DIY logging winch build

[Oldpath05]

Well I made a trek to a steel supplier in VT today to pick up a few things for the build, I half heartedly asked if they had any 2 1/2" .025 wall round tube and the owner says "sure" SOB! LOL
So after a quick trip inside the building I found what I needed between the scrap bin and the drop bin and a 22" piece of 2 1/2" DOM so now I'm just waiting on my stuff from surpluscenter to get here. They don't seem to be real quick on shipping like we've come to expect from some places...lol
Stay tuned!

I will, I'm on the edge of my seat now waiting with anticipation for this winch to come together, in the meantime if you get a chance, post some pictures of that old 2 wheel drive tractor that you say don't have in your Avatar, I like looking at old tractors, year and whatnot...........

 

[davedj1]

I will have to update my profile...lol
It's a 1965 Ford 3000 with what I think is an industrial loader. It's a 3 cylinder gas with a select o speed transmission. It has brand new rear tires, runs great and looks like it fought in the first world war! The pins on the loader are all nice and tight, I replaced about 4 grease zerks. I can't believe that it has been painted no less than 5, yes 5 times, I am in the process of stripping it down to re paint it Ford blue.

 

[davedj1]

Got some time in the shop today I cut the piece of 2.5" DOM 5" long for the drive sprocket bearings.
I got the 1" shaft fitted and welded to the PTO adapter along with the drive sprocket and hub. I had to grind the shaft where the splines were inside the PTO adapter then drove it home and welded it up.

I took a new snatch block from TSC and cut it up to make the top pivoting sheave. I don't know what the snatch block is made of but it didn't weld for crap (china I'm sure)

Hub and sprocket

adapter

To be honest, in hind sight I should have probably only made the drum about 6" long instead of 8" but se la vie

 

[Oldpath05]

I will have to update my profile...lol
It's a 1965 Ford 3000 with what I think is an industrial loader. It's a 3 cylinder gas with a select o speed transmission. It has brand new rear tires, runs great and looks like it fought in the first world war! The pins on the loader are all nice and tight, I replaced about 4 grease zerks. I can't believe that it has been painted no less than 5, yes 5 times, I am in the process of stripping it down to re paint it Ford blue.

Nice tractor 50+ years old, the stories it could tell and sure does need a new paint job, one of those things I hate doing. If one could afford it that would be a nice tractor to put half tracks on.

Got some time in the shop today I cut the piece of 2.5" DOM 5" long for the drive sprocket bearings.
I got the 1" shaft fitted and welded to the PTO adapter along with the drive sprocket and hub. I had to grind the shaft where the splines were inside the PTO adapter then drove it home and welded it up.

I took a new snatch block from TSC and cut it up to make the top pivoting sheave. I don't know what the snatch block is made of but it didn't weld for crap (china I'm sure) To be honest, in hind sight I should have probably only made the drum about 6" long instead of 8" but se la vie

Did that pto adapter end up being centered and balance after welded since is going round round at a fairly good rate? Even steel from China should weld ok with 6011 and or 7014, what you using for rods. That pivot sleeve is on top for the cable to roll on right? The one on my winch is enclosed so the cable stays on it.

 

[davedj1]

The adapter seemed to be pretty well centered. No idea on balancing, it's only going to turn between 200 and 540 rpm's, not super fast like in a car driveshaft or anything. We'll see. I intend to put a stay on the cable to keep it in the sheave.
I knew I needed a new liner for my mig welder which I have so I had a couple of things going on, I put the new liner in and I had run out of shielding gas. Luckily I had a new bottle and did some test welds after and all seems to be good, I'll (dare I say it?) grind it next chance I get and hit it again.

 

[Oldpath05]

I found a couple pictures of that swivel cable keeper, holds the cable on the top pulley, works very good at any angle, cable slack or cable tight, maybe you already have something else in mind, but if you dont this might help.

 

[davedj1]

Oldpath, I hope those pictures aren't from today! LOL
I appreciate any and all advice and help, thank you.
I am planning a similar setup for my pulley. I have never used a winch so I have watched just about every video on youtoob I can on them. It makes sense you don't want the cable jumping off in any instance.
As of right now I am only planning on the one pulley, the plan is to keep it about waist high when the blade is down, hopefully it won't pull the tractor over backwards! ( I doubt it but ya never know) LOL
One of my concerns with the frame that I have is if I put the winch inside the frame will I have enough length for the pto shaft? How long would you say yours is?

 

[davedj1]

I ordered some R16-2RS bearings from McMaster Carr last night for the drive sprocket shaft and for the driven sprocket.
I got a little bit done today.
I measured the ID of the bought type X hubs which was listed as 1 1/4", they were close. I checked my drum center that I had milled and it was a hair tight so I honed them out just a little, the bearings drove in nicely
I am putting up a picture of the way I intended to do the drum center so that if anyone wants to do it that way instead of having a piece milled it will be here as a reference for everybody.
This piece of 2 1/5" x .250 wall (2" ID) DOM is 5" long, you can make it whatever you like, the two type X hubs have 2" shoulders to fit into the DOM and have 1 1/4" centers to accept the needle bearings.

I got the top sheave mostly ready, it has to keep the cable on in all conditions so I did it similar to some store bought units. I will cut the nipple back to about a 1/2".

I cut a 3/4" piece of the 2 1/2" DOM and lined it up on the big sprocket hole, I am going to have two of the R16-2RS bearings in it, the sprocket is 3/8" thick and each bearing is 1/2".

The drive end will have a bearing in each end of the DOM, that shaft is all set waiting on the bearings.

I am contemplating just building a new frame and keep the one I have as a carry all type thing. I think it may be a little on the light side for pulling trees. Time and money will decide. I have some heavy wall 3/16" 1 1/2" x 3" rectangular tubing that I was going to use for my ROPS so I may use that for the frame and get some more material for the ROPS.
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[Oldpath05]

Theres not much space between my winch and tractor, when lowered down there's just enough room to hook up pto shaft and the shaft measures around 24" with ability to move in or out depending on how high the winch is, universels at both ends. I think these shafts come a certain length and then the dealer cuts them to the right length for the proper fit when buying an implement.

Probably one important thing is dont make the pto shaft too long so when you lift your winch up it wont snap off the pto shaft on tractor. The right length probably cant be made till you have your winch on tractor.

The cable hole pipe on your cable keeper box appears to be too high compared to mind, when my keeper swings up the cable hole is no higher than the pulley, my thinking is if cable hole is higher than pulley the cable wont stay in the pulley groove.

 

[Oldpath05]

I am contemplating just building a new frame and keep the one I have as a carry all type thing. I think it may be a little on the light side for pulling trees. Time and money will decide. I have some heavy wall 3/16" 1 1/2" x 3" rectangular tubing that I was going to use for my ROPS so I may use that for the frame and get some more material for the ROPS.
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Yes go strong, you dont want something on the light side when winching a Hemlock like the one I did, 2' on stump, 36'+ long. When the winch plate hits the ground, it will dig in and the tractor wont go backwards and it wont tip over backwards, sideways maybe if pulling at angel, so a couple things will happen, the log/trees will come towards the tractor, the cable will break or the lightly built winch will fold up like an accordion, shafts, levers sprockets chains and bearings will fly through the air with the greatest of ease like a 3 Stooges movie................

 

[davedj1]

The cable holder should never be that high but my thought was that it will keep it centered in the pulley even if it does get that high. My goal is to have the pulley no higher than about 3 1/2 to 4' high.
I think the new frame will actually work better.

 

[davedj1]

Got my bearings from McMaster Carr (love that store, always quick shipping)
I got the bearings all in, ground the groove for the key in the shaft and got the drive shaft all assembled. I think the large sprocket is going to be pretty stout.
I am now thinking I may just order the same clutch disc that the Farmi winch uses that way at least I know it's a known set up. I'll look up the cost tonight, If my memory serves me right i don't think it was much more than a Camaro clutch disc.

Cut the nipple off for the cable.

I picked up the 11 gauge sheets today for my dump trailer so tomorrow I will be putting that back together **** rust belt!
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[davedj1]

Theres not much space between my winch and tractor, when lowered down there's just enough room to hook up pto shaft and the shaft measures around 24" with ability to move in or out depending on how high the winch is, universels at both ends. I think these shafts come a certain length and then the dealer cuts them to the right length for the proper fit when buying an implement.

Probably one important thing is dont make the pto shaft too long so when you lift your winch up it wont snap off the pto shaft on tractor. The right length probably cant be made till you have your winch on tractor.

The cable hole pipe on your cable keeper box appears to be too high compared to mind, when my keeper swings up the cable hole is no higher than the pulley, my thinking is if cable hole is higher than pulley the cable wont stay in the pulley groove.

I found the solution today. I went and looked at a Wallenstein fx 8500 (over 6K YIKES) and they have a bolt through the block to keep the cable from going up off the sheave, i will probably do that.
I love how when someone else's eyes are on something and it gets brought to attention and you research it and learn

 

[Oldpath05]

A bolt sounds good to me, coare things can always be change and rearrange later after using the winch a few times. The FX 8500 is on the bigger side, 3/8 cable, wow and 6k another wow. It's good that you had a chance to look at one. I cant build a thing without having it right there with me, you're doing better than I could.

FX85 Skidding Winch | Skidding Winches | | Wallenstein Outdoor Power Equipment

 

[Oldpath05]

Got my bearings from McMaster Carr (love that store, always quick shipping)
I got the bearings all in, ground the groove for the key in the shaft and got the drive shaft all assembled. I think the large sprocket is going to be pretty stout.
I am now thinking I may just order the same clutch disc that the Farmi winch uses that way at least I know it's a known set up. I'll look up the cost tonight, If my memory serves me right i don't think it was much more than a Camaro clutch disc.

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What's the cost of one of those clutch disc, how else can it be done? Gotta have something for a disc.

 

[4570Man]

How are you engaging/disengaging the winch? And does it have a brake on it? I've got a pretty heavy military winch off the front of a 5 ton truck I'm considering converting to a PTO skidding winch.

 

[davedj1]

How are you engaging/disengaging the winch? And does it have a brake on it? I've got a pretty heavy military winch off the front of a 5 ton truck I'm considering converting to a PTO skidding winch.

The engagement will be with some wedge shaped pieces , the center one will have a handle on it so when you pull it it will force the drum over. I'll put some pics up later.
Yes it has a brake, look back at the pictures of the drum, one side has dogs cut into it. Be careful with the gear driven PTO winches as I am told you can't release them if you get it bound up and can't reverse them if the need arises. No first hand experience but enough people told me and steered me away from that route.

I'm not sure of the cost of the clutch disc, I know I can buy one for a Camaro for about 35 bucks. I'll see if I can get a price today.

 

[FarmWrench]

Could I put a bug in your ear for your next build? Or even to glean a few ideas on this one.

Call the US Forest Service research center and ask for the free plans for the "Bitterroot Yarder". While at it ask for the bigger Yarder as well.

 

[mark in portugal]

I'm also interested to see how your build goes; I'm considering a recovery winch for the tractor as I have managed to get stuck a few times.
So much to think about though...

I want to dig out an old pond with the fel, but the odds of getting stuck are about 10/1 [in favor of]. And there are trees to anchor to.

Keep in mind that if your cable or rope breaks or comes free, it will snap back towards the tractor with massive force and speed. that's why those winches have big heavy shields.
I'm sure you know all that, but as I didn't see it stated in the thread I had to add it anyway.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I'm also interested to see how your build goes; I'm considering a recovery winch for the tractor as I have managed to get stuck a few times.

A "recovery" winch isn't such a bad idea on a tractor, but a recovery winch makes a poor skidding winch!

That's the difference...

SR