Managing 100 feet of 3/8 cable

[WhiteMike]

I have 100 feet of cable that I use for skidding and it’s a real pain in the ass to coil it up in a hand coil after it’s been deformed by going through snatch blocks and having having tension from my truck. Was thinking of using something like this but I’m not sure if it would coil small enough to fit. Just want to see how others are storing it or get some ideas

 

[ericm979]

I think it's going to be a lot of work to wind 3/8 cable on that small a reel. I loop my 65' 3/8 cable in larger 2.5-3' loops. It's still a pain to deal with but I can stash it behind the tractor's seat.

 

[mikewhite85]

We put our cable in old tires. I usually open up one side a little wider to make loading and unloading a little easier. Works great for us.

 

[muddstopper]

I am with Eric on this. I stretch the cable out before winding in large loops. This keeps it from kinking while I roll it up, once in a 2ft coil, I wrap with electrical tape, duct tape, or tie wire to keep it from unrolling and then throw in the back of the truck. Once back home, I just hang the coil on a hook until I need it again.

 

[rancher2]

We put our cable in old tires. I usually open up one side a little wider to make loading and unloading a little easier. Works great for us.

The old timers I grew up around this is how they did it. I have always just wine mine up in large loops and put a few zip ties around it to secure the loop. Hang them on the wall in the pole shed.

 

[Jere39]

I've got a well used 35-40 year old cable that is kinked and twisted so that it never coils clean any longer:



Looks like it even has a knot in it. It doesn't work well for a snatch block, or even just a pulley, so I retired it from that kind of work. Now it just comes out for ground engaging drags and pulls. And I splurged on a new cable for pulling through snatch blocks and directing felling:



I coil it in about a 32" loop and put one of those fancy TSC velcro loops with a handle on it and hang it in my shed. It seems unlikely I'll get 40 years out of it though - as I'm 70 now myself.

 

[siouxindian]

motorcycle tire works pretty good.

 

[Okie]

I acquired free a wooden (a good stout heavy duty type plastic might be ok also)) cable reel from a electrical contractor about 2 feet in diameter probably 8 inch sides and about 16 inches wide, some 1/2 inch sq tubing and pipe and built a cable reel that has a hand crank on the side for reeling in my 3/8 cable, probably about 125 feet. I't built where if need be a helper can help lift into back of a truck. I can leave the reel in the back of the truck if it does not have to be unloaded. If the cable gets slightly distorted from going through snatch block, etc, not a big deal, can still wind it onto the reel. I have a woman helper that can wind up the cable, while I'm doing manly things, so the reel is user friendly when winding and storing the cable. (we always wear gloves when handling the cables)
I use the cable, snatch blocks and electric winches that can be remote controlled IN/OUT by one person from a remote location while chain sawing on tree to make a controlled direction felling. The cable was a PIA to coil and un coil each time I needed to move or store so I built the cable reel. Works great. I also built a little trailer low to the ground that I can pull behind a ATV with the cable reel riding in the trailer if I need to move to different trees
It has a base on the bottom so it's stable (will not tip over if using the ATV or a vec to unreel the cable while driving. I use Chicago grips and Haven's clamps for connecting to the winch cable and to the cable used on the tree and therefore I do not have to always unload the cable reel from the vec and also can leave the excess cable that is not needed on the cable reel. The Chicago grips and Haven grips are the type that have the safety latch that keeps them on the cable if they get slack.. I acquired the cable clamps as used clamps over the years by just keeping a eye and ear open.