insight on how to store 200+' of rope without it becoming a mess?

And one final, for the same job, I could use a skid steer if needed. I have my eye on one, a bobcat 743. Small but good for what I do. Problem is, where I am in the sand, I need a machine with tracks. Anyone ever seen or used a 743 with tracks over the wheels? Was wondering if it had the HP to roll them with a load.

 

[treeslayer]

Also considering the distance, I'll be buying over 200' of rope for the winch, (if I do buy one). Any insight on how to store 200+' of rope without it becoming a mess?

I store all my long ropes in plastic totes, feed em in, then pull em back out. put the lid on and watertight. never tangles, and shorter ropes get smaller totes, or plastic kitty litter buckets with a lid.

 

[treeguyinoh]

If you have access, you may conside a winch for your pickup. Being that they travel with you, every time, I find that they are a lot more likely to be put into use. With a block on the line and tying your truck off from the other end a lot of weight can be dragged.
Tracks can be had for most any machine, and the track-over-tire setup works well, but can become a monumental pain if you throw it in a bad spot(like a sandy hillside).
If a truck or skidsteer has room to pull, I like to hang a block off of a tree at the top of the hill, and run a length of stable braid thru it from the bumper of the truck to the tree and just pull. There a number of ways to hold the line for multiple draws if needed, using a porta wrap, prussic, rope grab, whatever you have handy.
Longer lengths of rope can be stored by flaking it into a trash can.

 

[Wilson_tree]

I have the Simpson Capstan winch and attached it to an older, good sized sawhead. The older sawhead was key bc it has the trigger lock that keeps the throttle at about half speed. When you need a power boost you can squeeze the trigger and really get the rope moving. I bought the winch with a 300 ft rope that is intended for use with the capstan winch. I also got a plastic skid cone that goes over the end of the log and it helps the winch pull a lot more with a lot less impact. The cone keeps the log from digging into the dirt and catching on stumps, brush, roots, etc. The winch pulls well but it is slow and it is tiring to to use. You have to tail the line to keep it biting on the capstan. I have also used an electric winch mounted on a big 4 wheeler. The capstan winch doesn't heat up and burn out, it can be moved just about anywhere in a couple minutes, and with the long rope, one set gets you a long pull. The long rope is pain bc it does get tangled coming off the capstan I cut my 300 foot rope into a 100 and a 200. Overall, the winch has been a good tool for me and you get better with a little practice. I don't use it for lifting because you can't easily lock off the rope.

 

[cowtipper]

Take a look at the following link, you might get some ideas.


http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=104162

 

[StihlRockin']

If a truck or skidsteer has room to pull, I like to hang a block off of a tree at the top of the hill, and run a length of stable braid thru it from the bumper of the truck to the tree and just pull.

This is exactly what I'll be be doing tomorrow.(today) Have some Birch on a steep lakeside hill and instead of blocking and hauling, by hand, this block/winch method really speeds things up considerably.

StihlRockin'

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Petrol winches are generally required when you cant get a vehicle near the job, otherwise we would just use vehicles!

I have a harbegger cable winch which runs off a 066. Pulls about 1.6 ton and is a load dragging gem. we moved 64 tons of pine logs along a hillside which required ladder access to get to. The bit its moving in the background of the pic is just under 4 foot around.


I also have a capstan rope winch on a 044. Its pretty good but you can snap ropes quite spectacularly, I ground the gate out so it would take bigger diameters of ropes. Its tough to keep the drive chain tensioned and oil does get on the ropes a bit. it can require to guys to run it smoothly. But all in all Im very glad I have it in my rigging arsenal.