Adding a "bumper" winch

[i7win7]

Electric winches are pretty much designed for the occasional "recover" and not really for extended usage.

3 good uses are:
1. tractor won't run, it can winch itself onto a trailer
2. tight spaces, tractor can winch something on trailer, deliver trailer to tow vehicle
3. tractor recovery when a wrecker can't access the area (ex. dumping fill into ravine, front wheels sink into soft surface and bucket is hanging over ravine) 2,000lbs

bigger winch, bigger tractor 8,000lbs

 

[LittleBill21]

Better check your manual again, the duty cycle on the HF 12k winch is something like 45 SECONDS pulling and 15 minutes resting...

Pretty poor for trying to log with...

SR

yea that sounds better.

 

[sea2summit]

If I only had an end piece of an alluminum guard rail...
That would be a great sled imho

Car hood from a junkyard is easier to source.

 

[sea2summit]

3 good uses are:
1. tractor won't run, it can winch itself onto a trailer
2. tight spaces, tractor can winch something on trailer, deliver trailer to tow vehicle
3. tractor recovery when a wrecker can't access the area (ex. dumping fill into ravine, front wheels sink into soft surface and bucket is hanging over ravine) 2,000lbs
View attachment 736036

bigger winch, bigger tractor 8,000lbs
View attachment 736037

I don’t understand what you’ve got going with the second winch, maybe some more pictures and explication? Bonus points for using a real plug though.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

I have skidded a considerable amount of timber using the 3pt arch from my post hole digger to lift the log end off the ground.. And the fixed draw bar to pull the log..

Important to use the drawbar to pull and NOT pull with the raised up 3pt as tipping is too easy to do... You DO NOT want that...

I'm sure that at times a skidding sled would be easier and helpful.. I will have to ponder that with sketches in my "good idea" note book..

Keep safe..

 

[WranglerX]

My brother and I actually log for money. We use a skidder and a tractor. On the tractor we had a hydraulic grapple. Then I added a hydraulic tow truck winch. Then we bought a Farmi.

But in your case, just use chains. Cut a 3 link piece and put a hook on each end. That's the fastest way to take up your slack and get another bite. I pick up chain at pawn shops. Can't have too much chain.

A couple of things I find useful...

 

[WranglerX]

NO wonder the is no drawbars and nus and bolts at local farm supply....

3 good uses are:
1. tractor won't run, it can winch itself onto a trailer
2. tight spaces, tractor can winch something on trailer, deliver trailer to tow vehicle
3. tractor recovery when a wrecker can't access the area (ex. dumping fill into ravine, front wheels sink into soft surface and bucket is hanging over ravine) 2,000lbs
View attachment 736036

bigger winch, bigger tractor 8,000lbs
View attachment 736037

NO wonder the is no drawbars and nut and bolts and washers at local farm supply....

 

[3Ts]

I have an HF 2500# ATV winch mounted to the bar that holds the suitcase weights. For me it works fine, but I only pull 1 or 2 logs about 50' infrequently. The primary purpose is to pull a log to where I can get to it with equipment and to unstick the tractor. (I've gotten a 4 wheel drive tractor stuck before).

And, yes, it is slow. And you get seconds of pulling with minutes of cooling, very low duty cycle.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Car hood from a junkyard is easier to source.

yeah, i saw that online. I do have an old hood on property, left behind from the classic car graveyard that was removed before I bought property. Still finding interesting stuff...

 

[i7win7]

I don’t understand what you’ve got going with the second winch, maybe some more pictures and explication? Bonus points for using a real plug though.

tractor recovery when a wrecker can't access the area (ex. dumping fill into ravine, front wheels sink into soft surface and bucket is hanging over ravine) Tractors can go places where recovery vehicle can't. Once drove over hill to deliver stuff in bucket. 2wd ford using diff lock & bucket curl - tractor couldn't back uphill. Adding 8k winch, was able to back up with each bucket curl.

It's heavy enough, you want to attach it before trying to do something where tractor recovery may be needed.

 

[sea2summit]

tractor recovery when a wrecker can't access the area (ex. dumping fill into ravine, front wheels sink into soft surface and bucket is hanging over ravine) Tractors can go places where recovery vehicle can't. Once drove over hill to deliver stuff in bucket. 2wd ford using diff lock & bucket curl - tractor couldn't back uphill. Adding 8k winch, was able to back up with each bucket curl.
View attachment 736157

View attachment 736158

View attachment 736159

It's heavy enough, you want to attach it before trying to do something where tractor recovery may be needed.

That’s about the craziest contraption I’ve ever seen. You have some interesting engineering ideas.

 

[jaxs]

That’s about the craziest contraption I’ve ever seen. You have some interesting engineering ideas.

Do you really think so?

 

[Smokeydog]

Had a tractor logging smart grapple made in Montana. Had a warn 8000# hydraulic winch and skidsteer mount. Made it fit 3pt too. Local tree trimmer saw it and offered nearly three times what I paid so it left. They are still using it 15 years later. It can drag/feed their big chipper or load logs long ways into their chipper truck. Worth a couple men wages per year.

 

[HighTwelve]

The other option that no one is mentioning is to mount the winch low on a 3point hitch trailer adapter and add a tray to hold a deep cycle battery. I only cut enough wood for firewood and the winch is used very infrequently for hard to get at logs. I have a couple of deep cycle batteries around all the time for my boat and dump trailer. Also the winch is that smallest that HF sells. It works for me.

 

[halfton]

I had good luck pulling small logs with the HF 12k winch on my Jinma 254 tractor. I found that I would sometimes pull the tractor instead of the load so I mounted the winch on top of my box blade and set the scarfer teeth into the ground. Works great although I'm not logging big wood. I'm clearing red alder only 4-5 at butt. I run a cat-of-nine-tails out and grab onto several cut down trees and winch them in....then drag them to the burn pile.
The battery in my cheap Chinese tractor is awesome. Even with the winching and cold winter starts I've never had a problem with it and it's 18 years old!!! I've put 3 batteries in my F150 in that time.

Important Note: I cut my winch cable length in half. I never need the full length and you loss 4000 lbs of pulling capability with each extra layer of wrapped cable. You only get 12000 lbs of pull right off the spool.

 

[WranglerX]

The other option that no one is mentioning is to mount the winch low on a 3point hitch trailer adapter and add a tray to hold a deep cycle battery. I only cut enough wood for firewood and the winch is used very infrequently for hard to get at logs. I have a couple of deep cycle batteries around all the time for my boat and dump trailer. Also the winch is that smallest that HF sells. It works for me.

Will agree to smaller winch.... 12k is just a bit over kill with maybe a 1500 pound log....

 

[broadsword6]

Does it make sense to attach a winch to a tractor to help act as a logger? I see HF has a 12k winch on sale and was thinking...
I don't have many logs to move, dozen or so, but they are on a slope I don't care to drive my tractor down. It is steep.

Not knowing how steep the slope down to you logs is, not the girth of the logs (you mention 15" plus), this might be a stupid idea, even though we all love to solve simple problems with elaborate machinery. (Really,; what is the point of NOT doing that?) However, if the slope is not precipitous and the logs not too huge, why not buck them and split them at the bottom of the slope and ferry them up in the FEL or on a trailer? Pulling/winching them up the slope will embed mud in them which will dull your cutting chains much faster unless you are pulling on frozen, snowy ground. Even a skidding winch can do that if you limb the logs before winching/towing them. Just a thought... and it might not be a good one.

 

[i7win7]

That’s about the craziest contraption I’ve ever seen. You have some interesting engineering ideas.

NOPE, no welding skills

 

[puzlrock]

Skidding logs
I have a General 720 post hole digger I use on my Massey 165 Tractor. I the take the auger off the arch, hook up a heavy duty chain as a choker to the arch, and use the arch as a logging arch on my 3 point. I have moved fresh cut Bull Pine, Tamarack and Doug Fir logs a little over two feet through and 17 feet long. Lifts them and moves them fine. The arch is quarter inch steel.

I also have a 12,000 lb winch on my wood cutting truck. It is slow and I had to put a big alternator to keep it going. Other than that it works good, free spools out if you want. It is slow.

 

[jdmeth]

I farmed for 25 years so I have much experience pulling things with tractors. I now also watch tow truck shows on the Weather Channel. On the last one an operator had to recover a 45,000 lb excavator from a peat bog. He rigged three pulleys, one to a tree and two to the excavator. He ran his winch cable through all of them and anchered the end to another tree. That quadrulppled his pulling power. You could do the same thing but would only need one pulley chained to the log. Anchor one end of a long cable to something and after running it through the pulley hook the other end to your draw bar. Then just drive, no winch needed.