Annual Firewood

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Edward Barker

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It's just about time for our annual firewood gathering project and I have been browsing the threads looking for ideas to improve our method. There are many good ideas here and one thing I notice is it's not a "one size fits all" type of project.
My wife and I are both retired so it is easy to us to dedicate a few weeks a year to our firewood. We live on an acreage in Northwestern Ontario and harvest our firewood from our property. We use a snowmobile and wait until this time of year (February) when there is adequate snow to provide decent access. We select the trees we are going to harvest and then make trails to them, cut them down and block and limb on site. We pile the limbs for burning at a later date, bark, saw shavings etc. all compost back into the forest floor. I should mention that it is a easier on the saw and requires a lot less sharpening doing all this cutting when there is a cushion of snow beneath your cuts, I also use a wedge in the cuts to keep my saw from binding We have a 6' sleigh that we haul with, the larger blocks we can roll onto it, we find this to be easier in the snow as we spend a lot of the time working on our knees which means a lot less bending. We haul it to our pole shed where we have a large enough work area for the next stage. Using the snowmobile sleigh has the advantage of being able to get on our knees along side of it and tip the rounds out, it is very quick and surprisingly easily done, with the larger loads we may have to pull a few of the rounds off with a pick first.
Stage two is splitting and stacking, we use a Ariens 27 ton wood splitter and a Kubota tractor. We roll the rounds into the bucket of the tractor and raise it to a height to easily roll them onto the splitter. My wife runs the splitter and I carry and stack them on pallets in the pole shed as they come off the splitter. We are a year ahead so the wood we process this year will be for the winter of 24/25.
We have a woodshed close to the house that we put a winters worth in at a time after it has dried sufficiently.
This is a system that we have found to work well for us.
 
I switched from bucking trees into rounds in the woods to bringing logs to my wood processing area and cutting them into rounds there. It seems like less work to me. Where I am it's steep and the woods are thick so I often had to carry rounds to where I could load them into a UTV or an atv trailer. I use a tractor with a winch and grapple but maybe you could drag your logs with the snow machine.
 
I switched from bucking trees into rounds in the woods to bringing logs to my wood processing area and cutting them into rounds there. It seems like less work to me. Where I am it's steep and the woods are thick so I often had to carry rounds to where I could load them into a UTV or an atv trailer. I use a tractor with a winch and grapple but maybe you could drag your logs with the snow machine.
The advantage of working with a snow machine for us at least is you can get right up beside the felled tree and roll the blocks into the sleigh. I totally understand not wanting to carry those blocks of wood that is really hard work!
 
Northwestern Ontario is a big spot, can you narrow it down a bit? What kind of trees are you burning? I cut wood all year round because the bush I cut in is surrounded by farm land so when crops are growing it's a long haul all the way around the field. Winter time when it's frozen or snow I can just cut across the field. In the summer I cut trees down and pull them to one of 4 landing sites in the bush. I cut them to length to fit my log wagons so I can just load and haul them home in the winter. I process everything in my log yard at home when I have time. You could still use the sled to haul short logs home and use your tractor to raise them to cut into firewood length.
 

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Northwestern Ontario is a big spot, can you narrow it down a bit? What kind of trees are you burning? I cut wood all year round because the bush I cut in is surrounded by farm land so when crops are growing it's a long haul all the way around the field. Winter time when it's frozen or snow I can just cut across the field. In the summer I cut trees down and pull them to one of 4 landing sites in the bush. I cut them to length to fit my log wagons so I can just load and haul them home in the winter. I process everything in my log yard at home when I have time. You could still use the sled to haul short logs home and use your tractor to raise them to cut into firewood length.
To narrow it down a bit I would say Fort Frances area on the Canada/US border, half way between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. We burn Ash. I guess my point was the way we do it suits us, we are done in a few weeks, no mess, nothing left waiting for me to get to it. We have tried many variations, this way works for us.
 
That's pretty much all I burn down here too. Living up there you likely use a fair bit of wood so you must spend time doing it. I have an outdoor burner so I make my splits 32" long and that saves me lots of time. I use my tractor for everything.
 

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Sounds like a great system. I’d love to see a good video of it all.

I think the secret is to move the wood as few times as possible. The most efficient way is to buck and split the wood right from the tree onto a trailer, then load from there into your wood stack.
I have a gas powered SuperSplit, so I can split anywhere.
But I usually cut my rounds (and quarter them if it’s a big tree) and load into my trailer. I then go from trailer to the splitter when I can, but often I need the trailer before I can get it split, so I have to pile it up.
 
That's pretty much all I burn down here too. Living up there you likely use a fair bit of wood so you must spend time doing it. I have an outdoor burner so I make my splits 32" long and that saves me lots of time. I use my tractor for everything.

Sounds like a great system. I’d love to see a good video of it all.

I think the secret is to move the wood as few times as possible. The most efficient way is to buck and split the wood right from the tree onto a trailer, then load from there into your wood stack.
I have a gas powered SuperSplit, so I can split anywhere.
But I usually cut my rounds (and quarter them if it’s a big tree) and load into my trailer. I then go from trailer to the splitter when I can, but often I need the trailer before I can get it split, so I have to pile it up.
I agree, handling the wood more you have to is a waste of time and energy. Unfortunatly in order for me to get the splitter to where I fell the trees would be next to impossible in winter.
 
Very similar regime.
I usually stay a year ahead and cut on my own property, mainly Oak here.
I cut, split and stack right on site and gather on trailer the next burning season.... less handling.
 
Sounds like a good routine. But for an unsolicited bit of advice. Get off your knees, and quit rolling stuff by hand. You say you have a tractor? Get it involved sooner. I make a table 16 long with two pieces of plywood on Plastic 55 gallon drums for a splitting table and staging the round to roll onto the splitter.
 
Sounds like a good routine. But for an unsolicited bit of advice. Get off your knees, and quit rolling stuff by hand. You say you have a tractor? Get it involved sooner. I make a table 16 long with two pieces of plywood on Plastic 55 gallon drums for a splitting table and staging the round to roll onto the splitter.
It may sound awkward for people our ages to be working on our knees in the snow but we are dressed for it and we are only rolling the blocks a few feet at most. We do not have to bend to do heavy lifting which in my opinion is very bad for the back. I agree using the tractor would make some aspects of the job easier but trails would have to be made which would be much additional work and fuel cost. We have settled on this method after experimenting with others, winter we have extra time to do it, it gets us exercise, and actually we find it to be enjoyable.
 
I live in south central Indiana. I burn 3 to 6 cords (mostly hickory) per year depending on the weather. I grew up about an hour north of where I live now, and my parents still live there. Outside of their town is a farm that I've cut and hunted on all my life. It's loaded with hickory. I have a 1 ton 4wd diesel, a very heavy duty 16' equipment trailer, and an old Ford 1710 tractor/loader. I've fitted the trailer with a removable 13K winch (powered by an old group 31 battery from my last diesel truck). I've also fitted a removable arch to the back end of the trailer. My process looks like this.

Take the truck, trailer, and saws up to the farm. Drop and drag roughly 2 cords out to a landing area using the truck. I've used a tractor for this when the ground is a little soft, but the truck is a LOT faster and a lot more capable so long as traction isn't an issue. At the landing, I cut the logs to 15' so they will fit on my trailer. When I run out of room to put logs, I hook the trailer back up to the truck and back it up to the logs. The winch operates the arch to get the logs up on the trailer. I use a combination of 1/4" and 5/16" log chains, home made skidding tongs, as well as slip hooks and saddle hooks to pick the logs up with the arch and drag them into place with my winch. It takes me about 8 hours to drop, skid, and load 2 cords onto the trailer by myself, and 2 cords of hickory is about all I want to put on the trailer. I have to pull it down into a creek bottom, across said creek, back up the other side, and then its an hour and 15 min to get it home. At home, I use my tractor to drag 3 or 4 logs off at a time. I have forks for the loader. Once I have 8 or 10 logs on the ground, I use the forks to stack them on RR ties that I've temporarily layed next to where I'm dragging them out. Then I cut them in half, and use the loader to stack them on a different pair of RR ties that I have permanently located at the back edge of the yard. I repeat that process until the trailer is unloaded, and all of the logs are stacked. Coincidently, I can stack 2 cords of logs this way on a pair of RR ties. I have 6 sets of these RR ties along the back edge of the yard. From there I can either buck and split them into firewood at my leisure, or leave them as logs and move them up to the house (with the loader) a few logs at a time next winter. I normally do the latter. My add on wood furnace is in the basement, and my house was built with a coal window. I put a pair of RR ties near the coal window and keep about 1 cord of logs on it. I buck them to length as needed. My splitter sits right next to it.

There are multiple reasons I use this process. One is because I transport the wood so far. It's good firewood and I can move a lot in a day, so its worth it to me. 4 cords of hickory will last me most seasons, and I like spending time on that farm :) I also do most of my cutting alone. My dad used to go with me (actually, when I was a kid I went with him). He wasn't able to help much but was nice spending time with him like we used to. He can't get out much any more, so I've had to do it solo for the past 4 years. I still ask him to come out when I'm dropping trees just for the safety of a 2nd set of eyes and to be able to call or go for help if needed. My plan has me doing most of my saw work in my back yard which is also better if something goes wrong.

If you have a way to get the logs back to your house/barn before cutting them, I would recommend it. You can use that tractor to lift them off the ground and cut at a comfortable height. Built a table that you can drop the rounds on as they are cut. put the splitter at the end of the table. Roll/slide them down to the splitter. Main goal here is to minimize the number of times you touch the round. An older nearby friend cuts on his own land. He has 2 ways he does it. He had a bunch of steel racks made with large wheels under them. Each rack holds roughly 1/4 cord. He has a walk out basement, and he can wheel the rack inside, all the way up to his add on furnace. The wheels are big enough that he can easily get under them with a set of forks on his tractor. His first way to do it is to pick 2 or 3 racks up with his tractor, take them and the splitter out to the woods, cut and split the firewood. Stack it in the racks, then bring the racks one at a time with the tractor and store them under cover until he's ready to use them. 2nd way is to cut and skid logs up to a pile on the property. Take a bunch of the racks out to the pile. Cut, split, and fill the racks at his leisure and bring them back with the tractor. With either method, once he cuts a piece of firewood, it gets put on the splitter and then stacked on a rack. He doesn't touch it again until he picks it up to put it in the furnace. I would recommend trying to do something like this if you can because it will cut down on the extra work, keep you off your knees, and allow you to do most of the work at your own pace close to the house where help is more available.
 
I live in south central Indiana. I burn 3 to 6 cords (mostly hickory) per year depending on the weather. I grew up about an hour north of where I live now, and my parents still live there. Outside of their town is a farm that I've cut and hunted on all my life. It's loaded with hickory. I have a 1 ton 4wd diesel, a very heavy duty 16' equipment trailer, and an old Ford 1710 tractor/loader. I've fitted the trailer with a removable 13K winch (powered by an old group 31 battery from my last diesel truck). I've also fitted a removable arch to the back end of the trailer. My process looks like this.

Take the truck, trailer, and saws up to the farm. Drop and drag roughly 2 cords out to a landing area using the truck. I've used a tractor for this when the ground is a little soft, but the truck is a LOT faster and a lot more capable so long as traction isn't an issue. At the landing, I cut the logs to 15' so they will fit on my trailer. When I run out of room to put logs, I hook the trailer back up to the truck and back it up to the logs. The winch operates the arch to get the logs up on the trailer. I use a combination of 1/4" and 5/16" log chains, home made skidding tongs, as well as slip hooks and saddle hooks to pick the logs up with the arch and drag them into place with my winch. It takes me about 8 hours to drop, skid, and load 2 cords onto the trailer by myself, and 2 cords of hickory is about all I want to put on the trailer. I have to pull it down into a creek bottom, across said creek, back up the other side, and then its an hour and 15 min to get it home. At home, I use my tractor to drag 3 or 4 logs off at a time. I have forks for the loader. Once I have 8 or 10 logs on the ground, I use the forks to stack them on RR ties that I've temporarily layed next to where I'm dragging them out. Then I cut them in half, and use the loader to stack them on a different pair of RR ties that I have permanently located at the back edge of the yard. I repeat that process until the trailer is unloaded, and all of the logs are stacked. Coincidently, I can stack 2 cords of logs this way on a pair of RR ties. I have 6 sets of these RR ties along the back edge of the yard. From there I can either buck and split them into firewood at my leisure, or leave them as logs and move them up to the house (with the loader) a few logs at a time next winter. I normally do the latter. My add on wood furnace is in the basement, and my house was built with a coal window. I put a pair of RR ties near the coal window and keep about 1 cord of logs on it. I buck them to length as needed. My splitter sits right next to it.

There are multiple reasons I use this process. One is because I transport the wood so far. It's good firewood and I can move a lot in a day, so its worth it to me. 4 cords of hickory will last me most seasons, and I like spending time on that farm :) I also do most of my cutting alone. My dad used to go with me (actually, when I was a kid I went with him). He wasn't able to help much but was nice spending time with him like we used to. He can't get out much any more, so I've had to do it solo for the past 4 years. I still ask him to come out when I'm dropping trees just for the safety of a 2nd set of eyes and to be able to call or go for help if needed. My plan has me doing most of my saw work in my back yard which is also better if something goes wrong.

If you have a way to get the logs back to your house/barn before cutting them, I would recommend it. You can use that tractor to lift them off the ground and cut at a comfortable height. Built a table that you can drop the rounds on as they are cut. put the splitter at the end of the table. Roll/slide them down to the splitter. Main goal here is to minimize the number of times you touch the round. An older nearby friend cuts on his own land. He has 2 ways he does it. He had a bunch of steel racks made with large wheels under them. Each rack holds roughly 1/4 cord. He has a walk out basement, and he can wheel the rack inside, all the way up to his add on furnace. The wheels are big enough that he can easily get under them with a set of forks on his tractor. His first way to do it is to pick 2 or 3 racks up with his tractor, take them and the splitter out to the woods, cut and split the firewood. Stack it in the racks, then bring the racks one at a time with the tractor and store them under cover until he's ready to use them. 2nd way is to cut and skid logs up to a pile on the property. Take a bunch of the racks out to the pile. Cut, split, and fill the racks at his leisure and bring them back with the tractor. With either method, once he cuts a piece of firewood, it gets put on the splitter and then stacked on a rack. He doesn't touch it again until he picks it up to put it in the furnace. I would recommend trying to do something like this if you can because it will cut down on the extra work, keep you off your knees, and allow you to do most of the work at your own pace close to the house where help is more available.
I like your style. You explained it well. You have developed a system that works well for your situation. I used to like to spend time in the bush with my dad to.
I would be interested in seeing your trailer setup as you are loading. Does the battery last for the whole 2 cords or are you charging off your truck?
I suppose I should spent a bit more time explaining my situation and the area I get my wood from. We have a river valley on the back of the property that is prone to flooding in the spring which makes working conditions back there at that time of year hard to predict. Summer time there are projects, gardening, fishing and a huge lawn to cut, not much time or desire to work on firewood. Fall time I hunt. Once the ground is frozen and we have snow the access to the wood is easy by snow machine If I need to I could fit cutting firewood into one of these other seasons but for now winter seems to work best.
It is enjoyable interacting with others and hearing about their methods.
 
I don't have an pics of it as I'm loading. I'll have to remember to get some in the future. I'll put in some pics to try to explain it through. First thing to mention is that a Group 31 batter is actually for a tractor trailer. I had modified the battery bays in my '93 F250 so they would fit. I had a small oil leak that drained down on my starter and I'd go through a starter every 9 months which would then cause me to kill a battery or two. The Group 31 batteries put an end to that problem. They are somewhere between a deep cycle and a starting battery. They seem to work great for running a winch. I do not have the battery connected to the truck while I'm using it. Deepening on the load, mine sometimes comes up short on the last few logs. I take a 2nd deep cycle with me just in case, but I don't normally need it. If I ran cables back to it so the truck could charge it, that would likely fix the problem as well. My truck is a long bed crew cab, and the batteries are on the tailgate when I'm using them so that would be a LONG way to run the cables :)

Here are a couple of pics with partial loads on my trailer.



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In the first 2 pics, you can see the overhead rail that I added to the front of the the trailer. The top is a piece of 2" square tubing (1/4" wall). In the middle is a simple slide assembly that I made using a chunk of 2-1/2" sq tube with a couple of ears sticking down and a bolt running through it. I attach a snatch block to this and it keeps my winch cable up out of the way. One of the ears is threaded for 1/2-13 so I can just screw the bolt in and out. If its stuck, a 19mm scrench fits it (1/2" bolt takes a 3/4 wrench, 3/4" is almost exactly 19mm). That top rail has a few 3/8" holes drilled in the top side. When not in use, one of the holes holds the slide far enough over that the bolt can't back out because it hits the vertical. This keeps me from loosing the 1/2" bolt. The 3/8 bolt is 1-1/2" long and is heavy enough/long enough that it NEVER bounces out. If I want the winch cable to run to the right or left, I move the slide over and drop the 3/8" bolt in the nearest hole and that keeps the slide from being able to move back to the middle. This helps me guide the log to where I want it on the trailer.

The arch is made from heavy wall 2" square tubing. Welded correctly, it will hold more weight than you'll ever want to lift. The 3rd pic is a half of a pin oak log that's over 5' across and a little over 10' long. In that pic you can see a small tongue sticking down off the top of the arch. I mount a clevis to that which is where I connect the winch. You can't see it very well, but along the very top of the arch, I've welded some pieces of scrap 3/4" thick steel. These have 1/2" grooves cut in them. This is how I attach the chains that lift/drag the logs.

My winch is on a bracket that goes in a 2" receiver. The last pic shows where I mount it on my trailer. The other two receivers that stick out sideways were just there to get the other receiver up higher. One of them I use to mount a vice setup that I have. Works well for sharpening the saws.

I need to add a couple of chains that will keep the winch from falling all the way to the ground when I lean it out to pick up a log. Right now I just try to be careful how much line I let out on the winch before hand. That cause me to run the winch more than I really need to which drains the battery faster.

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These are a few of the tools that I use with the arch. The top pic is a saddle that's made from 1/2" rebar. The tight end will grab between the links of a 1/4", 5/16" or even a 3/8" chain. The winch is useful for getting the logs most of the way on the trailer, but for the last several feet I have to drag them with just the winch. Having a saddle on the chain gives me a place to attach the winch. I can also use it on the end of a chain to make a choker for picking up a group of logs, or a big log.

One thing that's CRITICAL when using an arch like this is to make sure that you leave enough chain to get the log off afterwards. Once the arch goes past center, it will be under tension until AFTER you get the log off the arch. This saddle is VERY handy at that point. The arch may be laying all the way forward with the log pulling backwards on it keeping everything in tension. I can unhook the winch, free spool some line out to hook onto the saddle (which MUST be on the chain before hand), and then engage the winch to pull the log the rest of the way up onto the trailer. This is also where its important to be able to run the winch cable off to one side or the other in order to keep the log on that side of the trailer.

The bottom pick is just one of the home made skidding tongs that I made. They bend easy, but even bent, they still work just fine. The are made from some 2" x 1/4" hot rolled steel with some sharpened 3/8" bolts welded to them. Handy for picking up logs that are a good firewood size.

You didn't ask, but I figured I'd add the next one any way. This is what I made for the back end of my tractor. Most if it, including the forks, is made from heavy wall 2" sq tube. The horizontal 3" black pipe can be slid sideways to remove the forks. The top end of each for has a piece of 3-1/2" pipe welded to it that rides on the 3". A pair of 1/4" clasps keep the 3" pipe from sliding out on its own. The boom is sitting in a piece of 2-1/2" sq tube and just lifts out. I've since redesigned a 2nd boom, but the principals are still the same. It sticks down into the 2-1/2" sq tube almost to the bottom. The top horizontal bar has some angle iron welded to it that has 1/2" wide slots ground into it as anchor points for chains. My main mistake on it was the 2" receiver at the bottom. It sticks out a lot farter than the face of the forks. I should have mounted it so that it only stuck out 2". Haven't gotten around to fixing that yet. My peavy normally rides inside one of end pices. I've found this setup to be VERY useful for skidding logs in the woods AND for dragging them off the trailer once I get home. Obviously, if I haul the tractor up to the woods, I can't bring a load of wood back. On those days, I stack the logs in a landing area and come back later with an empty trailer and the arch. On those days, I'm normally checking deer stands or maybe even bowhunting.
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Very similar regime.
I usually stay a year ahead and cut on my own property, mainly Oak here.
I cut, split and stack right on site and gather on trailer the next burning season.... less handling.
My Oak is never ready in a year, maybe two or three years.
 
Since you have a dedicated splitting area you may benefit from a lift like the Harbor Freight one that I use. I have a loader also, and use it as a feed table if I'm splitting on an uneven surface. The 8 foot long lift will lay flat to the ground so you can roll heavy pieces onto it, it has a foot actuated hydraulic lift and you can pick the whole table up to the height of your splitter beam. If you have a big round on the table you can split it in half and let the big piece go back on the table, or, as I do, just split a 4-5 inch slab off and let the big piece go back on the table. You never have the half of a big round fall to the ground and have to pick it up again. If I have a full dump trailer and have to get back to the job for more, I dump it in on the ground, and go get another load. Then when I'm ready to split, I put the table all the way down and roll the rounds on and lift the table. When the pile on the ground is finished, I back the trailer up to the table, lift it so I can roll the rounds on, then lift or lower it to the beam on the splitter. Which is still staged to the table. This is just little stuff I took off the back of my pickup to show one way to use the lift. I know the tire on the splitter is flat. I got a new splitter.
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I prefer to haul logs home for processing myself. With my deck over I'd just skid logs up on the deck with the winch. The heavier utility trailer I picked up last year is getting an arch. It's a real handy cap when I don't have a piece of equipment to load and can only get 2 logs high on the trailer. @fields_mj has a nice set up, mine will be similar when it's done. Log arches on the back of the trailer are game changing imo. Just make life a lot easier. This winch is going to be ran off the truck instead of batteries. Too much maintenance in the off season to keep up with them imo.
 
This winch is going to be ran off the truck instead of batteries. Too much maintenance in the off season to keep up with them imo.

Just make sure your truck battery or batteries and alternator are up to the task. Winches draw a lot of amperage, even when they are not under a load. You'll definitely want some heavy duty conductors to run back to the winch, and you'll need a solid way to connect them to your battery. Clamping on a set of jumper cables won't cut it. The alligator clamps don't have enough contact area to conduct enough current. I added screw terminal connections to the batteries I run my winch with and land the winch's factory installed eyelet directly on the battery. Even when respooling the cable at the end of the day, the ground wire gets hot enough to burn the living @#$% out of your fingers if you grab it. My HS AG Welding teacher was right. Hot metal really does look like cold metal...

I was lucky that I had a marine battery and a Group 31 battery sitting there. Having said that, a group 31 batter is a heavy duty power cell that's well suited to this kind of application. At around $170 USD they are less expensive than most car/truck batteries. Personally, I'd be willing to spend the money on one to protect the battery or batteries that are in my truck. Driving out into the woods and finding out that my winch battery is dead would suck. Driving out to the woods, loading 8K of hickory onto my trailer, and then finding out that my truck battery was dead would suck a lot more. Especially if a rain happened to be moving in over night, which is how Murphy would have it.... I have a smart charger that I keep connected to at least one of my 2 winch batteries when they aren't in use. I try to remember a few days in advance to go and swap it over to the 2nd battery so that both will be fully charged when I need them. If I forget, at least I have one battery that I know will be fully charged and ready to go. Also handy for running my trolling motor and jump starting my tractor, one of our cars, or even my truck (7.3L PSD).

FWIW, TSC currently has a Group 31 battery on sale for $110.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...Wvj8YG9l5bjJXI-vA7-loS7Bh_a1g1IgaAjKuEALw_wcB
 
Just make sure your truck battery or batteries and alternator are up to the task. Winches draw a lot of amperage, even when they are not under a load. You'll definitely want some heavy duty conductors to run back to the winch, and you'll need a solid way to connect them to your battery. Clamping on a set of jumper cables won't cut it. The alligator clamps don't have enough contact area to conduct enough current. I added screw terminal connections to the batteries I run my winch with and land the winch's factory installed eyelet directly on the battery. Even when respooling the cable at the end of the day, the ground wire gets hot enough to burn the living @#$% out of your fingers if you grab it. My HS AG Welding teacher was right. Hot metal really does look like cold metal...

I was lucky that I had a marine battery and a Group 31 battery sitting there. Having said that, a group 31 batter is a heavy duty power cell that's well suited to this kind of application. At around $170 USD they are less expensive than most car/truck batteries. Personally, I'd be willing to spend the money on one to protect the battery or batteries that are in my truck. Driving out into the woods and finding out that my winch battery is dead would suck. Driving out to the woods, loading 8K of hickory onto my trailer, and then finding out that my truck battery was dead would suck a lot more. Especially if a rain happened to be moving in over night, which is how Murphy would have it.... I have a smart charger that I keep connected to at least one of my 2 winch batteries when they aren't in use. I try to remember a few days in advance to go and swap it over to the 2nd battery so that both will be fully charged when I need them. If I forget, at least I have one battery that I know will be fully charged and ready to go. Also handy for running my trolling motor and jump starting my tractor, one of our cars, or even my truck (7.3L PSD).

FWIW, TSC currently has a Group 31 battery on sale for $110.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...Wvj8YG9l5bjJXI-vA7-loS7Bh_a1g1IgaAjKuEALw_wcB
Truck has 4-0 power and ground cables ran to the back, 180 amp alternator and twin batteries. I have a hand throttle kit to install to set high idle. Truck will stay running during pulls. It's set up similarly to my old f-150 I four-wheeled with. Shouldn't really have issues. Actually used thinner gauge wire on the f150 it would get pretty warm on longer pulls, but nothing you couldn't touch. I'm just sick of battery maintenance from the deck over set up. Add in more then once I had to run jumpers and let the truck charge them up during long pulls. I'm over it.
Thanks for the thoughts though.
 
Excellent! I considered going that route. I even bought a 20' set of 2/0 jumper cables that I was going to use for the cabling along with some Anderson plugs. I did a make shift test run just using the batteries and decided that it wasn't worth dealing with all the rust in my face trying to run cables back to the rear bumper :)
 
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