OP
Boondox
Elite Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 3,873
- Location
- Craftsbury Common, Vermont
- Tractor
- Deere 4044R cab, Kubota KX-121-3S
Farmi or Fransgard winch???
- Thread starter Boondox
- Start date
We spent last weekend pulling redwoods out of my buddy Mark's creek bed with my Farmi 351P and Kubota L2500. The top picture shows the mess we faced. Those logs are about 35 to 40 feet long, and the one on the left was about 26 inches diameter half way back. The far ends are the butts.
We cut the larger log (on the left) originally about 12 feet back and had a heck of a time pulling it up out of the creek. We re-rigged with a double line and pulled the next 12 feet out easily enough, then a ten footer. The log on the right we cut in half and pulled out in two pieces. There were a couple of smaller logs underneath.
Second and third pictures show the landing and tractor for size comparison. That's Mark hauling out a 100 foot coil of 5/8 inch cable. Bottom picture is "The Crew." Mark's on the right, his neighbor Eric is on the left (Eric used to log these hills, and we're grateful for his patient help teaching a couple of weekend loggers.) I'm in the center.
We cut the larger log (on the left) originally about 12 feet back and had a heck of a time pulling it up out of the creek. We re-rigged with a double line and pulled the next 12 feet out easily enough, then a ten footer. The log on the right we cut in half and pulled out in two pieces. There were a couple of smaller logs underneath.
Second and third pictures show the landing and tractor for size comparison. That's Mark hauling out a 100 foot coil of 5/8 inch cable. Bottom picture is "The Crew." Mark's on the right, his neighbor Eric is on the left (Eric used to log these hills, and we're grateful for his patient help teaching a couple of weekend loggers.) I'm in the center.
Attachments
<font color=blue>Great photos and very impressive work with a Farmi and Kubota.</font color=blue>
Thanks. This was the first big project with the Farmi.
<font color=blue>That's one heck of a chain saw too. Looks like a 36" bar?</font color=blue>
That's about the size of it /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
Thanks. This was the first big project with the Farmi.
<font color=blue>That's one heck of a chain saw too. Looks like a 36" bar?</font color=blue>
That's about the size of it /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
SmokyMtnMan
Silver Member
Ok, I just got to be dumb here and ask....at the risk of getting flamed here, but ya never learn anything unless you ask.....I have looked, studied, mouth watered, etc about these Farmi Winches and I'm sure they're just the trick and top quality stuff....but if one needed this type of work done and was not quite able to include this cost in his budget, why couldn't you get a good 6,000 to 9,000 capacity winch, (Ramsey, Warner etc) that had 90' or better cable capacity and mount it on the rear, use grader blade to dig in....and go from there?
could also get a local welder to get a 1/4" type of fake Farmi wannabee plate
aren't we still a good bit under the $2700 or so for the 351 Farmi?
if this would work, would you get a 12 volt or a PTO winch like Northern Tool has?
could also get a local welder to get a 1/4" type of fake Farmi wannabee plate
aren't we still a good bit under the $2700 or so for the 351 Farmi?
if this would work, would you get a 12 volt or a PTO winch like Northern Tool has?
hayden
Veteran Member
It's a very reasonable question. From what I've seen a comparable capacity 12V winch is still pretty pricey (maybe $1000), and they tend to draw a LOT of current, often more than a poor little Kubota can replace in a reasonable time. When you get to a 3PH winch, well that's what the Farmi is. How much less is a generic winch? You can also go hydraulic powered for the winch but costs start going up again. Also, the variable pull force and winch speed afforded by the Farmi clutch is very handy.
If you did the welding and cutting to make it 3PH mount, add a but plate (which is good for anchoring the tractor as well as piling logs and protecting the back of the tractor when skidding), make chain slots for attaching the logs while skidding, I'm sure you could save on the cash outlay. I made my own Top n Tilt to save on cash outlay and because it was fun, but if you count in my time I'm sure I paid more that if I just bought one.
I'm sure it could be done, and if you try it, I for one would love to hear about it and see pictures. Many people have built some great 3PH implements themselves.
If you did the welding and cutting to make it 3PH mount, add a but plate (which is good for anchoring the tractor as well as piling logs and protecting the back of the tractor when skidding), make chain slots for attaching the logs while skidding, I'm sure you could save on the cash outlay. I made my own Top n Tilt to save on cash outlay and because it was fun, but if you count in my time I'm sure I paid more that if I just bought one.
I'm sure it could be done, and if you try it, I for one would love to hear about it and see pictures. Many people have built some great 3PH implements themselves.
Good question. I considered building one up like you describe.
There's so much more power available from that PTO shaft than you'll ever get from an electric winch, and it's available 100% of the time. An electric winch that draws 200 Amps is only maybe a 2 HP motor and can't run under full load more than a few minutes out of each hour. A hydraulic motor is better, but you'll need 20 GPM to get up to PTO kinds of power levels; On my tractor that means a separate, PTO powered pump.
The Farmi type winch (or Farnsgard or ...) has a mechanical clutch that you can feather and control just so. All that available power also means a brisk pulling speed: The cable moves along at a good walking speed even under load, compared to a couple of feet per minute for a loaded electric winch. On this job we also had a heavy truck with an 8000 lb, hydraulic winch. We used it on one log for comparison, and that was it. The truck spent the rest of the weekend as an anchor. I think that those Warn, Ramsey, etc. winches are fine for occasional use (like rescue,) but wouldn't be much fun for continuous use.
There's a fella on the other board who built his own PTO driven winch, and I was inspired, but there's too many other chores I really need to do. I finally decided to buy one instead. Ah well... Seat time on the tractor is almost as much fun as building stuff.
There's so much more power available from that PTO shaft than you'll ever get from an electric winch, and it's available 100% of the time. An electric winch that draws 200 Amps is only maybe a 2 HP motor and can't run under full load more than a few minutes out of each hour. A hydraulic motor is better, but you'll need 20 GPM to get up to PTO kinds of power levels; On my tractor that means a separate, PTO powered pump.
The Farmi type winch (or Farnsgard or ...) has a mechanical clutch that you can feather and control just so. All that available power also means a brisk pulling speed: The cable moves along at a good walking speed even under load, compared to a couple of feet per minute for a loaded electric winch. On this job we also had a heavy truck with an 8000 lb, hydraulic winch. We used it on one log for comparison, and that was it. The truck spent the rest of the weekend as an anchor. I think that those Warn, Ramsey, etc. winches are fine for occasional use (like rescue,) but wouldn't be much fun for continuous use.
There's a fella on the other board who built his own PTO driven winch, and I was inspired, but there's too many other chores I really need to do. I finally decided to buy one instead. Ah well... Seat time on the tractor is almost as much fun as building stuff.