Yeah, those are the way to go for skidding with chain. The hooks with the little sheet metal latch are good for stuff where the hook never sees the dirt. Drag logs with them and they rarely last a quarter of a day.
Wire Rope
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hslogger
Platinum Member
In the PNW, companies like WESTECH are the suppliers for real loggers. I've read here about gripes about wire rope kinking or jaggers. A choker of wire rope is a fixed unit. You don't shorten them. The nubbin on the ends don't come off and when set through a choker bell, if set right, do not fail. Sometimes a chain choker will come undone if you set it and you go a long distance to your tractor to pull it. Choker bell has its' purpose. Most farmer stuff is reliant on chains and hooks.
You will learn that no matter what you use, choker or chain, buy setting the pull on certain angles to the log, you can put a roll on it which can put a roll on it if you want.
I logged all kinds of stuff for decades. Around the farm I just dink around with chains for short pulls. Sometimes a combo of wire rope and chain for long distance or block and tackle pull, or directional block pull. You can't run chain through blocks.
You will learn that no matter what you use, choker or chain, buy setting the pull on certain angles to the log, you can put a roll on it which can put a roll on it if you want.
I logged all kinds of stuff for decades. Around the farm I just dink around with chains for short pulls. Sometimes a combo of wire rope and chain for long distance or block and tackle pull, or directional block pull. You can't run chain through blocks.
WinterDeere
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But their usage is different than many here. Most of my skidding is onto and off of a trailer, with an expanded metal gate, hard metal edge at back of trailer, and metal side walls. The chain offers nice rounded links to help the log "roll" up over and past all of that, where a steel cable is just going to get abused. I believe most of these PNW loggers are lifting one end of the log to haul up a hillside to a landing, where that cable is never rubbing against hard steel angles.
There are so many of these 50-100 ft cables almost being thrown away by the 4X4 community. Most guys who buy a winch with cable on it, will remove it and replace with synthetic rope, due to the weight of the metal cable on the front of their trucks. If you know if a shop around you that modifies J&&ps, just aske them...they likely have a plethora of nearly free cables they can "give" you. Almost everyone in my 4X4 club has an unused cable in their garage that they will never use! 
JRH02
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Want to die young? Cable is a way to do that.
But seriously, the pulling rig should never be able to exceed the rating of the rope. If it can then you will do it and maybe kill yourself. Then add wear and tear and broken strands.
Just yesterday I was working with a logging choker. I hate and love those things.
charlessenf
Gold Member
As I saw with the first response "Chain"
When I started cutting trees for firewood years ago my neighbor showed me a chain with hooks on either end. The links are about an inch and a half long and (guessing) 3/16" diameter. I use 1/2" hooks from Harbor Freight tools. I used it with my Bombardier Outlander 330 to haul logs off the mountain and such, and with my Kubota B7800 when the logs proved too much for the 330. I was dragging them flat until recently when I tried slipping the chain through the mounting hole for the post hole auger (see picture) that allowed me to raise the one end of the log to clear any obstructions and let me drag some 24" caliper 12-14ft logs from a bottom pasture up a steep bank in AWD LOW GEAR recently.
I've some wire rope that would serve, but it is simply no where near as convenient as the chain. I can stow that 20' of chain "anywhere" quick and easy. Wire rope's a relative PITA to coil up, secure and stow - think Band Saw Blades or even garden and air hose.
Joe taught this 'city boy' several lessons and the chain was one of the best!
SPECS ON CHAIN: Welded Chain Specifications - Industrial Rope
To be honest. I do not know the specs on teh chain I've been using. I'm pretty sure I bought it in a package - 20' length - at lowes or tractor supply ten or more years ago. What I found online today was such a variety that I could not figure out what to suggest save the CLEVIS HOOKS from HFT (good price - never failed).
I did split this chain into two lengths at some point and cannot honestly recall if it failed or I cut it for some reason. Likely the latter as a failure would stick in one's memory if they survived - and, I'm still here . . . so . . .
charlessenf
Gold Member
Wow, I was expecting some sort of crimping would be required. How many lbs is something like this 'good for?'
ning
Elite Member
I hate cable with a passion, just dealing with coiling & uncoiling it is bad enough and I don't ever want to deal with frays. Glad to heft around chain.
I have a few smaller pieces, a couple 20's, and a bucket of 75' and a bucket of 90'. I got the 90 when I was pulling out some big blackberry brambles - I found that if you pull a chain around a bramble and put a slip on the end, you get most of it into a big ball and pull out many of the roots in the process. I use a long pole to stick the chain through the middle of huge brambles that a 90' won't go around.
I keep checking every once in a while to see if a seller screws up again but I haven't seen this good deal I got a few years ago:
The shipping alone probably cost most of that price.
(Current amz price $236 shipped - still that's only $3/ft shipped, not terrible)
Two days after I placed that order I checked for a friend if they still had it up and it had gone up to $220 suddenly...
I have a few smaller pieces, a couple 20's, and a bucket of 75' and a bucket of 90'. I got the 90 when I was pulling out some big blackberry brambles - I found that if you pull a chain around a bramble and put a slip on the end, you get most of it into a big ball and pull out many of the roots in the process. I use a long pole to stick the chain through the middle of huge brambles that a 90' won't go around.
I keep checking every once in a while to see if a seller screws up again but I haven't seen this good deal I got a few years ago:
The shipping alone probably cost most of that price.
(Current amz price $236 shipped - still that's only $3/ft shipped, not terrible)
Two days after I placed that order I checked for a friend if they still had it up and it had gone up to $220 suddenly...
charlessenf
Gold Member
I would like to know the source for this quotation. Was it in one of his letters to John Adams? To James Calendar? His papers are at the Library of Congress so a citation should not be difficult to provide. Or are we talking hearsay?
For the record I Googol'd it and could find no such citation at all.
Last edited:
Gordon Gould
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Your sense is correct. In a cable like that the collar is swaged tight. They just didn't show it. A cable clamp is required if you make one up in the door yard. The beauty is you only need one clamp not three because the loop will not slip.
gg
