Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[John_Mc]

Johnmc , you never mentioned After you purchased your winch if you felt good about it. Yes , 3900$ American is a lot really. Though I thought they would give me a good deal on one. I saw Norse somewhere that was about 2900$ American, and I think that was in New Hampshire.

I thought I had posted something about how it was working out for me either here on this thread or another recent logging winch related thread (perhaps I'm confusing it with a thread on the Forestry Forum).

I've been using my Uniforest 35E for 8+ years now. I'm not in the business of selling firewood. I cut about 3 cords per year to heat my own house, plus I help some friends with theirs and cut a couple cords a year to donate to families in need in our area. So my total runs between 10 - 15 cords in a typical year. Despite my initial hesitation over whether I could justify the purchase or not, if this one disappeared, I'd buy another logging winch in a heartbeat. When I bought, price was the deciding factor in the brand I chose. The only other brand readily available in my area was Farmi. There were a few things I liked better about the Farmi 351 than the Uniforest 35E, but the Uniforest was significantly lower price at the time, so I went with it. Since then, Uniforest has improved the design a bit, closing the gap between my impression of it and the Farmi. It's hard to say what I would buy now. Having used a winch, there would be no hesitation to get another one. I don't know current pricing on the Farmi 351, but if I were convinced it still had the edge, I might go for it over the Uniforest. The local Farmi dealer is great and only 15 minutes away (same ones I bought my tractor from)

The only problems I've had:

1. The owner's manual reads as though it was translated through 3 languages, each time by a non-native speaker, before getting to english. Not such a big deal, because it's not that hard to figure out.
2. The lower pulley bracket froze onto the shaft that allows it to pivot left and right. The pin that locked the shaft onto the frame sheared as a result, so now the shaft just pivots in the frame, rather than having the pulley bracket pivot around the shaft. Not a big deal. The effect is just the same. One of these days I'll dissassemble it clean it up, and add a grease zerk to prevent it from happening again.
3. I was having troubles with the brake mechanism not latching in the "released" mode. This prevents the cable from freespooling out. I had to tie off the brake release rope to spool out the cable. A call to Hud-Son gave me the tip of lubricating the brake latch mechanism - no further troubles.

#2 and 3 above (the only significant problems) have been addressed with the update from the 35E to the 35M design: The brake latch mechanism has been redesigned (and I believe is also better protected now, not that I've ever had a problem with it getting bashed). The lower pulley has been redesigned, with a grease zerk added and a couple of other tweaks to the lower pulley mechanism.

The Uniforest 35E/35M comes standard. with 230 feet of 10mm (3/8") cable. Most other winches come with 165 feet. In the first 7 or so years of ownership, I rarely used more than 150 feet. (If you are working alone, seeing what is going on beyond that point gets tough, especially in our hilly terrain.) This year, however, I used the full 230' and occasionally added 30' feet of chain on the end. We're clearing a new trail on a property I own jointly with some other families in the area. Parts of the trail are just too rough to safely get the tractor down at this point (tried it, thought I was going to roll it). So were winching logs out the end, or off the side from another trail or an adjacent switchback. When it's all or mostly cleared, we'll have an excavator or dozer come in and grade the trail. In the mean time, having that extra cable has been really nice. You do lose a bit of pulling power when all 230 feet wound up on the spool and you are just doing a short pull, but that hasn't been a problem for me - I just pull a bit smaller load. If I were doing this commercially, my work pattern might be different (shorter pulls with a shorter cable = more pulling power). On the other hand, if I were doing this commercially, it wouldn't be with a 30 HP tractor. For my uses, it is nice not having to make a trail up to within 165 feet of each tree.

Sorry for the long-winded post. Hope it helps.

 

[Mikejeakins]

I was Reading the owners manual on line about the Uniforest winches. It said I needed to break in the winch. How do you do that?

I thought I had posted something about how it was working out for me either here on this thread or another recent logging winch related thread (perhaps I'm confusing it with a thread on the Forestry Forum).

I've been using my Uniforest 35E for 8+ years now. I'm not in the business of selling firewood. I cut about 3 cords per year to heat my own house, plus I help some friends with theirs and cut a couple cords a year to donate to families in need in our area. So my total runs between 10 - 15 cords in a typical year. Despite my initial hesitation over whether I could justify the purchase or not, if this one disappeared, I'd buy another logging winch in a heartbeat. When I bought, price was the deciding factor in the brand I chose. The only other brand readily available in my area was Farmi. There were a few things I liked better about the Farmi 351 than the Uniforest 35E, but the Uniforest was significantly lower price at the time, so I went with it. Since then, Uniforest has improved the design a bit, closing the gap between my impression of it and the Farmi. It's hard to say what I would buy now. Having used a winch, there would be no hesitation to get another one. I don't know current pricing on the Farmi 351, but if I were convinced it still had the edge, I might go for it over the Uniforest. The local Farmi dealer is great and only 15 minutes away (same ones I bought my tractor from)

The only problems I've had:

1. The owner's manual reads as though it was translated through 3 languages, each time by a non-native speaker, before getting to english. Not such a big deal, because it's not that hard to figure out.
2. The lower pulley bracket froze onto the shaft that allows it to pivot left and right. The pin that locked the shaft onto the frame sheared as a result, so now the shaft just pivots in the frame, rather than having the pulley bracket pivot around the shaft. Not a big deal. The effect is just the same. One of these days I'll dissassemble it clean it up, and add a grease zerk to prevent it from happening again.
3. I was having troubles with the brake mechanism not latching in the "released" mode. This prevents the cable from freespooling out. I had to tie off the brake release rope to spool out the cable. A call to Hud-Son gave me the tip of lubricating the brake latch mechanism - no further troubles.

#2 and 3 above (the only significant problems) have been addressed with the update from the 35E to the 35M design: The brake latch mechanism has been redesigned (and I believe is also better protected now, not that I've ever had a problem with it getting bashed). The lower pulley has been redesigned, with a grease zerk added and a couple of other tweaks to the lower pulley mechanism.

The Uniforest 35E/35M comes standard. with 230 feet of 10mm (3/8") cable. Most other winches come with 165 feet. In the first 7 or so years of ownership, I rarely used more than 150 feet. (If you are working alone, seeing what is going on beyond that point gets tough, especially in our hilly terrain.) This year, however, I used the full 230' and occasionally added 30' feet of chain on the end. We're clearing a new trail on a property I own jointly with some other families in the area. Parts of the trail are just too rough to safely get the tractor down at this point (tried it, thought I was going to roll it). So were winching logs out the end, or off the side from another trail or an adjacent switchback. When it's all or mostly cleared, we'll have an excavator or dozer come in and grade the trail. In the mean time, having that extra cable has been really nice. You do lose a bit of pulling power when all 230 feet wound up on the spool and you are just doing a short pull, but that hasn't been a problem for me - I just pull a bit smaller load. If I were doing this commercially, my work pattern might be different (shorter pulls with a shorter cable = more pulling power). On the other hand, if I were doing this commercially, it wouldn't be with a 30 HP tractor. For my uses, it is nice not having to make a trail up to within 165 feet of each tree.

Sorry for the long-winded post. Hope it helps.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

I thought I had posted something about how it was working out for me either here on this thread or another recent logging winch related thread (perhaps I'm confusing it with a thread on the Forestry Forum).

I've been using my Uniforest 35E for 8+ years now. I'm not in the business of selling firewood. I cut about 3 cords per year to heat my own house, plus I help some friends with theirs and cut a couple cords a year to donate to families in need in our area. So my total runs between 10 - 15 cords in a typical year. Despite my initial hesitation over whether I could justify the purchase or not, if this one disappeared, I'd buy another logging winch in a heartbeat. When I bought, price was the deciding factor in the brand I chose. The only other brand readily available in my area was Farmi. There were a few things I liked better about the Farmi 351 than the Uniforest 35E, but the Uniforest was significantly lower price at the time, so I went with it. Since then, Uniforest has improved the design a bit, closing the gap between my impression of it and the Farmi. It's hard to say what I would buy now. Having used a winch, there would be no hesitation to get another one. I don't know current pricing on the Farmi 351, but if I were convinced it still had the edge, I might go for it over the Uniforest. The local Farmi dealer is great and only 15 minutes away (same ones I bought my tractor from)

The only problems I've had:

1. The owner's manual reads as though it was translated through 3 languages, each time by a non-native speaker, before getting to english. Not such a big deal, because it's not that hard to figure out.
2. The lower pulley bracket froze onto the shaft that allows it to pivot left and right. The pin that locked the shaft onto the frame sheared as a result, so now the shaft just pivots in the frame, rather than having the pulley bracket pivot around the shaft. Not a big deal. The effect is just the same. One of these days I'll dissassemble it clean it up, and add a grease zerk to prevent it from happening again.
3. I was having troubles with the brake mechanism not latching in the "released" mode. This prevents the cable from freespooling out. I had to tie off the brake release rope to spool out the cable. A call to Hud-Son gave me the tip of lubricating the brake latch mechanism - no further troubles.

#2 and 3 above (the only significant problems) have been addressed with the update from the 35E to the 35M design: The brake latch mechanism has been redesigned (and I believe is also better protected now, not that I've ever had a problem with it getting bashed). The lower pulley has been redesigned, with a grease zerk added and a couple of other tweaks to the lower pulley mechanism.

The Uniforest 35E/35M comes standard. with 230 feet of 10mm (3/8") cable. Most other winches come with 165 feet. In the first 7 or so years of ownership, I rarely used more than 150 feet. (If you are working alone, seeing what is going on beyond that point gets tough, especially in our hilly terrain.) This year, however, I used the full 230' and occasionally added 30' feet of chain on the end. We're clearing a new trail on a property I own jointly with some other families in the area. Parts of the trail are just too rough to safely get the tractor down at this point (tried it, thought I was going to roll it). So were winching logs out the end, or off the side from another trail or an adjacent switchback. When it's all or mostly cleared, we'll have an excavator or dozer come in and grade the trail. In the mean time, having that extra cable has been really nice. You do lose a bit of pulling power when all 230 feet wound up on the spool and you are just doing a short pull, but that hasn't been a problem for me - I just pull a bit smaller load. If I were doing this commercially, my work pattern might be different (shorter pulls with a shorter cable = more pulling power). On the other hand, if I were doing this commercially, it wouldn't be with a 30 HP tractor. For my uses, it is nice not having to make a trail up to within 165 feet of each tree.

Sorry for the long-winded post. Hope it helps.

Dude, that's an awesome post and an example of why I've found TBN so valuable. :thumbsup:

 

[VroomVroom]

Great post. I think the reason I'm on the fence about getting one is......I own a j5 bombardier. Its a 100 hp tracked machine, I don't need to make trails, just run over the tops. However, tractor is cheaper on fuel, especially if it was just idling all day winching. I built a skid plate as at the time, my garage burnt, losing the j5. I since got another, but its half owned with my brother. The tractor is all mine. Its only for firewood, although I'm sure I could sell a cord here and there to help pay for a winch. Tractor is nice to just drive on the trailer and go to the site.

 

[blooper]

Would love to see some more pics of skid plates and other protective guards.

 

[VroomVroom]

 

[VroomVroom]

sorry, not sure how that happened.

 

[VroomVroom]

 

[VroomVroom]

Not sure why its repeating at the moment, but you get the idea.

 

[arizona98tj]

It looks like you have been very busy filling up your shed. You have a nice wood shed BTW.

Thanks. The shed is a Versa Tube design.....purchased through a local big box building supply store. We had a foundation poured and the Mrs. and I installed the shed. I sunk a pair of 14' poles six feet deep at one end of the shed. I ended up putting chain link across the end to retain the wood while allowing max airflow for drying. We have enough space under roof to keep a 2 year supply of wood which allows adequate drying time.