Winch for pulling downed trees

[spindlewood]

I don't understand what the winch is supposed to do? Once the tree is on the ground, does it pull it closer to the tractor before you drag the tree with the tractor? Or is it to get it into position, then you hook up your chain and drag it with your tractor? ... Why not just use a chain?

Eddie

In my area , trees grow where tractors don't go...

It helps to get the tree a bit closer before you chain on. That is, It helps to keep the tractor upright or up past the axles in mud ;-)

As in my part of the world, the tractor needs to stay up on the ridge road, and the logs are down in the "draw". in other words they are downhill on either side of the ridge road. If you get the tractor down there, you will need a tow truck to get it back up. You need to get the logs up to where you can then haul them off.

Eddie,
CalG & James have pretty much said it. My 27 acres is mostly on a hillside with a river below. The tractor has very limited access on the hillsides and also limited access in the riparian zone - both because of mud and lack of road. I can imagine using ingenuity to find ways of pulling logs 90% of the time with the drawbar. There will be situations where a simple winch pull will be the obvious solution due to terrain constraints.

I am curious if you simply use the drawbar to attach logs to or if it would be a good idea to have something more durable on the 3pt to attach to and allow for lifting the head of the log. I came across a Tractor Drawbar Trailer Hitch for $99 - good idea / bad idea / other ideas?

Also for $99 w/ Standard 2" receiver: Titan Trailer Receiver Drawbar Hitch

 

[newbury]

I came across a Tractor Drawbar Trailer Hitch for $99 - good idea / bad idea / other ideas?

It's a start but spend a little more and get a

trailer mover that accepts your standard 2" receiver.

Then you can hook all manner of things into it.

 

[luvmexfood]

It's amazing what you can do with pulleys Course they have to be heavy duty enough. For a log that is not to heavy but you can't pull it straight tie a big pulley in a tree as high as you can reach where it will make the log pull more or less up the hill. Then run your cable to the drawbar. Once the log gets to the tree with the cable you will have to reconfigure according to your circumstances.

 

[Ken45101]

I have a chain attached to my drawbar and I just wrap it once around the tree and attach the chain with the hook at the end of it. Then I drag it to where I want it. The chain never wears out, it never frays or kinks like a cable will. It is easy to store and easy to handle.

Why not just use a chain?

Eddie

Eddie, you must be a flatlander. The trees here are NOT on the trail:



The winch is for getting the trees TO the tractor.

 

[hslogger]

If you are gonna log, then log like a logger and use the right stuff.Buy cheap blocks and destroy em. Buy crappy chain and cable, wreck em. Buy decent HEAVY blocks with zerks and keep them greased. Don't put them in weird angles that chew them up. Swivels can help make that better. Any time you can use a block on the object to be pulled, you double your power. If you ran Two blocks on your object and a load block on your pull area, you quadruple your power. Don't mistake a lead block for a load block. Just because you have a block on the road and are pulling through it, that is just DIRECTING your line to the machine. The wider the angle at the block the less power you have. Directional blocks let you put your machine in a comfortable place to operate from.

Anytime you can hang a load block up in the air, you get some lift which dramatically reduces your friction. Trouble is many want to do all this by themself,no one else around, and they end up with hang ups and bugering up remaining stand. If you have a choker setter or someone savy to rigging, you can do it all quicker and safer with less damage to your residual area. What is important is how you leave the place and still get your product out. Carry some old truck tubes to wrap around the trees you hang your block from to save that tree's bark. Chains eat the tree. Wide heavy nylon straps and truck inner tubes do a pretty good job of saving your tree. Work smart. slow and safe.

Anyone who has sprung for a good three point winch on their tractor knows in the end, they are worth it.

 

[Looking4new]

I use a Warn 8000lb winch and two snatch blocks. One of them is a double sheave. Sometimes I don't use both sides of the double, but it pays to have it, just in case.

 

[EddieWalker]

You guys are right, I live in East Texas where the biggest mountain around is just a couple hundred feet above the rest of the land. We have plenty of swamp land and the jungle can be come extremely thick. It didn't occur to me that the trees you are cutting down would be so inaccessible that you where limited in how close you could get to them with the tractor. When I take trees down, it's to create a road or to thin up acres of land where 90 percent of them are coming out.

Eddie

 

[k0ua]

Eddie, you must be a flatlander. The trees here are NOT on the trail:

View attachment 372564

The winch is for getting the trees TO the tractor.

Ha!.. looks like Branson. Only more dirt, less rock outcroppings..:laughing: