DIY 3 point skidder winch

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tex

ArboristSite Operative
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west michigan
So, I was thinking of making a skidding winch, similar to a Farmi, to put on my Ford Jubilee. My thought was that I could use the rear axle out of a stout old lawn tractor for the winch itself. Input from the tractor PTO to the axle would be the same, and use one of the drive hubs to turn the spool, while the other would have a brake on it to engage/disengage the spool through the diff. Using the tractor rear end would allow me different speeds through the use of the different gears. What do you think?

It is pretty much flat land around here. The purpose would be drag logs between live trees, and be able to pull them to drier ground from some of the wetter areas. There would be no real "up-hills".

My first thought for the rear end was one from a 70's vintage Deere, like a 110. They seem bullet proof.
 
If the gears and whatnot are stout enough, seems like a plan. wouldn't be real heavy duty, but should work on some trees.
 
heres one that I have, and it was made for a 53 Jubilee... its a Braden LU-4 winch off of an M-37 military truck, it bolts to the axle and the top link of the 3PH, and is chain driven off the PTO, worked real good when it was on the tractor. hasn't been used since we sold the ford 15-20 years ago
100_1714.JPG 100_1715.JPG 100_1716.JPG
 
If you were closer I'd offer to buy it. Save me the trouble of building one. I thought about using a wrecker winch, but they are expensive and seem slow. So, how did the chain drive work? You had a sprocket directly on the PTO spline shaft?

Thanks for the info/pics
 
Here is a shot of my homemade pto winch. 10k rated. It's a little scary as it has no clutch so a man has to be on the tractor.image.jpg
 
Tex - My opinion, don't waste your time - Find an old winch thats meant to pull, like the ones above. I had one of those 'bullet proof' JD's from the 70's, weight box on the back & blade on the front. Took all the gears out of it after a few hours. Just not made to do that kind of work, cast aluminum.
 
Never seen it mentioned here in any winch threads, but I'll throw it out now. Another potential place for finding used heavy duty winches is off of commercial workboats.
 
Cast aluminum? Well, thats out. Might have a lead on a pto winch out of an old IH Scout. That would probably be just right, size wise.

Never though about a boat winch. Thanks Zogger. We've got plenty marinas around here.
 
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