It really comes down to what you’re doing. I’m cleaning up an area we selective logged in 2016, just picking up what’s down for firewood. I bought a good 3-point boom pole for my Massey Ferguson 204; the pole has an eye at the end and at the halfway point. I had an old Powerwinch in the shop, one of those square 3,500 lb. rated things used mostly for loading boats. Free is a good price, so I adapted the trailer ball mounting plate and put it near the base of the boom pole.
Yeah, it’s a PITA using a winch with no power out, just a knob you turn to “de-clutch.” But I hung a little bitty block on the boom pole, used a snatch block to double the line. This serves to get the end of a log off the ground. Usual cautions apply: don’t pull too hard or too high, especially off to the side (easy to exceed rating of the boom pole), but we’re just bringing downed second growth to where I can buck them into firewood and my wife can process them with the hydraulic splitter.
If seriously yarding logs, you want a good PTO winch, with good steel cable that will stand up to abrasion. I did a lot of work with the 10,000 lb. Ramsey PTO on my 1966 International 1300 4x4. I kept 150 to 165‘ of good 3/8” line on the drum, and the truck had a Mico brake lock from a wrecker. A 10,000 lb. electric means that under ideal conditions, fresh battery and only one layer of line on the drum, it will just barely pull 10,000 before stalling out. A 10,000 lb. PTO is rated to pull 10,000 but with a V8 engine driving it, it will pull until something breaks. Use common sense.
I have a 9 year old 10,000 lb. Harbor Freight electric winch on a 2” receiver mount I built, used mainly for loading dead cars onto my 16’ trailer. I could put it on my 3-point 2” receiver, and I did put an alternator on the tractor. But there’s no need for a big winch on the tractor for getting in firewood. Don’t even consider spending tons of money on a big winch if your need is merely to get a few logs up a hill. Borrow a couple blocks and some line, and do some rigging.
Remember, electric winches are for occasional short term use, and synthetic line doubly so. Great combo for getting Jeeps unstuck. I will consider synthetic line when I see Loggers using it on their equipment. Before you spend a dime, think about what you actually need and about the stresses and loads involved. Then Keep It Simple.
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