Hey and Howdy everyone. Have purchased a JD790 late fall and been monitoring forums. Great/interesting, reading. Thanks all for taking time to educate me. Time for me to show and tell.
I purchased the smallest "Fransgard" Forestry winch that is made. That in combo with the 790 has winched in and skidded all that I have asked of it.
I have not had one "twitch" that that the machine 3ph has not lifted and tractor has not moved. I am not involved with 3' trees at the moment, but from what I have experienced so far I do not expect to encounter problems. Will just have to adjust no. of sticks being twitched. Only thing that came close to stopping me was lack of traction, not power.
Need lots of weight on front also.
I have forks and some concrete blocks chained onto a pallet. Together I imagine it is over 400 lbs. Loaded front tires also. If room is adequate with this rig on front, ( warm weather will allow me to rig something much more compact),the tractor does not offer to front end lift, shake , rattle, or roll. It is a vast improvement over no front balast. I have also used the loader bucket with stumps (firewood) inside.
I have winched a sizeable log to a stump and kept trying to bring it to the tractor. I've done this a couple of times. Results were that the tractor just sat there, and the only movement was a jerk backwards when engaging the winch.
I think it is important that the equipment is "matched" . In this case the winch is perhaps not powerfull enough to pull the tractor over, especially with the front ballast and ***using commom sense-safety.
I do go slow with all I do, (always work alone). Going slow has prevented a bad situation more than once.
I also am very carefull about winching sideways. If I see something I do not like, I stop.
Very expensive (close to $200), but a wise purchase I made was a "self opening snatchblock". (It's just a very strong pully), The self opening feature is a luxury, and without it the price is cheaper. When I see possible trouble from a pull - too much side angle, obstacle etc., the snatch block is hooked to a tree in a dfferent direction from the original, and the winch cable is put aroound the pulley. So then I am pulling the same log in a completely different, and less dangerous direction, actually away from the tractor. The self opening feature works really spiffy here -When the slider (which is on the winch cable) contacts the block it pushes a small lever that allows the winch cable to fall off the block (it is now slack for a couple of moments), and starts pulling toward the tractor from a much safer angle,(before this it was pulling towards the snatch block). It really is not complicated, if my description make it seem so.l
A picture would be better...I will attempt.
Also I use 1/4 "choker chain"and accessories(not sure of the grade). It is plenty adequate for what I do. I also carry "regular 1/4 inch chain and use it for the second half of the the log, once it is near the winch.
The work is slow. The equipment is small and there is always a lot of friggin' and riggin'to do. I am cutting wood to sell and also for my own use -firewood, milling- at the same time. My lengths at the moment are short because it allows me to put this nimble little tractor, in tight places. Cuts down on main roads, and damage to other trees. However tree lenght is not feasible a lot because of these obstacles the tractor has woven around.
All I really wanted to do was address scottbrrtt72's concerns. I guess I got carried away.
Scott, my take on your 3ph power problem is that the even this short boom is too far back. Less power - more danger of tipping. Your post made me realize that is is probably the way the forestry winch sits close to the tractor that makes the difference.
Years and tractors back I would simply hitch log to 3ph drawbar, lift and go...slow. This worked fine. My thoughts are that to make up for shortcommings of epuipment, finess is called for. I do a lot of standing -staring- and (supposedly) thinking. Then experiment. I like to know the outer limits.
Nice to meet you all folks. Will try to write more often. Also to post pics. Gwad I love the digital camera and gagets.
