Attaching Winch to Front of Tractor?

[WranglerX]

These winches are very slow and power draining for what you describe as others have stated.
I feel you’d be better off with A capstan type winch for the work you describe.
There are larger ones as well.

Portable Winch PCW3000-A Gas-Powered Pulling Winch, Honda GX35

Born to meet the demand for an even more portable model than the original PCW5000 winch, the PCW3000 capstan drum winch is nothing less than a technical gem; delivering incredible pulling power, in the smallest format Portable Winch has ever made. Powered by Honda GX35 4-stroke engine...

americanforestry.com

This may or may not be a solution depending on what the intended use for winch operation is....

Been thinking about one along of these lines as a alternative to a PTO logging winch (not recovery) as I have some stuff to pull out (dead trees and brush) that is in about 200 feet beyond where sane tractor access is prudent.... Only other option is to carry out by hand (ugg don't think so, to old for this) ....

 

[arrow]

This may or may not be a solution depending on what the intended use for winch operation is....

Been thinking about one along of these lines as a alternative to a PTO logging winch (not recovery) as I have some stuff to pull out (dead trees and brush) that is in about 200 feet beyond where sane tractor access is prudent.... Only other option is to carry out by hand (ugg don't think so, to old for this) ....

He describes his intended use.
I think this is a fit for what was stated.
Much faster and he doesn't necessarily have to attach it to the tractor to do viable work.
One of the advantages is a capstan winch doesn't care how long a line you need as the residual line length is not stored within the winch.

 

[ning]

I am. Harbor Freight Apex 12,000 lb

I have the same winch - but I was replying to someone else on the thread.

 

[Fields_mj]

I enjoy reading all these thoughts on winches and winching tractors. I thought I'd just throw out a comment and thought. Putting a 12,000 winch on the front casting of a tractor can be a bit of overkill, but nothing like being able to hopefully pull anything needed.
Now I'm sure everyone has seen the pictures of these compact tractors being broke in half, some from 3 point backhoes and some for other reasons.
One thing to think about when the larger tractors are getting towed out from getting stuck a great many of them have a tow cable mounted up on the front for pulling the tractor, however that cable runs under the tractor all the way to the rear fixed drawbar mounting or actually around the drawbar to pull the tractor without pulling it apart.

The likely reason he's using a 12k or 13k winch is because they aren't that much more expensive than a 4500 lb winch, they are strong enough to pull the tractor with the top layer, and with the loads that the tractor is able to support, they have longer cables, and a 12k or 13k winch will operate with a higher duty cycle. Then there's the added benifit of being able to use it with your truck/Jeep/SUV. I've used mine to pull our towns snow plow out of the ditch. The drawbacks to using a bigger winch are that they are slower, they draw down the battery faster, and they are heavier if you are mounting them via a 2" receiver. Using synthetic rope helps a lot, but even then a 13k winch isn't a lot of fun to carry around.

 

[ptsg]

I enjoy reading all these thoughts on winches and winching tractors. I thought I'd just throw out a comment and thought. Putting a 12,000 winch on the front casting of a tractor can be a bit of overkill, but nothing like being able to hopefully pull anything needed.
Now I'm sure everyone has seen the pictures of these compact tractors being broke in half, some from 3 point backhoes and some for other reasons.
One thing to think about when the larger tractors are getting towed out from getting stuck a great many of them have a tow cable mounted up on the front for pulling the tractor, however that cable runs under the tractor all the way to the rear fixed drawbar mounting or actually around the drawbar to pull the tractor without pulling it apart.

Great valid points Lou. A big reason why I focused so much on having a subframe pretty much tying the winch all the way to the rear axle, plus, even though I could play with the gear reduction on mine to achieve much more pulling capacity, I ended up favoring speed instead.

Mine is rated to about 6000 lbs. Sure, doesn't sound like much but haven't really had the need for anymore capacity than that. Should be enough to pull the tractor out of a stuck situation. Although I could use a pulley if I really needed to.

 

[LouNY]

Great valid points Lou. A big reason why I focused so much on having a subframe pretty much tying the winch all the way to the rear axle, plus, even though I could play with the gear reduction on mine to achieve much more pulling capacity, I ended up favoring speed instead.

Mine is rated to about 6000 lbs. Sure, doesn't sound like much but haven't really had the need for anymore capacity than that. Should be enough to pull the tractor out of a stuck situation. Although I could use a pulley if I really needed to.

Yes for any potential hard pulls from the front of these tractors a good sub frame or other method of distributing the tension should be used.

 

[oosik]

People don't understand. An electric winch on a vehicle is basically a recovery implement. It's not intended to be some form of a logging winch or for daily use to move things.

Without this understanding and practice - you will soon experience the down side of electric winch use.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I used a small Warn to raise and lower the rear blade on a home built tractor, and once a year or so the built in in/out switch would call it quits.

Far from what that 3500 was supposed to do, but I think that other than having to rebuild the brake once, it kept on working. Of course, it's old enough to be made in the USA.

 

[SteveJ]

I just added a 15K hydraulic winch to the front of my tractor. I had bought a 12K Harbor Freight electric winch and planned to use that until I read this article and realized that my MF 1835M tractor only had a 60-amp alternator. I returned the HF winch and bought the Vevor hydraulic winch. The smaller winch was out of stock, and it was only about $100 more to go for their 15K winch, so I did it. I had my dealer install it for me and they recommended mounting it in the front. They attached some heavy plates to each side of the frame and mounted it to those. No worries about too much load on the 3 pt hitch. I like having it permanently mounted so it is there if/when I need it, rather than a 3 pt hitch mount that I have to take something off the hitch to attach the winch. I like having recovery capability, but my primary reason for the winch it to skid logs out of the forest and hauling them to my sawmill. I had a second hydraulic remote to handle the winch and grapple, with the original remote for the backhoe. I have not used it yet, but think it would work well.

 

[ning]

I just added a 15K hydraulic winch to the front of my tractor. I had bought a 12K Harbor Freight electric winch and planned to use that until I read this article and realized that my MF 1835M tractor only had a 60-amp alternator. I returned the HF winch and bought the Vevor hydraulic winch. The smaller winch was out of stock, and it was only about $100 more to go for their 15K winch, so I did it. I had my dealer install it for me and they recommended mounting it in the front. They attached some heavy plates to each side of the frame and mounted it to those. No worries about too much load on the 3 pt hitch. I like having it permanently mounted so it is there if/when I need it, rather than a 3 pt hitch mount that I have to take something off the hitch to attach the winch. I like having recovery capability, but my primary reason for the winch it to skid logs out of the forest and hauling them to my sawmill. I had a second hydraulic remote to handle the winch and grapple, with the original remote for the backhoe. I have not used it yet, but think it would work well.

I'd love to see pics of it installed and your hydraulics connection to it.