Planters Hairiest thing that's gone wrong 'while using 3pt logging winch

[Gordon Gould]

Another thing you will want to think about is skidding a long hitch. Especially in winter with a small tractor like ours. When you have on a long hitch it acts as a rudder and makes it hard to turn. Before you start out make sure to flip the brake pedal lever so your steering brakes are ready to use. Chose a gear and set your hand throttle to give you good power your desired slow speed. That keeps the right foot free to to operate the brake steering, the diff lock, or the throttle pedal for more speed, whichever is appropreate. I use my steering breaks and dif lock a lot both summer and winter. But in winter it would be impossible w/o them in my woods.

One of my worst predicaments occured with this hitch about 100 feet after I stopped for this picture.



I tried to make a small right turn the tractor wanted to go straight. The left side of tractor came off the packed portion of the road and the two left tires dropped into deep unpacked snow. The tractor tipped left and was off the left side off the road with the front of the left rear tire and my shoulder up against a 12" tree. I could not back up with the hitch behind me. I could have cut the logs up and rolled them out of the way but I used a snatch block and pulled them backwards to free up the tractor. I couldn't move much because of the tree between the tire and foot step, I couldn't cut the tree because it was leaning towards the tractor. And the tractor didn't want to climb back up onto the packed trail anyway. I finally got out using the winch to pull back and side ways then going forward a little. It took several tries. When I finally got on solid ground my front left tire was flat. A branch in the snow had jammed bewteen the rim and bead. I managed to drive the 1/4 mile out of the woods on three wheels and luck.

So practice using your steering brakes and keep your hitches short til you get a feel.

gg

 

[CobyRupert]

Steering brakes and handle throttle!

Would the logs not act like a rudder if you leave some slack were the chockers attach to the winch blade, thus they can pivot more easily?


That's a real handy thing about the winches, they can pull you out when you've really scootched the pooch. Although it does make one a bit bolder going places that maybe you shouldn't.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Steering brakes and handle throttle!

Would the logs not act like a rudder if you leave some slack were the chockers attach to the winch blade, thus they can pivot more easily?


That's a real handy thing about the winches, they can pull you out when you've really scootched the pooch. Although it does make one a bit bolder going places that maybe you shouldn't.

Don't forget Coby you are running a nice robust 75 hp tractor which is easily able to handle logging duties. Hamor, the OP, and I only have puny 30 hp tractors which are on the very low end of the range when it comes to any real logging work. Our operating parameters and characteristics will be very different from yours. Then add a couple feet of snow and our little tractors really start to wallow.

BTW, that was a nice video you posted, What are you doing with the pine on that knob you are cutting?

gg

 

[CobyRupert]

^True.
Even a few small pines can make the front end of mine light. Wheel brakes are your friend.
Sure, it's a 75hp, but you can also think of it as a 45hp tractor that Deere turns up with a couple changes (different turbo, injectors (?), etc..), though it does weigh a bit more than their 45 hp CUT (cheaper too!, but no cup holder included!).
The pine is going to a chip plant where it gets turned into sawdust shavings (animal bedding) and (I think) mulch. Seems like a waste, but they're getting cut to make more room for the wife's hayburner (aka: horse). They were planted probably 30 years ago by the former owner, but never thinned out. The ones on the edge of the stand are decent sized and might be worthwhile for lumber, but there's not enough of them, both in acreage and compared to the rest of the smaller "p*ckerwood", as one logger called them, to get anyone interested in buying them. Plus with limited road frontage, they're not accessible for a commercial logger to get to without turning my lawn and drive way into a log yard, So I stack them up in 2 piles of 8 footers for a log truck (~7 cord) to pick them up for a whopping $225 a load.
Complain as I do to the wife about all the work that it takes, I having a blast playing weekend lumberjack. Got the fever, now I wonder what I'm going to do when I get them cleared?