How to mount small (2500#) winch to FEL bucket

[almaryholm]

I would like to mount a small HF remote control winch to top of my TYM loader bucket ( but not permanent) for lifting material and maybe skidding logs from ravine to landing for splitting. Any designs out there??? Lip of bucket is just too thick to drill for bolts>

 

[fried1765]

I would like to mount a small HF remote control winch to top of my TYM loader bucket ( but not permanent) for lifting material and maybe skidding logs from ravine to landing for splitting. Any designs out there??? Lip of bucket is just too thick to drill for bolts>

Get a REAL cobalt bit in the hole size you need, and use oil to cool while drilling.
Unless the top of your bucket is over an inch thick, it should be very doable.

 

[John_Mc]

If you are looking at one of the Harbor Freight winches, do yourself a favor and step up one notch from the 2500# winch. That winch was made with just one goal in mind: make something as cheap as possible. There is a BIG step up in functionality between their 2500# Badlands winch and their 3500# model, even if you don't need the extra pulling power. The 2500# winch basically has a "U" shaped piece of metal supporting the spool, with the left and right legs of the U supporting the spool. This is a weak set-up and the two legs of the U easily get sprung, allowing the cable to fall off the side of the spool and get wedged between the spool and the supporting U. If you are VERY careful, it may never happen to you, particularly in an application where the tension is constantly on the cable, never allowing it to come lose off the spool. Unfortunately, "real life" doesn't always go as planned.

The 3500# winches (and larger) have a much better design: the to sides are connected by four posts which surround the spool, connecting the motor side to the brake side of the winch assembly. This is a much better design, since the two sides can't spring apart.

I was considering the 2500 pound winch for an antique UTV I own, but after some research, I decided on the 3500# model, even though I didn't need the extra pulling power.

As far as the holes in your loader bucket go, if they are large holes, use a bi-metal hole saw (or a carbide tipped one). For smaller holes, just resign yourself to a lengthy process with a good drill bit or two.

A couple of mounting alternatives:

1. HF sells a mounting plate for these winches (or includes one with the winch?) Consider welding or bolting that to the top rail of your bucket, rather than on the cutting edge. You may need a reinforcing plate along the top edge of the bucket.
2. There are a number of 2" receiver inserts designed to hold a winch. If you mount the winch on that, and mount a 2" receiver tube on the top of your loader (with proper reinforcement), you'll have an easily removable winch, and a receiver you can put other inserts in.
3. with the winch mounted on a receiver insert, you also have the option of using it on your 3 Pt hitch, if you add a 3 point hitch receiver. You'd need some longer cables to attach it to your tractor battery.

Whatever you decide, even a small winch will give your tractor battery a workout. The draw of a small winch under load is far greater than the output of a typical tractor alternator, so it will such your battery down when the winch is under load. Keep the tractor RPMs up when using the winch, and be sure to allow for recovery time after winching.

 

[MossRoad]

Skip that small electric winch. It will drain your battery and be ridiculously slow due to poor duty cycle. It would be faster to just put a cable or chain to the log, then hook to your drawbar and drag the log out with the tractor.

 

[jeff9366]

TYM loader bucket is too thick to drill for bolts.

Weld hooks to your bucket.

VENDER: Ken's Bolt on Grab Hooks <<Weld-On>>


Bucket hooks require a prudent operator. Too much enthusiasm will part-out your FEL.

Heavy work should be done from the Three Point Hitch.

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[chim]

I would like to mount a small HF remote control winch to top of my TYM loader bucket ( but not permanent) for lifting material and maybe skidding logs from ravine to landing for splitting. Any designs out there??? Lip of bucket is just too thick to drill for bolts>

I had an old Bellview 8K and later a Warn 8274 that I gave to my one son a few years ago. These were real deal winches and capable of some incredible performance. Never skidded logs, but from videos I've seen they would be more capable of providing the pull needed. As mentioned, power consumption is probably going to be an issue.

Sustained pulling will take LOTS of power. I used the 8274 at work to pull a bunch of large electrical cables out of conduits without giving it a break. It decided to take a breather by killing my Chevy truck. Sucked more power than the truck could keep up with and the truck shut itself off when there wasn't enough power to make the spark plugs fire.

You shouldn't need anything fancy to drill the bucket. I used a battery drill and nitrided bit.

 

[WranglerX]

Not sure if I would put a winch on bucket, good way to wrack the FEL arms assembly...

Check to see if there is room between FEL and front crossmember of chassis... Even my MF GC 1715 has enough room between FEl and chassis for a 3500lb winch, only other thing to consider is having to have bottom of bucket about 16-18 inches off ground so cable could pull inder it.... Best thing would really be to put any winch on rear draw bar or 3PH where it is designed for pulling....

And there is the duty cycle thing others have mentioned...

Dale

 

[ptsg]

I've mounted my homemade hydraulic winch on the front of the tractor.

I did use it a couple times as a crane with a snatch block on the loader for vertical loads.

I wouldn't pull logs with it over the loader though. That can create lots of stress in the wrong directions that the loader is not designed for.

 

[John_Mc]

Skip that small electric winch. It will drain your battery and be ridiculously slow due to poor duty cycle. It would be faster to just put a cable or chain to the log, then hook to your drawbar and drag the log out with the tractor.

Despite my having just posted about options for mounting your winch to the bucket or the rear end, I'm with MossRoad on this one. Before I bought my 3 Pt hitch PTO logging winch, I pulled a lot of wood out with chains connected to the hooks on my bucket (shorter distance pulls to get the logs to the trailside), or chained to the shackle on the tractor's drawbar (or occasionally chained to my boxblade). Even accounting for climbing on and off my tractor, it was MUCH faster than using an electric winch. Those electric winches are agonizingly slow, especially under load, and that is when they are actually in motion. When you account for cooling off periods due to the duty cycle, it was completely out of consideration for me as a logging tool, even for my part-time use.

 

[almaryholm]

Skidded plenty of logs over the years with 3PH / chains / cable ...on flat ground... but now have some real nice fallen red oak trees down in a ravine on my property and thought I could lift /pull from higher angle with winch added to top of bucket to keep logs from digging into ground when snaked up hill ( have about 800# counter weight on 3PH ). Thanks for the input guys....