Winches on the back of a chipper.

[pdqdl]

I have considered mounting a winch on our chipper [it's a factory option that I declined when I bought it], but now I think it might be worth the extra money.

Any comments from those of you who have tried them out ?

 

[kennertree]

I have one on mine and love it. I dont use it every day but when I do use it, it makes me glad I got one. Mine didnt come from the factory with one on it so I had one installed from the dealer. The total cost was around $3500. Thats all the valves, mounting plate, winch and all the labor.

 

[(WLL)]

winches are great you should have one. you may not use it every day, but it will be there when you want it. you may end up using the winch more then you think synthetic lines are much better than steel cable imo

 

[appalachianarbo]

Love them! They will cause more lawn damage than hand dragging if you're not careful, but they are great for saving the backs of the crew. Less pain=happier employees=faster jobs=more $$!

More control for pulling trees than a truck - works like a charm.

I can remember feeding 80' trees through a 250XP using the winch. Soooo much easier than limbing, bucking, and carrying the material to the chipper. Also, you can make one heck of a big pile, choke it, and drag it, then toss it in the chipper. If you're good enough, you can set all the butt ends on the feed table with the winch, the all you have to do is stuff them in...And if you have too much material in the feed wheels and it won't feed, wrap the cable around the pile and pull it right on in there!

Problems...The cable would get all sorts of tangles if someone wound it in without any tension on the line. That would kill about an hour of productivity right there...And those cable burrs hurt like crazy if you let the cable run through your hand.

Although I've only done it once, you can also use the winch around a sturdy object to pull the chipper backwards (not attached to the truck, of course).

 

[arbo 58]

Winches on chippers

We have a BC1500 with a winch,it,s great.Having a big chipper without a winch makes no sense to me, If you have a 15in. stem with the brush on it who,s gonna get it to the chipper. We have a 1/2 in. Spectra line in it, won,t break, no slivers.

 

[ropensaddle]

Winch nah, if I spent that much on a chipper it better have its own
grapple to load itself.

 

[appalachianarbo]

That grapple will only reach so far...a winch AND a grapple - now THAT'S a chipper! But if you can afford that, you might as well just buy a Skycrane and hoist the tree back to your yard! :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[pdqdl]

Winch nah, if I spent that much on a chipper it better have its own
grapple to load itself.

I was hoping to hear from you on this ! I kinda thought that would be your opinion, though.

 

[Blakesmaster]

We have a winch on our BC1800A at work and though we only use it a few times a week, when we do it's a lifesaver. Because it can't pull logs very easily we'll generally use chains attached to the grapple boom for them we usually just use the winch for tops. Makes for many less trips dragging brush. Someday, I'll have my own....

 

[ropensaddle]

I was hoping to hear from you on this ! I kinda thought that would be your opinion, though.

Time spent hooking up and waiting for the winch etc. That is my thinking
I have a big winch on my bucket to move stuff to grapple if need be!
A grapple fed chipper on tracks is a great tool, especially if it was priced
around 20 grand, instead of; the ridiculous 50 and more they charge on each piece of equipment today! I guess the winch will work for you and lots of others as well. For me, if I spend fifty, it had better be all I want it to be for the next twenty years. I have an old whisper for lite work and a grapple for removals and don't pay the bills on lite work.

 

[stihljixxer]

I think its a must I have one on my personal work truck and the chipper and they make the difference in a safe felling or rigging job everytime. The mechanical advantage is outstanding.

 

[custom8726]

Our Brush Bandit 1890 has a winch and gets used almost daily. You will be amazed how much you will utilize it. Money very well spent I.M.O.

 

[pdqdl]

I think its a must I have one on my personal work truck and the chipper and they make the difference in a safe felling or rigging job everytime. The mechanical advantage is outstanding.

How many of you guys are using the winch to pull a tree over ? That doesn't sound like a practical idea for most of the work we do. I don't pull over more than about 1 tree out of 15-20 removals. When I do pull a tree, I usually do it with something oversized that doesn't play around.

Do the winches on chippers have REALLY long stretches of cable ? Do they spool quickly, what is the line-pull, etc. Can you easily free wheel the cable out, and do they tangle all crazy if you don't tend the feed carefully ?

 

[oldirty]

the winch is one of the best things on a chipper. and that is no lie.


you can butt tie the winch to whatever your rigging and pull it right to the chipper without ever having a stick of wood touch the ground....if youre any good.


if you have to drag some logs cut a square in some plywood and feed the line through the bottom and then hook up the logs that are on top of the plywood. bang, wood sled.


they are worth every dollar and then some.


yes the work great pulling trees over.......troline over a good crotch way up and pull the winch over the top of the tree and butt tie it. that way you got a pull coming from that crotch the lines through and also a pull from the butt.


done this a bunch of times.


winch is a great asset on a chipper. great asset.

so many different applications for a winch.

put one on and find out.

rope i like you, but your wrong about the winch. lol

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

A friend has synthetic line on his Bandit chipper's winch and it also free spools. I think he actually used a half inch bull line on it. Works great too! Used it to pull some 17" pine logs up a ravine behind some cabins that were about 175ft from the road. Never would've got a grapple in there!!!

 

[oldirty]

Do the winches on chippers have REALLY long stretches of cable ? Do they spool quickly, what is the line-pull, etc. Can you easily free wheel the cable out, and do they tangle all crazy if you don't tend the feed carefully ?

about 200 ft of line i think. they spool quick enough, and when you "free wheel" the spool it goes as fast as you can take it out. and if you put just steady pressure on the line with your left hand as it feeds back into the spool it'll coil itself just fine.

the pull is rated by the line's WLL.

 

[(WLL)]

about 200 ft of line i think. they spool quick enough, and when you "free wheel" the spool it goes as fast as you can take it out. and if you put just steady pressure on the line with your left hand as it feeds back into the spool it'll coil itself just fine.

the pull is rated by the line's WLL.

if the winch wont pull it just drive the truck and she should come free

 

[oldirty]

the pull is rated by the line's WLL.

wait what? if your asking what the winch can pull over for weight, i dont have an answer for you but i havent seen any problems that a chainsaw cant cut any extra weight off with.

 

[juststumps]

Love them! They will cause more lawn damage than hand dragging if you're not careful, but they are great for saving the backs of the crew. Less pain=happier employees=faster jobs=more $$!

More control for pulling trees than a truck - works like a charm.

I can remember feeding 80' trees through a 250XP using the winch. Soooo much easier than limbing, bucking, and carrying the material to the chipper. Also, you can make one heck of a big pile, choke it, and drag it, then toss it in the chipper. If you're good enough, you can set all the butt ends on the feed table with the winch, the all you have to do is stuff them in...And if you have too much material in the feed wheels and it won't feed, wrap the cable around the pile and pull it right on in there!

Problems...The cable would get all sorts of tangles if someone wound it in without any tension on the line. That would kill about an hour of productivity right there...And those cable burrs hurt like crazy if you let the cable run through your hand.

Although I've only done it once, you can also use the winch around a sturdy object to pull the chipper backwards (not attached to the truck, of course).

that's how we do it. grab the butt end,drop it on the infed table,, re rig,, and pull it into the machine.. replace the wire with rope...rig as close to the end ,, to minimize lawn damage...

 

[ropensaddle]

the winch is one of the best things on a chipper. and that is no lie.


you can butt tie the winch to whatever your rigging and pull it right to the chipper without ever having a stick of wood touch the ground....if youre any good.


if you have to drag some logs cut a square in some plywood and feed the line through the bottom and then hook up the logs that are on top of the plywood. bang, wood sled.


they are worth every dollar and then some.


yes the work great pulling trees over.......troline over a good crotch way up and pull the winch over the top of the tree and butt tie it. that way you got a pull coming from that crotch the lines through and also a pull from the butt.


done this a bunch of times.


winch is a great asset on a chipper. great asset.

so many different applications for a winch.

put one on and find out.

rope i like you, but your wrong about the winch. lol

Well I guess my 20 ton pto winch on my bucket will handle anything
I need pulled! I don't need two winches but sometimes do need my
third snatch block! Why play around with stinking branches, I just pull the whole tree to me!