Winches Winch question

[SFish]

Hi, I am leaving West Virginia to go home to Mendocino County California and giving up my faithful 1320 Ford New Holland (loader, Bush Hog, box scraper) and moving up to something like a JD 3320 (loader, backhoe, box scraper). And, a big winch. I will have a lot of trees to fall on very steep hillsides to get light for a garden, fruit trees, solar system, and for fire protection. Has anyone rigged their tractor for yarding large logs up hill and moving them to a landing without ripping up the road (gravel). I would like to gain wisdom about winch placement on the tractor and technique. steve

 

[1savoy]

SFish,

If you do a search for winch or say Farmi winch you will get plenty of data. Just make sure you change the date range to all posts.

Good luck,
Russ

 

[dieselmotorhead]

You can look also in E-bay under "logging winch" or just winch. They are expensive, but with the anchor plate in the ground you will get the ability to pull with full winch capacity. they start around 3K$ but by the time you get a good hyraulic winch and a way to put it on your tractor you will be close to 1500$ for a compromise. I have not bought yet, I am still looking at options. Like above post said search under "farmi" and look at the farmi logging method page at the company site- good info about winch skidding. There are interforest ?? and wallenstien ?? skidding winches also available. The Iowa farm equipment website has some good pictures just not much info.

 

[pat32rf]

What do you mean by "large trees". Will you have a use for the unit after you are finished the initial project? I had a 8000lb Ramsey 12v mounted on a reciever hitch that I used to use for firewood collecting. Did the job. Then I borrowed a Farmi and cut pulp (poplar) for a week. No comparison. The Farmi was faster and far more versatile on the hills BUT the Ramsey was the one I've had for 20years on the last 4 trucks i've owned versus $3K for a new Farmi that I would use two or three times each year.