Winch, log trailer with grapple or both ??

[eyi]

In my mind this is very good advise and it comes from experience.

I cut my saw logs to 10 or 12 footers and occasionally a 14 footer because that is all my truck will handle and the mill I use won't take 8 footers. So they are actually cut to 10'6", 12'6", etc for the mill.

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I cut a tree in the woods, limb it out, and then figure what I can get out of it for saw logs. I cut it so I can get 3 and sometimes 4 saw logs out of each length I skid. So the skid lengths tend to be between 35 and 42 feet. After the tree is cut to length where it fell I winch it to the trail side and leave it and go cut the next tree. I might get enough for several hitches bunched up.

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Then I position the tractor to gather a hitch from the trail side logs

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I get a hitch with what comes easy rather than trying to get the biggest hitch possible. Things go smoother and faster that way for me. It also depends on the trail conditions and terrain. I would rather have a hitch I can pull thru a mud hole or up a short steep pitch than have a bigger hitch that I can pull but have to drop and winch thru the tough spots. It is faster to keep going. Most of the time I skid between 1/4 and 1/2 mile. Sometimes more sometimes less which is really nice. I have an L3010. A little smaller than your tractor. Here are some typical hitches. Again I want the pull to be easy not a challenge.

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Working with a small tractor in the woods is slow work. If you are in a hurry you won't be happy no matter what equipment you have. Just my 2 cents.

gg[/QUOTE

I almost can't wait to get a winch !!!

Very nice pictures !

 

[eyi]

Almost can't wait to get my skidding winch ! Very inspiring picture Gordon.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

One of the best parts of owning a skidding winch is, you can pull logs out of places, like down in a ravine where you can't drive/skid out of,

These are some fantastic red oaks that a tornado blew over,

Sometimes you need to use a snatch block, because you can't position the tractor right,

and having a little bigger tractor gives you the advantage of pulling longer/heavier logs out of those tough places,

of course, top's make good firewood, so out they come too,

So, with a good load of firewood,

And a nice load of logs, it was time to make use of the hitch built into the winch, and pull both loads home,

SR

 

[pat32rf]

What is your average skidding distance ? How many good size logs do you think a faily small kubota L3800 could safely skid at a time ?

Thanks

Only skid a couple hundred yards to some kind of landing. I have a large hill to climb hauling the trailer so I can only bring out a couple ton of logs at once before I loose traction. My JD is about 40 hp and 4000lb so I sometimes need a load in the bucket to get up the hills.
I only haul 2-3 sticks at once just because it is too awkward to hook more on. They may be 45 ft long poplar or twenty foot maple...My trailer only hauls about 16' so if I can haul right out to my road that is my choice...instead of hauling to the trailer then cutting to 16'.
I have never had a lot of money to buy equipment but do find some time to make what I need.... or just rack up seat time in nice weather...

 

[Gordon Gould]

Rob, I never get tired of looking at pictures of that big oak you salvaged. It is some beautiful wood you saved. Your pictures make it look to easy. Even with a big winch there was a lot of work you did. Some of it pretty tricky too. But having a winch made it possible. Dealing with hung trees, blow downs, and trees with dead tops is much safer when you have a winch. You can do at least some of the work out of harms way.

Here is another example. A wind thrown fir I cut last year. Some of you might find it interesting.



When you cut off the butt you need to keep the tree stable and prevent the top, which is pushing down hard towards the stump, from pinching your saw. I bored thru top to bottom.



Then I drove a wedge in both the top and bottom to keep the kerf separated so it wouldn't pinch the saw.




Then I made two side cuts. I left some holding wood on the good side of the tree to keep things stable and maintain some mechanical integrity (strength). Since I was going to pull the top off the stump sideways with the winch I angled the cuts so the back of the log would clear the stump easier.



I had the tractor back from the tree and my plan was to pull the tree off the stump and winch it to the tractor so it was laying flat on the ground in the clear alley behind the tractor. But you will see the butt walked to far forward and went behind a big pine.


P1110901 - YouTube

Pulling a butt like that with all the weight of the tree stabbing into the ground makes a hard pull. The winch dug right in so the ground took the force and the tractor was just a counter weight.



Since the tree went behind the pine I had to change plans. I was lucky and found an opening I could use to pull the tree down it in the direction it was trying to go. I hung a snatch block, rerouted my cable, and pulled the tree down.

P1110903 - YouTube

It's down but instead of laying straight out behind the tractor as originally planned it is behind some trees and laying 90 degrees to the tractor. Plus the butt has rot in it. I kept cutting chunks off the butt until I got good wood. You will see I lost quite a bit off the butt log.



Then figured what I could get for saw logs from what is left. Because it was at 90 degrees to the tractor I had to cut it in the middle so I had two logs on the bottom piece and one on the top in order to winch it out.

P1110908 - YouTube

gg

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Gordon, what I should have also mentioned is, in the first and second picts., you can see we cut those tree's off above the stump... In fact, it was 8' 6" above the stump, so I got a good butt saw log off the stump once we had the tree's down!

We ended up with a semi load of logs that the property owner sold, and I brought loads of saw/firewood logs home for myself... There's still some tree's there that should be cut out...

Thanks for posting your picts. too...

SR

 

[pat32rf]

Just like to remind people that a 6-12,000lb electric winch that you mount on the 3pth is NOT designed for skidding logs out to a landing but merely drawing them up to where you can chain them to the tractor. They are not built for shock loads.

 

[eyi]

Makes a lot of sense Pat32rf

 

[John_Mc]

Just like to remind people that a 6-12,000lb electric winch that you mount on the 3pth is NOT designed for skidding logs out to a landing but merely drawing them up to where you can chain them to the tractor. They are not built for shock loads.

And even when drawing them up to the tractor, you need to be very aware of the duty cycle on many electric winches, especially if you are pulling near its rated capacity.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

And even when drawing them up to the tractor, you need to be very aware of the duty cycle on many electric winches, especially if you are pulling near its rated capacity.

Yup, one good long pull and you have used up the "duty cycle" of the electric motor, then you "hurry up and wait some more"! lol

SR