Skidding winch for the tractor

[morewood]

No big tree winching for me .

I love that little tractor, mine is smaller than Sawyer Robs, but that thing has it's place getting in and out of tight spots.

Shea

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Yesterday I was hired to skid out some red oak, another guy logged,

He had some loooong sticks!

Today, it's sunny 69* out, so I managed to unload/sort the logs that were on my loaded wagon,

With THAT done, I headed out to get the few logs I didn't have room for on the last load, I also wanted to get the last of the firewood I had skidded out too. SO, I loaded my chainsaw on the winch,

hooked up the now empty wagon, and headed to the woods. First thing I did was to saw out the last log from the big beech I skidded out a few days ago,

The more I use my Husky 550xp the more I LOVE it!

Anyway, here's the last of the saw mill and fire wood logs, that I skidded out the other day,

That's it for today!

SR

 

[amberg]

Nice sticks, nice saw too. How long was that red oak?

 

[dancan]

I love that little tractor, mine is smaller than Sawyer Robs, but that thing has it's place getting in and out of tight spots.

Shea

I can fit that tractor where ever you can squeeze an atv through LOL

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Nice sticks, nice saw too. How long was that red oak?

I didn't measure it, but he had two 16 footers marked out that I saw, and there was some left...

SR

 

[morewood]

I can fit that tractor where ever you can squeeze an atv through LOL

I bet that's perfect for what most people do.

Shea

 

[morewood]

This small pine was from the other day, just happened to be in the wrong place and had to come down.

Shea

 

[morewood]

First tree this afternoon. Interesting story. It hung in a tree and stayed on the stump at about 45 degrees. I hooked to it with the winch and brought the butt to the road, the top stayed snagged until the main portion was on the road and presto, it fell down to the road. Hard to believe there was very little damage as big as it was.

Shea

 

[morewood]

This is tree #2, smaller, but straight and no limbs. Breaks over, the big hairy one is left. Hard to tell where this one will go, but I promise one thing, it'll hit the ground, guaranteed,or your money back.

Shea

 

[morewood]

It dug in pretty well, but to no avail. This is why.

Oh well, not everything works out perfectly.

Shea

 

[morewood]

So I cut these two section off.


Pulled again and got this.
Now the hard work begins.

Shea

 

[morewood]

I cut the tops up and all of the collateral damage to remove them from the trail. Put the tractor at the top facing portion of the tree and pulled it out to block it up easier. The before picture.


And after its been blocked.


This day has been very successful. Between the winch and tractor productivity has been great.

Shea

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I had some help today, these two guys hired me to skid out some logs for them,

I'm cutting in the same woods, so no big deal helping them out,

Here's a few of the logs I skidded out for them, Most of them were 16 to 20 feet long,

Once I had them to the road, they went and got this fork lift to move them,

They were taking them four at a time, but the rear was getting a bit "light" with four on board... lol

Well, that's it for today!

SR

 

[wej52]

Shea[/QUOTE]

So I cut these two section off.
View attachment 501701

Pulled again and got this.View attachment 501702
Now the hard work begins.

Shea

Shea, a question for you. Have you ever tried wrapping the choker and cable around a hung up tree so that it would cause the tree to twist out of the tree it is hung in? I have the same winch as you and have had some success getting tree un-hung by using the winch to twist the stuck tree. But to be fair not all trees can rotate enough to drop depending on how they are hung up. Just curious. W.Jones

 

[morewood]

Shea

Shea, a question for you. Have you ever tried wrapping the choker and cable around a hung up tree so that it would cause the tree to twist out of the tree it is hung in? I have the same winch as you and have had some success getting tree un-hung by using the winch to twist the stuck tree. But to be fair not all trees can rotate enough to drop depending on how they are hung up. Just curious. W.Jones[/QUOTE]

To be honest I haven't. Not sure how it would have worked on the first tree, as I was trying to get it more on the road to make cutting it up easier. The second tree was hung up with a crotch against a supporting tree. That one probably wouldn't have twisted out unless one of the branches broke off. I do see how that would be an easy way to attempt to get one on the ground. Makes sense.

Shea

 

[timbrjackrussel]

Shea, a question for you. Have you ever tried wrapping the choker and cable around a hung up tree so that it would cause the tree to twist out of the tree it is hung in? I have the same winch as you and have had some success getting tree un-hung by using the winch to twist the stuck tree. But to be fair not all trees can rotate enough to drop depending on how they are hung up. Just curious. W.Jones

To be honest I haven't. Not sure how it would have worked on the first tree, as I was trying to get it more on the road to make cutting it up easier. The second tree was hung up with a crotch against a supporting tree. That one probably wouldn't have twisted out unless one of the branches broke off. I do see how that would be an easy way to attempt to get one on the ground. Makes sense.

Shea[/QUOTE]
I have had leaner trees, tree is just leaning into another tree and the leaner tree roots are pulled out or it is cut off of the stump and hung up in another tree.
I put a SWR sling around the leaner, one loop through the other and use a shackle to fasten the free end loop to a key hole slider on the main line of the winch. No grab hooks or any fastener that can come apart. Push it up the trunk of the leaner tree with a small sapling try to get it 15 feet or so. Run the winch main line back the opposite direction of the leaning tree and fasten a snatch block to the base of a large tree. At a safe angle (90) degrees run the winch line out to a safe distance. The idea is to just pull the leaner tree up and over backwards without it leaning into another tree.
I have had this work in places where pulling the butt of the leaner tree wouldn't work.( if it was down in a low spot)
Once the leaner is up and over gravity works. Don't use the ratchet brake on the winch and be prepared to stop the pulling and let the cable go slack if need be.
Sometimes just pulling the leaner tree up and out of the hang up and letting it drop fast it will come down.
Make certain to have lots of cable on the drum if the leaner drops down.
Never tried to roll a leaner out of a hung up spot.

 

[morewood]

I know it's been awhile, but last month I finished pulling all the wood from the property where I had been winching. Saying that, not much winching has been happening. This weekend I hopefully get started on 100+ acres of private property that is close to home where I have cut off and on for years. My son and I went up on Saturday and found a couple years of wood off of one logging road. The catch, some of the pulls are long, uphill, and detailed. Hope to order a self releasing snatch block to help. Hope to have pics galore.

Shea

 

[dancan]

Worth their weight in gold lol

 

[morewood]

Couldn't stomach the cost of a self releasing block yet, so I bought another 10T (overkill) with tree strap and 3/4" shackles. I say that with my birthday next month hoping I can have it then. A lot of my pulls can be straight, though very brushy. I like yours pictured above, they are sold out. I'll end up with an Igland probably.

Shea

 

[dave_dj1]

Worth their weight in gold lol

Dan, nice set up! I am in the process of building a skidding winch with the clutch set up nearly the same as the commercial units. Since your drum looks easy to see would you mind telling me the diameter of it and the size of the shaft? Thank you.