Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods

   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #61  
I got oil into the PowerWinch today and let idle for 5 minutes like manual says. Loaded up some stuff and headed to the woods. Idea was to try winch out on a pudding stone rock that the wife wants around the house. Got the B26TLB as close as possible, but not able to use it to pull the rock out. Using the PowerWinch tied to a clump of small maples, and a grub style chain around the rock. Grub chain has three strands and a ring at each end. Another short chain to connect grub chain to the 1/2" pulling rope. Used an extra pulley to change direction. Had to relocate winch a couple of times. Tried to carry the rock in the backhoe bucket. Just could not get it to stay there. So had to back to the house and get the forks.

PowerWinch has a low oil alert which I tested to when pullint this rock. Winch twisted to its side on the strap to the clump. When pulling, the winch is suspended in midair.

Will try it on logs/trees in the near future. Jon
20210321_174213_resized.jpg
958206011_20210321_160154_9045467_resized.jpg
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #62  
I got oil into the PowerWinch today and let idle for 5 minutes like manual says. Loaded up some stuff and headed to the woods. Idea was to try winch out on a pudding stone rock that the wife wants around the house. Got the B26TLB as close as possible, but not able to use it to pull the rock out. Using the PowerWinch tied to a clump of small maples, and a grub style chain around the rock. Grub chain has three strands and a ring at each end. Another short chain to connect grub chain to the 1/2" pulling rope. Used an extra pulley to change direction. Had to relocate winch a couple of times. Tried to carry the rock in the backhoe bucket. Just could not get it to stay there. So had to back to the house and get the forks.

PowerWinch has a low oil alert which I tested to when pullint this rock. Winch twisted to its side on the strap to the clump. When pulling, the winch is suspended in midair.

Will try it on logs/trees in the near future. JonView attachment 691243View attachment 691245

Wives and their big rocks! Rock gardening with her this weekend with the B26 too. Having the thumb much easier to transport and place large stones. Have to admit looks pretty good when done. Hard to beat a B26 for this type of work.

Have used the backhoes with chain to retrieve/winch rocks and logs beyond reach. Does have advantages on changing and anchoring the pulling point. Disadvantage it is a step process. Prefer chain when dragging. Use the same method to pull out clumps of olive or privet beyond reach.

Find the rubber pads option on the outriggers most useful in the woods. The extra couple of inches of lift and traction help. If they weren’t on the B26 when I bought it I wouldn’t have guessed how well they work.

IMG_1017.JPG
chainsaw, chain box for B26.

Use the hydraulics, don’t connect to the backhoe and drive.
IMG_1772.JPG
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #63  
Smokeyddog, I like to use the B26TLB back hoe or loader bucket when possible. The above rock was about 75ft from a trail with a bunch of saplings we didn't want to cut down. Once by the tractor, I still could not get the rock captured with the backhoe bucket and hydraulic thumb. Sometimes I can get the rock against the hoe's lower arm with the bucket getting off the ground. Rock would not cooperate though. Found an even larger one the the saplings will have to be cut to use the backhoe to dig around it to see the size. Jon
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #64  
Rocks traditionally do not like to be moved by tractors, I spend more time "capturing" rock than it take to actually move it.... Been thinking it might be nice to get some old snow chains and make up a sort of basket to capture rock....

Dale
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #65  
Rocks traditionally do not like to be moved by tractors. I spend more time "capturing" rock than it take to actually move it......

Dale
I find Slim Jims helpful to lure them in closer. Takes their attention away (or mine) from the action.
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #66  
Rocks traditionally do not like to be moved by tractors, I spend more time "capturing" rock than it take to actually move it.... Been thinking it might be nice to get some old snow chains and make up a sort of basket to capture rock....

Dale
The tire chain idea is what got me started thinking of how to creat a basket. The I remembered I had the grab style pulling chain for pulling out small saplings. It has three strands of chains to wrap around the rock, but reaaly need some cross chains to keep them from spreading to far apart. Jon
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods
  • Thread Starter
#67  
I also thought of using the winch to move boulders.
Since I have a grapple, and I had access to some boulders, I moved those that way for now, but boulders will slide a lot better than trees!
I hope a "choker chain" will be sufficient. I looked at that green chain on Amazon, but it had mixed reviews.

I finally went out to play with my Portable Winch today. Couple of things I learned

Trees in floodway do not make good anchors. Many grow at as much as 45 degree angle (winch shuts off if angled), almost none are straight. I think i also leaked fuel when winch was hanging on the rope leveled.
It takes a pretty good hand pull force on the rope to create friction to pull a decently sized tree. A lot more than I expected. Maybe something to do with winch being in awkward position, else it wore me out.
Logjams (that I'd like to disassemble via a winch) have fairly well cemented trees.

I ran out of time, and will try again in a couple of days.
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #68  
Did lots of “farm” rigging growing up and have the educated scars. Engineering career and maintaining a crane license see need for proper rigging. Chain slings with oval rings and slip hooks. Nothing slicker than steel on steel so choke those loads. Loop synthetic straps help too. Watch those angles.

Have several of those green chain and grabbers hanging in the barn. Don’t beat the bite of a chain and short piece of pipe to pull out slick saplings and trees.
 
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods #69  
I also thought the rope pull seemed high to get load moving. I practiced pulling may backhoe to the truck. An extra wrap of the rope on the drum helped. Had the PowerWinch shut off

because the rope twisted the unit sideways. I think I needed to be further away fron the winch and pull rope to side and keep winch level.

On the green chain. I don't like it for small saplings, too heavy and just rides up the trunk. But for capturing a rock and pulling, it works.
20210322_215051.jpg
 
Last edited:
   / Electric Winch for pulling logs/river debris after floods
  • Thread Starter
#70  
And if you even are seriously thinking about rope -
Sale - Rope Miscellaneous Sections | CMC PRO
I use it all over the place. I've bought 3 boxes. They sell a box (500720) that is SUPPOSED to be smaller diameter, with lots of it the size for throwlines etc. I've bought that two times and it's always been mostly 1/2 diameter and up, out of 2 boxes I think I got about 2 hanks of 7/16 and nothing smaller. 1/2" diameter rope is tight on a 1/2" pulley.
In all I've bought there have been very few pieces shorter than 30 feet.
I wanted to make a comment on this, as I did get 2 boxes (1 product each).. $200 shipped
Got about 6 ropes of over 100ft, 2 were 150ft. those alone have a 'value' of about $1000 based on their pricing
For comparison sake, Portable Winch Rope that came with Forestry Kit PCA-1215M DBP Rope (1/2" x 164') retails for about $130
And probably a dozen more pieces mostly in 50-60ft range.
Only a few were fairly short.
Almost all of the rope was 1/2" of various types they sell.
I sorted through the box, weighed each rope, and tagged it with estimated length based on weight (rope specifications tell you how many lb 100ft of rope should be), and stored them in clear plastic bins.
I also bought a brochure to learn various knots (Knot It).
Now I will need to come up with more uses for rope outside of pulling trees and boulders with the winch!
 
 
 
Top