hydraulic log winch

[Everhard]

Well after earlier posts about winching logs etc we had a bad ice storm in my area so I decided it was time to build something I've thought about for years. Namely take the hydraulic winch (10,500 Milemarker) off my Jeep and set it up for use on my tractor. (Ck20s)

Yep I know it's not a fast winch, in fact it's deathly slow in low range. But that's ok I'm hoping most of the winching will be done in high range and frankly I've only got 10 acres to deal with this isn't a large commercial operation over here. Having any kind of winch though on my hills is more useful then none at all.

So yesterday I welded up a frame that hooks onto the 3pth hitch, at the bottom I included a 2" receiver for any odd thing I can think up aside from towing a trailer. I wanted the option to take the winch off so I welded on a 2" receiver on the top vertically. I made a frame for the winch that then can go into that receiver. That's as far as I got yesterday, today I'm hoping to finish it up to the point it'll be operational and ready for some testing. I'm also going to build a short arm that will extend above and rearward from the winch that I can chain logs to so I can lift the butt ends and drag them. That will also be removable and will pin onto where you see the 2" square tube going vertically from the winch. Lastly I want to make a "foot" that will go into the lower receiver so that when winching it can apply down-pressure into the ground and will help stop the tractor being dragged backwards potentially.

Here's a few shots of what I have done so far.



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[teg]

Looking forward to see how this turns out... Looks good now.

 

[Everhard]

More progress yesterday, and as usual couple steps forward one step back... I got the "arm" built, test fitted was all perfect. It's designed to drop down and then pin on. it pins on separately from the winch which also pins onto the frame. The reason everything can come off is I'm making the frame to attach other equipment to down the road. In particular I want to be able to attach a set of forks to it amongst other things.
Anyway... So then I bolted the winch onto it's mount, pinned it onto the frame and then went to pin on the arm... Darn! I hadn't accounted for the hydraulic motor on the winch sticking out the side and it gets in the way when trying to drop the arm onto the frame. the support leg for the arm would clear the hydraulic motor once in place but I can't drop it into place. So back to the drawing board. I've decided I'll make a box and the support leg can attach to the box. (The box will go around the hydraulic motor so I should have no clearance issues now and I think it will keep the needed strength to take a load on the arm.)
The other issue I had is getting a pair of male fittings instead of female fittings for the hoses going to the winch. Stupid brain.
Here's a shot of it as is so far, note the arm is kinda in place but over a couple inches given the above described issue. Gives you an idea of what it will look like once complete.

Couple other details at the end of the arm is a receiver so I can slot anything I can think of into there. Once in position properly the legs also pin on. And the foot that's slotted into the lower receiver doesn't have it's foot welded on yet.

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[Everhard]

Well as luck would have it the solenoids on the winch need replacing so until I can order/get those the winch is out of action. So I unbolted it and used what I'd made to skid a bunch of logs. Wow did it ever work great. Having the hydraulic toplink makes it really work well though.



That stick is 24' long. just one of many trees that was snapped part way up due to the ice storm.

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