Hydraulic Winch on ToolCat

[Gadgetnut]

Thanks to my neighbor's suggestion and a ToolCat forum member's website

ToolCat Diary

I have become interested in adding a hydraulic winch to my ToolCat.

Among the uses I have in mind are pulling out dead trees from a mucky part of my lake. Hydraulic winches, compared to electric ones, seem to be able to stand up under continuous use. The winch mounts to a cradle, which in turn inserts into a 2" tow hitch receiver. In addition to the rear receiver, I might get a 2" receiver welded to one of my Bobtach tools so I could winch from the front as well.

I was in touch with the winch manufacturer (MileMarker), the winch reseller (e-winch.com), my local Bobcat dealer, and a local hydraulic shop today. The ToolCat rear hydraulic option (which I do not have yet) seems to output 3000 psi and 6 gpm and the winch needs 1500 psi and 3.5 gpm.

Rather than buying a $1000 Bobcat rear hydraulics option that won't work for this either, the hydraulic shop wants to "T" off the existing front auxiliary hydraulic line with a flow control-return to provide the required pressure and flow without cramping ToolCat. They say the winch will work like any other attachment. Don't want to mess up my Bobcat warranty though.

Any input to these thoughts? I'll let you know how it works out.

PS: The temperatures have risen and I've been enjoying the A/C in the cab the last several days.

 

[Gadgetnut]

Thanks to my neighbor's suggestion and a ToolCat forum member's website

ToolCat Diary

I have become interested in adding a hydraulic winch to my ToolCat.

Among the uses I have in mind are pulling out dead trees from a mucky part of my lake. Hydraulic winches, compared to electric ones, seem to be able to stand up under continuous use. The winch mounts to a cradle, which in turn inserts into a 2" tow hitch receiver. In addition to the rear receiver, I might get a 2" receiver welded to one of my Bobtach tools so I could winch from the front as well.

I was in touch with the winch manufacturer (MileMarker), the winch reseller (e-winch.com), my local Bobcat dealer, and a local hydraulic shop today. The ToolCat rear hydraulic option (which I do not have yet) seems to output 3000 psi and 6 gpm and the winch needs 1500 psi and 3.5 gpm.

Rather than buying a $1000 Bobcat rear hydraulics option that won't work for this either, the hydraulic shop wants to "T" off the existing front auxiliary hydraulic line with a flow control-return to provide the required pressure and flow without cramping ToolCat. They say the winch will work like any other attachment. Don't want to mess up my Bobcat warranty though.

Any input to these thoughts? I'll let you know how it works out.

PS: The temperatures have risen and I've been enjoying the A/C in the cab the last several days.

 

[dsb5610]

Gadgetnut,

Would there be a separate valve to start/stop the flow to the new lines? If so, how are they proposing to integrate that into the operator area? If not, that brings up a different set of thoughts/questions.

dsb

 

[dsb5610]

Gadgetnut,

Would there be a separate valve to start/stop the flow to the new lines? If so, how are they proposing to integrate that into the operator area? If not, that brings up a different set of thoughts/questions.

dsb

 

[Rip]

While the hydraulic MileMarker winches are quite good for their intended purpose (and are the only ones I would use on a vehicle), they are designed to be powered by a power steering pump. Standard configuration also uses a small electric solenoid valve for on-off and direction control. While some have tow speed gearing, they are otherwise on-off like an electric winch.

I currently have a PowerTrac 1845 to which I mounted a Warn 6000 series industrial hydraulic winch to a plate and 2" sq tubing stub. I power it from the PTO circuit, which on a PT is unidirectional and On-Off, by means of a motor spool valve located by the winch. This means I can control speed and direction as well as the free-wheel clutch right from the winch where I can watch and control the cable spooling also.

I have 150 ft of 1/4" IWRC high flex cable and pull large Ponderosa & fir trees up steep slopes to where I can cut them further and grapple transport them. I also use it on a 10' boom mounted to the lift arms. I also have 2 50 ft lenghts of 5/16" cable I can use as extentions when needed. The set-up has worked perfectly for over 3 years.

If I recall correctly, the Toolcat has a bi-directional auxilliary circuit and may even be proportional. You may be able to control the winch directly (from inside the cab at least) without any other valves.

In any event, I would really recommend a Warn or Ramsey commercial hydraulic winch versus the MileMarker for your application. I chose my model considering it had all the pull I would need, and yet is still light enough to handle with full cable so I can mount or remove it as needed.

You may be able to get a MileMarker to work, but it would be far from ideal.

 

[Rip]

While the hydraulic MileMarker winches are quite good for their intended purpose (and are the only ones I would use on a vehicle), they are designed to be powered by a power steering pump. Standard configuration also uses a small electric solenoid valve for on-off and direction control. While some have tow speed gearing, they are otherwise on-off like an electric winch.

I currently have a PowerTrac 1845 to which I mounted a Warn 6000 series industrial hydraulic winch to a plate and 2" sq tubing stub. I power it from the PTO circuit, which on a PT is unidirectional and On-Off, by means of a motor spool valve located by the winch. This means I can control speed and direction as well as the free-wheel clutch right from the winch where I can watch and control the cable spooling also.

I have 150 ft of 1/4" IWRC high flex cable and pull large Ponderosa & fir trees up steep slopes to where I can cut them further and grapple transport them. I also use it on a 10' boom mounted to the lift arms. I also have 2 50 ft lenghts of 5/16" cable I can use as extentions when needed. The set-up has worked perfectly for over 3 years.

If I recall correctly, the Toolcat has a bi-directional auxilliary circuit and may even be proportional. You may be able to control the winch directly (from inside the cab at least) without any other valves.

In any event, I would really recommend a Warn or Ramsey commercial hydraulic winch versus the MileMarker for your application. I chose my model considering it had all the pull I would need, and yet is still light enough to handle with full cable so I can mount or remove it as needed.

You may be able to get a MileMarker to work, but it would be far from ideal.

 

[Gadgetnut]

Thank you, dsb and Rip, for your input. I would prefer a heavy duty, commercial rated hydraulic winch. I will look into Warn and Ramsey. Given the weight of this puppy-- about 130 pounds-- I am deliberating the utility of a "portable" installation that fits in the rear 2" tow hitch receiver, versus just having a metal fab shop just fabricate another skid steer/Bobtach implement for ToolCat, that happens to be the winch. How often do you want to be struggling a 130 pound tool into the trailer hitch?! A skidsteer winch tool would have me pulling from the front rather than the rear. I intend to have the winch cable switched out for synthetic cloth cable (I don't know what it's made of) but it is NOT dynamic under failure-- when the winch line breaks, it simply falls to the ground-- no rebound. Thinking of how the job would work, like Rip, I guess I would be winching trees/ stumps en masse, chainsawing and then changing implements to the Anbo farm grapple to grapple transport them away.

Bobcat, where is your hydraulic winch tool?! Thank you again, forum friends, for the design input. Please keep it coming.

 

[Gadgetnut]

Thank you, dsb and Rip, for your input. I would prefer a heavy duty, commercial rated hydraulic winch. I will look into Warn and Ramsey. Given the weight of this puppy-- about 130 pounds-- I am deliberating the utility of a "portable" installation that fits in the rear 2" tow hitch receiver, versus just having a metal fab shop just fabricate another skid steer/Bobtach implement for ToolCat, that happens to be the winch. How often do you want to be struggling a 130 pound tool into the trailer hitch?! A skidsteer winch tool would have me pulling from the front rather than the rear. I intend to have the winch cable switched out for synthetic cloth cable (I don't know what it's made of) but it is NOT dynamic under failure-- when the winch line breaks, it simply falls to the ground-- no rebound. Thinking of how the job would work, like Rip, I guess I would be winching trees/ stumps en masse, chainsawing and then changing implements to the Anbo farm grapple to grapple transport them away.

Bobcat, where is your hydraulic winch tool?! Thank you again, forum friends, for the design input. Please keep it coming.

 

[Rip]

My winch alone is only about 36 lbs and complete w/steel cable & hoses & valve and mounting assembly is only about 80 lbs or so. With synthetic rope it would be even less.

I also have an AnBo 5' grapple rake and welded a 2 1/2" receiver tube vertically to the back of the grapple so I can use the winch to pull logs & stuff right up to where I can grab it without having to swap out attachments. In my case the grapple rams and winch use different circuits so there is no conflict. You could probably use an electric control valve like many BobCat attachments already use to shift the aux circuit from rams to winch at the flick of a switch.

My set up lets me use the winch with either the grapple rake or the boom pole or even alone and of course they can be used without the winch as well. I run everything from the front although there could be the rare instance where being able to winch from the rear would be helpful. I have several real heavy duty come-alongs that I can use in those cases however.

 

[Rip]

My winch alone is only about 36 lbs and complete w/steel cable & hoses & valve and mounting assembly is only about 80 lbs or so. With synthetic rope it would be even less.

I also have an AnBo 5' grapple rake and welded a 2 1/2" receiver tube vertically to the back of the grapple so I can use the winch to pull logs & stuff right up to where I can grab it without having to swap out attachments. In my case the grapple rams and winch use different circuits so there is no conflict. You could probably use an electric control valve like many BobCat attachments already use to shift the aux circuit from rams to winch at the flick of a switch.

My set up lets me use the winch with either the grapple rake or the boom pole or even alone and of course they can be used without the winch as well. I run everything from the front although there could be the rare instance where being able to winch from the rear would be helpful. I have several real heavy duty come-alongs that I can use in those cases however.