skidsteer winch

[timberland ts]

Im looking at putting a winch on my skidsteer for smaller clearing and logging jobs where i cant bring in a skidder. Its a 743 bobcat. Was wondering what size to get. Ineed to pull good sized logs.

 

[artbaldoni]

I have been toying with the same idea. Fab a swing away frame for the rear so I can still open the engine bay. Add some hooks to the frame to skid logs with. Make the whole unit removable for when I don't need it, excavating, grading ,etc..

 

[timberland ts]

Was thinking of mounting it to the front with a double reciever type attachmet. Winch log to me then unhook and pick up with the grapple.

 

[Gavman]

I plan the same thing soon, was thinking of bolting it to the pallet fork frame so it does double duty as a log lifter too... It would be nice to find a second set of forks cheap so it can be permanently mounted

 

[Rio_Grande]

I have given this alot of thought. If on the front make it like the 3 point winches so it diggs into the ground and takes the load off the skid steer. Pierce winch has a bunch of hydraulic winches that are fairly reasonable. They have one with a 300 foot drum on it. That would be awsome!

 

[timberland ts]

I want to mount it on the cross plate above the bucket, so i can lift up while pulling. Dont want to have it attached to the bucket. Want electic so i can still run the grapple. Question is how big of a winch?

 

[gilraine]

i would get a 9000 pound winch, hydraulic if you have a remote on the bobcat.

 

[Rio_Grande]

If you go electric, I would go cheap, even the best electric is going to burn up dragging logs any distance. I went through 2 last year just dragging rolling equiptment onto my trailer. I am trying a ramsey now but at 1200.00 it is tough to swallow. Dont buy anything warn. their customer service is crap and they arent any better than anything else now unles you buy into one of the higher end one. After putting 900.00 in a warn a few years ago using it to pull the rolling jeep out of a wash before something inside it melted the factory refused to honor the waranty because I over loaded it using it for something it was never made to do. Did I mention I dont care for warn?
I have 2 cheepo champions on vehicles and they work. When they go bad i have some parts for the next one. For 300.00 I concider them a throw away item.

 

[rwoods]

Nothing insurmountable, but a few comments:

1) IME electric winches aren’t up to logging. Even though your 743 only weighs 5000#, you will just be burning up solenoids and/or motors. In the long run you would be cheaper to install a separate hydraulic hookup for a hydraulic winch. Also most electric winches are excruciatingly slow. They all use a lot of juice and will drain your battery in no time. As you know you can’t push start a Bobcat.

2) Putting a winch on your boom's cross member may be convenient, but it may also put you in the line of fire when something lets go (and eventually something will let go).

3) Regardless of where and what, you are wise to preserve the use of your boom as at times you will need something to hold back the 743.

Ron

 

[timberland ts]

I understand the line of fire deal and plan to build a shield with large grate expanded metal and tube stock. As far as hold back i just put a chain in the tie down in the back and around a tree. Still am up in the air over type of winch in the past i can get to most trees with the grapple so the winch wouldnt be used all the time just for the hard to reach trees. Thanks for the imput will keep you updated.

 

[artbaldoni]

Here is what I had in mind...

 

[2treeornot2tree]

They make a grapple that has a winch mounted to the top of it. I think ryans might make it.

 

[CUCV]

15K hydraulic winch, It's really nice having it mounted to the quick tach so I can use it on several different machines. I think 9K would be plenty and much faster than this 15K.View attachment 281361

 

[redprospector]

Don't even think about an electric winch unless you like hunting parts, spending money, and turning wrenches.
I don't have a winch on my Bobcat, but I put a 12K MileMarker hydraulic winch on my JD 450b dozer last year. The hydraulic winch will hold up way better than electric, and is faster.
Put a set of tracks on that 743 and you may not need a winch.

Andy

 

[rwoods]

I understand the line of fire deal and plan to build a shield with large grate expanded metal and tube stock. As far as hold back i just put a chain in the tie down in the back and around a tree. Still am up in the air over type of winch in the past i can get to most trees with the grapple so the winch wouldnt be used all the time just for the hard to reach trees. Thanks for the imput will keep you updated.

I don't doubt you can figure this out.

To help you decide about the type of winch, it is not so much how often you use the winch as it is how long the winch is in operation and how much cool down time it has between operations. Most electric winches only tolerate just a few minutes of load at a time. At 5 to 7 fpm, a 50 foot pull under load will exceed the duty rating of many electric winches; several in a row or longer pulls will kill your weakest link (motor, solenoid, cable or battery). Personally, although I purchased a quality electric winch, I have since bought enough motors, solenoids, switches and batteries to fund a good hydraulic set up without even counting the inital cost of the winch. Despite the seemly lower inital cost, electric winches just keep on hitting your pocketbook. I wish I had known then what I know now. One final point which is opinion based only, the cabling for a boom mounted electric winch is likely a greater fire hazard than hydraulic lines (and in fact, if sized correctly, will not be cheap).

Ron

 

[reaperman]

Instead of using a winch, why not just chain or strap the log to your 743 and pull the logs with it? I do it all the time. Granted it may not work to well in muddy conditions. In decent conditions it would be way faster and would keep the logs cleaner by lifting the front off of the ground while dragging. With a winch, the nose of a log would constantly be digging into the ground making it twice as hard to pull.

 

[kjw58]

There is a quick attach skid-steer winch for sale right now on e-bay !!