New Log Loading Toy

[rarefish383]

I was planning on cutting these Hickory logs up for firewood, then a friend gave me this little 6,000 pound winch, so I cut them into 8' logs and tried out the winch. I may try to mill a couple since I have them home and could do it on the court out front. I cut them at my BIL's house and he has several more to come down, a couple quite a bit bigger. Here's some pics.

First one, put a tag line on it and used the truck to give it a tug.



The second one was a little more interesting to get down. There wasn't enough room in a straight line to pull with the truck. So, I tied a line to a tree in the woods at a right angle to the fall and put a snatch block on it.





Sister in Law standing in line of fall asking "How are you going to make it fall here?.

 

[rarefish383]

Here's a vid of the winch in action. I built the gantry out of 4X4's I had laying around the house. I wanted to do it in steel until I got a price. Looks like it will work.



I had the winch hooked up to my battery of the dump trailer, after about a minute it started to drag down. We tried wrapping the stripped ends of the power cord on the truck battery but couldn't get a good connection. As soon as I get some terminal ends on the wires I think it will work well. That's the reason my friend gave me the winch. He lost the plug-in power cable. I made a new one out of a 30' extension cord. After we winched the first log on we took his Kubota and used a rope through the snatch block to pull them on. I can pull the logs up to where the snatch block is hanging, then take the rope out of the block, and let it run over the rolled edge of the front of the trailer. Worked well. Loaded 5 * footers. then went by another friends house and cut down a dead Oak the we did cut up for firewood.



That's all, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

Oops the vid didn't work, let me get my son, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

Didn't work.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Rarefish, it is tricky stuff to get trees down in yards. Glad it went smoothly for you. Hickory wlll give you some pretty wood. Do I understand that you are going to use a 30' extension cord between the battery and the winch? Even a heavy 14 gauge extension cord won't carry enough amps, and you'll likely burn out the winch motor, especially over that distance. Maybe someone will post a more appropriate cable size.

 

[rarefish383]

Thanks Dave, I was worried about that. It's a cheap Walmart winch, and the extension cord is actually heavier than the wire on the winch. It had a plug in cable that was lost. On the inside of the winch where the cable plugged in the wire looks a little smaller than the cord I'm using. It was a heavy cord. I'll see if I can get some advice on that. It looks like it is going to work well. I need to rig something to stick out about 2' past the end of the trailer to lift the log before it hangs up. It's a work in progress, Joe

 

[hamish]

Use some 2/0 welding cable for your leads. Much more flexable than refular battery leads and much cheaper.

You can pull much more weight, quicker, with less resistance, and less wear on your equipment.....................cut a bunch of 2" x 24" straight limbs to use as rollers under the logs.

They also save tearing up the lawn.

 

[Dave Boyt]

I hadn't thought of welding cable... it'll carry plenty of juice! I generally parbuckle logs up the side of the trailer with a winch, but setting up a ramp (maybe some 3/4" plywood) on the end of the trailer will help keep the end of the log from hanging up.

View attachment 306731

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I use welding cable when i make up my own batt cables... I solder copper water pipe fittings on the ends, smash them down with a hammer, shape with a grinder and drill a hole through so i can bolt it to metal or bolt it to a batt that needs that type of end. There's all kinds of things you can make with all the different copper pipe fittings made today.

I even have a set of booster cables i made using welding cable...good stuff and easily carries a lot of amps, just what you need for a winch.

SR

 

[rarefish383]

After I pulled the first one up on the trailer, I thought it would have been a lot easier to have cut them shorter, and used the winch to roll them side ways. Is that parbuckling? If I slab them for benches I might be able to go that short. Haven't decided what to do with them yet, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

I don't need battery cables. 2 pieces of copper wire that big 25 ft long would cost a fortune. Probably more than the winch. The original power cable was only about 14 gauge, if that. I'll see if I can find a spec sheet for the winch, Joe.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Parbuckling is more than just loading from the side. The cable goes from the winch, around the top of the log, then back to the winch or trailer frame. That way it rolls the log as it pulls it, doubling the pulling power of the winch. I use the same technique to winch logs up onto the frame of my portable sawmill. You can get by with smaller gauge cable if you have a short run from the battery. You might consider a deep cycle battery for the winch so you don't have to tie into the truck battery.

 

[john taliaferro]

welding cable ,It shure is handy to be able to jump start cars off the back bumper of my old truck :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[bigplow]

if you have a charge wire running from your truck for the battery in the trailer just start your truck while winching it helps keep the battery going strong

 

[rarefish383]

I do have a seven prong plug on the trailer, but I've never run a hot wire for the battery. I'm gonna tinker with it tomorrow. I built some blocks to set my logs on so I'll be milling down hill. I hope the boom on my ford tractor can lift one end of a log at a time so I can slide the blocks under it. I'' post pics if it works OK, Joe.

 

[Fallguy1960]

It is the length of the cable run that makes the difference. You need a larger cable for the longer distance to reduce the voltage drop to the winch it self. The small wire on the winch it self will not be the limiting factor it will let everything through that the main line supplies. I would suggest a minimum of #4 AWG welding lead bigger is better 2/0 being the maximum.

 

[rarefish383]

OK, the wiring works fine. This is a little $79 winch. It says it will pull 6000 pounds"Rolling". I can "Push" my 5800 pound truck on a flat surface, "Rolling". Anyway, I tried to pull the logs off the trailer with the winch, by going through the snatch block back to the front of the log and pulling backwards. It would not do it. So I tied a bull line to the back of the log, took a wrap on a tree, and pulled forward till one end dropped to the ground. Hooked the winch to that end and picked it up and slid my block under it. Then, pulled forward till the other end fell off the trailer and winched that end up to slide the other block under. Worked well. If I were cutting it up for firewood I'd just push the button on the dump and dump it. For taking one log at a time off this is OK. But, I can see a bigger winch in the near future. Every thing works, but the winch is just too small. Here's some more pics, Joe.

 

[Dave Boyt]

And... you're making sawdust. Looks like you've got a good setup. I like your approach. You'll find lots of things that won't work, and wonder "what was I thinking?", and some things that almost work (like the small winch) that get you close enough to point you in the right direction. Even the most experienced folks on the Forum are still going through the same process. Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[jimdad07]

I have a 1600# tripod winch that works great for loading logs into the truck. Beats the heck out of muscling them up. Good work.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

When i don't have a tractor available to load a log, i use the Warn 12K winch that's on the front of my pu.. I winch or skid the log out, then back my trailor along side it. Then i turn the pu around and put the trailor on the hitch i have in my FRONT bumper. With that done, i let the winch line out and go through a pully i put on the opposite of the trailor the log's on, and use the line to parbuckle the log up onto the trailor.

You never run out of power with a 12K winch! lol

SR