Winch

[jake98]

I mounted up this Superwinch 8500 to help me drop some trees not on my shop.

If I can get about 6 down, with no 'collateral damage', it won't owe me nuthin.

 

[Buckgnarly]

How does your alt and battery do with it? I have a Warn X8000 I have thought about mounting, but not sure how the electrical would hold up to it on hard pulls.

 

[jake98]

I just got it installed tonight. The specs recommend a minimum of a 60 a. alternator, the Kioti has a 50 a., but I don't intend to use it anywhere near it's full potential, only need to get some trees leaning the right way.

 

[stingray1]

You might get lucky and not smoke something. GOOD LUCK

 

[hodge]

I have dropped a lot of trees, and I've been on the pulling end many times, too. I would be reluctant to use a winch, because they operate so slow. You can get tension on the tree, but once it starts to move, the object pulling has to move too, and keep the tree falling where you want it. Sometimes, the tree will go where you have directed it; sometimes, it needs continual direction. A winch can't deliver that. I'm not saying don't use what you have, and I may be wrong in how I think and approach the job. But, I would, if it were me, not rely soley on th winch. I would pull the line taunt, and once the tree starts to move, move the tractor back instead of reeling in the winch. The tractor will move fast enough to keep up with the fall of the tree.

 

[jake98]

My plan is to prop the bucket against another tree, and winch to a pulley on a third tree that's in the direction I want it to go. I don't care too much where they go, just where they don't go. Nothing's leaning too drastic, should only have to winch hard for a few feet.

 

[PILOON]

I have rear mounted a similar winch and have only 35 amp alternator and use it to retrieve felled trees.
The winch is not always drawing full amps and the battery has time to top up between pulls , in fact I don't think the battery and alternator suffer any less than the average cold weather starts.
Naturally full time heavy duty usage might have different results. My usage is a few trees now and then and only a couple of hours usage at that but it does the job for me.
Biggest concern is blocking the wheels and or chaining the front to another tree otherwise the tractor gets pulled backwards when a log gets snagged.
Just listening to the winch I can tell that it is not straining all that hard indicating the amperage drawn is not all that high.

 

[CobyRupert]

Hodge has a good point. A fixed tight cable on a tree is not good once you start making your backcut and the tree starts to pivot on the hinge, then the cable is no longer tight, and gravity takes over and the tree falls where it wants to, or (worst case) the tree falls away from the cable direction until the newfound slack then tightens again and results in the tree spinning and falling in yet a new direction. This makes running away in the right direction difficult.
The key is for the winch to apply constant force as you SLOWLY cut it, while the winch operator takes up the slack & maintains a constant force on the tree until it's at an angle where gravity will set it where you want.
However, be aware that, depending on the particular tree type, grain, etc... the possibility of creating a barberchair situation by applying too much winch force exists. That is, too much pulling force could cause the tree to split in half vertically right up the trunk from your backcut and break off 10' over your head instead of pivoting on the hinge. It usually doesn't take much force to pull a tree as most of the tree's weight is downward on the stump.

 

[Bob77064]

I mounted up this Superwinch 8500 to help me drop some trees not on my shop.
View attachment 291676View attachment 291677View attachment 291678
If I can get about 6 down, with no 'collateral damage', it won't owe me nuthin.

Good looking installation.

 

[Baby Grand]

Is it possible for the tree to start moving against your pull to the point that it starts dragging the tractor with it ... maybe not in a good way?
I'd want an overload clutch or some kind of quick release ability, or I'd avoid any kind of "dynamic" pull that I'm not 100% sure of.

 

[B Rive]

Also be careful that the bottom of the tree doesn't snap back, opposite the direction you are pulling. You don't want to exert too much pressure before the tree actually starts to fall.

 

[jake98]

Good looking installation.

Thanks Bob.
A buddy gave me 40' of that 3/4 x 12", now I only have to figure out what to do with 38 more feet..

 

[pat32rf]

Throw a bit of nylon into the equasion so you can get a bit of stretch in it before you start the cut and you should be good. Having two people, one to operate the winch/tractor and the other on the chainsaw makes things a LOT easier. Most times I have to replace the second person with a wireless control on the winch so I can tighten the cable from the butt of the tree while cutting.... sooner have a helper though

 

[ilander]

I winch a lot of trees with a rear mounted model. I was concerned with the tractor electric system handling the draw from this winch, so I installed another car battery in the vicinity of the winch and wired the winch cables direct to it. Then ran a #12 wire with a 30 amp inline fuse to the tractor battery to charge the other one. Never a problem with the winch battery being fully charged (unless the fuse blows), never a problem with the tractor elect system.

The 30 amp fuse is occasionally blown, typically during a long hard pull in which case I do not change the fuse until the pull is over. The fuse is then replaced and the tractor seems to have the battery recharged before the next winch pull.

 

[300UGUY]

I have tried this several times. It's hard to get the tree to fall exactly where you want, the winch cannot take up slack fast enough, I even had it mounted to the reciever on a 3/4 Chevy truck. We couldn't get it going fast enough to take up the slack. I took out 2 large trees very close to my house, I managed to avoid the house, but I did some collateral damage to other trees that I didn't want.

 

[jake98]

I pulled myself up the hill with a week or two's heat chained on the back. Not sure if it makes total sense, but it definitely is fun..
Have to weigh the advantage of not sawing in the sticker bushes, compared to dragging the tree thru the mud before cutting it up.

 

[timbatrader]

I have just put a winch on my little Dozer I went for a Hydraulic one to avoid any hassles with the battery I mounted it on a three point hitch grader blade I can reverse the blade to give me extra anchorage I anyone gets stuck driving across the river to visit me I now have the tool to pull them out.

 

[jake98]

I have just put a winch on my little Dozer I went for a Hydraulic one to avoid any hassles with the battery I mounted it on a three point hitch grader blade I can reverse the blade to give me extra anchorage I anyone gets stuck driving across the river to visit me I now have the tool to pull them out.
View attachment 292239

That's a nice looking winch, got any details on it?

 

[timbatrader]

The winch is a Runva HWN 15000YD Hydraulic Winch
A 15000 pound rated pull but in real life has only about 10000 pound pull once it has three layers of rope on the drum I have a pulley block to use with it which will double the pull but that will depend on how well the grader blade digs in as I have found out with the winch on my Landcruiser a winch is only as good as its anchor

 

[jake98]

Runva electric winches look a lot like a Superwinch, maybe they're made in the same place. After using mine for a couple hours, the idea that it would be a temporary installation is out the window. I think I'll order another snatch block so I can use two, one up high on the tree dragging end, and another down low, so I don't lift the tractor. Besides, using one looks too much like a sling-shot aimed at my head. I have to skid pan it too, to protect the wires on the bottom. I would have mounted it the other way, but that would have put the cable slot on top of the mount and weakened it. (probably could have wound the cable the opposite way on the drum, and run it backward, now that I think of it.. 20:20 hindsight) anybody know if the winch cares?