Vehicle Winch Setup: How to get started?

[richg]

Greetings folks:

I'm thinking about purchasing a winch setup and would appreciate some feedback/ideas. The situation is that my very hilly property is simply filthy with wood.....ash, oak, cherry and birch. The problem is that getting the wood to flat ground for bucking, splitting and stacking would require more time and energy than I have. So, it gots me thinking to mount a winch on the back of my V-8 Explorer via the class III hitch as I can get teh vehicle close enough to most of it for harvesting. Here's what I think I need...

-Winch: something in the 4000 lb range. Can I use an ATV winch mounted to a Class III receiver plate?
-Additional winch cable
-Battery/power leads wired to the back of the truck
-Sheave blocks

Is this feasible or would I be embarking on an absolute boondoggle? Please let me know, thanks.

 

[soupy1957]

I'm wondering.........instead of wear and tear on the vehicle, if you could use a live (good size) tree as the anchor, and attach the Winch (which ever one you chose) to the tree with nylon straps or something.

Obviously the "live tree" would have to be in a strategically "good" location.

When I owned my Jeep Wrangler, I looked at Winch set ups, and noted that they were rather pricey (for a decent one, that is).


-Soupy1957

 

[loon]

these look good but i imagine $$$


(broken link removed to http://www.portablewinch.com/en/)

 

[Prosecond]

Try one of these:
(broken link removed)
I have one and can't imagine there are many trees you couldn't move with one. All you need is an anchor point. I have used stumps, trees, and even metal t posts. I carry a 20' chain to anchor the winch. You can carry this many places you couldn't get your vehicle.

 

[SolarAndWood]

-Winch: something in the 4000 lb range. Can I use an ATV winch mounted to a Class III receiver plate?
-Additional winch cable
-Battery/power leads wired to the back of the truck

That is pretty much what I did except I bolted it to the bucket of my tractor. I used the 3 ton from HF. My experience has been that a log of any size pulls my 2 ton tractor until the bucket sets good in the ground. Then, the log starts to move. At that point, it has no problem pulling its rated strength up and over a bank as long as you keep track of the heat of the winch and give it time to cool down. How big are the logs you are trying to winch and how far away are they?

 

[KarlP]

Keep in mind that a typical 8000lb winch has 5/16 cable with a 'working load limit' on the cable of ~2000lbs and an average breaking strength of 9800lbs when new. I wouldn't pull more than 4000lbs with a single line pull using an 8000lb winch. So if you really need to pull 4000lbs....

 

[711mhw]

Check out a Lewis Winch on line. It is powered by a chain saw and I believe was developed for wood retrival and working in the woods. Back when I was a kid we had a 8000# elec. winch on a p/u tk and unless you have a dual battery set up with a giant alternator look out. I later put a pto powered winch on an older Bronco that was sweet, 4sp winch with rev., but the newer transfer case/tranny's especially on lighter vehicles do not have a pto ability. Check out the amp draw at full laod and you'll see what I mean. The Lewis winch allways had interested me in that you could pull from any direction and completely portable. I got to thinking about them just this past weekend when I was riding with a buddy running the grooming rig for the local snomobile club and it got burried! We needed to pull sideways then back then foward, we finaly got it with come alongs, hi lift jacks, shovels, snatch straps etc. 3 hours, all in good fun!

 

[loon]

dont let zap see this vid :cheese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zklGXsaZNUY&annotation_id=annotation_647606&feature=iv

 

[richg]

Gang,

thanks for the replies. Well, it looks like I was setting myself for another boondoggle. there's a surprise. I can have limitless amounts of oak and hickory rounds delivered foro $75.00 per cord, so when you factor in the expense of buying the winch setup, cutting the trees down, winching them to flat ground and bucking them, there ain't a whole lotta savings there.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I can have limitless amounts of oak and hickory rounds delivered foro $75.00 per cord

Can't argue with that if its a real cord.

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I guess it's like professional sports. We pay someone else to have fun for us.

Unless of course you regard getting eatin' alive by skeeters and ticks, sweating by the gallon, lifting, bending, and hauling as so much work. Then by all means $75/pulp cord is a deal, but then so are a couple hundred bucks worth of propane.

 

[Highbeam]

Nothing wrong with the winch plate set ups that use your receiver hitch. The cool thing is that you can remove the winch when not in use, put it on the rear or on the front using a front hitch. Many are rated for a regular 8000 lb winch that can be had from HF for small money.

The trouble will be in how many logs you plan to pull in one session as any electric winch will overheat and/or draw down the truck battery over time. Production winching requires PTO or hydraulic power. Mile Marker makes some cool hydraulic winches that use the trucks power steering pump system for power. These heavier duty winches are not the type that mount to a removable hitch plate.

 

[tecumseh]

I inherited a brand new, 1 ton electric winch. I was thinking about using it to move some smaller logs around down by my creek. Since the creek area is inaccessible to any vehicle I was hoping to manuver the logs to where I can hook them up and drag them out with my truck. I could move the logs around by man handling them, but using a tool seems much more fun.

Can I actually just hook it upto a 12v battery of some type and run the winch (strapped safely to a tree)? If I can, I was thinking about borrowing a battery recharger then possibly alternating batteries. I just don't have a clue on how much drain they put on a battery, like if it would drain it after one pull etc. Or if what I am thinking is even possible...

Thanks for any thoughts,

Tim

 

[Blazin]

Winches can have a huge draw, depending on it's rating. A standard car battery of 800 CCA (cold cranking amps) may only last for 30 minutes depending on how much you load up the winch. A dual battery setup, especially if using dry cell or AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries, can handle much more work without ruining a battery from overdrawing it's capacity.

Other safety issues:

1) If you think you may someday want to get yourself unstuck, the winch should be rated for 150% of your vehicles weight. This is the "golden rule" to how big a winch you need.
2) A wire rope on your winch can become frayed over time and will sprout sharp little wires all over it's length, so be sure to have a good pair of leather gloves.

3) A wire rope that breaks because of damage or too much load will snap back like a rubber band with more than enough force to kill or maim anyone it can touch! Any winching activity should be done with only one person operating the winch within the area that the cable could reach. Sitting inside the winching vehicle, especially with the hood up will be enough protection in almost all cases.

4) There are synthetic ropes that many winches now come with that do not snap back like a wire rope. They will still recoil, but not with the kind of power that a wire rope generates. However, these are more susceptible to damage from abrasion or sharp edges and they will also become embedded with any thorns, splinters, or other sharp things that they touch. Leather gloves should be worn with these also.
5) All ropes whether wire or synthetic should be weighted with a chain draped over the rope, or with one of the commercially available "recovery dampers".
6) A winch rope should never be wrapped around anything and hooked to itself! This creates a pressure point where the rope passes through the hook, and is where a rope will break if enough pressure is applied.
7) To pull in a different direction than toward the winch, use a "snatch block". This is a simple pulley that is attached to a point between the winch and the object to be winched. It serves two purposes. The first is that it allows you to pull in a direction other than straight back to the winch. It also serves to double the pulling power of the winch. Note that pulling things greater than the capacity of the winch with a snatch block can be very dangerous. The cable, or the snatch block could break causing a whiplash effect.

There are many more points to winch safety.

For the purpose of winching trees, I would recommend not getting the cheapest winch you can find. You may end up buying more than one of the Harbor Freight models and spending the same or more than a 8000lb Warn.

Don't try to winch all your logs at once, instead pull a few, cut and split, then pull some more. Some winches (the more expensive models) have thermostats built into their electronics and will shut down if they get too hot.

A good winch to look for is a Warn M8000.

Link to Warn M8000: http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/src/M8000.shtml

Link to Warn Winching Guide: (broken link removed to http://www.warn.com/corporate/images/90/UserManualSRC.US.readers.pdf)

The guide concentrates on recovery of vehicles, but most of the "rules" apply to any winching operation.