Review of Lewis Winch

[genesis5521]

If anyone's interested, here is a review of the Lewis Winch in the April 2011 edition of "Sawmill & Woodlot Magazine. I'm thinking of getting one and using it on my Stihl MS290. I know the 290 has only a 56.5 cc, 3.45 cubic engine, but the 12" to 18" 8 foot logs I'd be pulling gotta weigh less than 1000 pounds. I'm just tired of lugging rounds, one by one, through the forest, back to my truck. I'd rather cut the tree in to 8 foot lengths, drag the logs back to my truck, and buck them up there. That would sure save a lot of hump'n. I can think of a few other uses for it to. Pros? Cons?

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:O6tnYFkxIFUJ:sawmillmag.com/download-review/72/Lewis%2BWinch+Using+a+Lewis+Winch&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjEr93WPHnfJg2Nyhs_4CynqYIBrVqo5J4XevL35K5o_1lKyFljGfF0h9pmDBzjMQoIv5N1ClnaW0gZh5Vk3ikupKLyjcnvU_c-rZDNh94I-CHrM9gAd2IZx183mDyKBRJpDc6Q&sig=AHIEtbQI0JrMPd4Yx8lOhbl5nSdDwxDovw

Don <><

Update: Just got an email response from Doug Imbeau, the President of Lewis Winch, on a few questions I had. He says my 290 will work well with the Lewis Winch. He says my 290 will pull 2000 to 2500 pounds single line, and 4000 to 5000 with a snatch block. That should be way more than enough for what I wanna do with it. He says line speed will be 40 to 60 feet per minute with my 290. The farthest pull I'd be making is 150 feet. So even at the lower 40 FPM, a 150 foot pull would take 4 minutes. Better it doing the work than me ! One 8 foot log yields six 16" long rounds, and I have to hump each one of those puppies, one by one, back to my truck. That's 300 feet round trip, times 6 trips, equals 600 yards! And that's for just one 8 foot log! I usually get 8 to 10, 8 foot logs per tree ! Just look at the above picture. Those rounds are 50 to 70 pounds each. No wonder I'm so beat when I get home ! I've just walked almost 3 miles while carrying all that weight ! This old geezer needs a break.

 

[timbrjackrussel]

I purchased a Lewis Winch large snatch block, very heavy duty! Got it through Bailey's. Marg at Lewis Winch and Gregg at Bailey's are great folks. See some of the Lewis Winch videos.
LWHistoryFlash

 

[blacklocst]

I would think that it would burn the saw out if you where using only 1 saw to do both tasks. I would have 2 saws 1 to cut the other to haul. Just my two cents for what its worth.

 

[avalancher]

I would think that it would burn the saw out if you where using only 1 saw to do both tasks. I would have 2 saws 1 to cut the other to haul. Just my two cents for what its worth.

Its not going to burn the saw out. Running the winch, because of the gear reduction, is no different that if the same amount of time was spent with a bar on it.

However, there are limitations to the lewis winch. I had one for years, and used it powered by a husky 455 to pull loads into my trailer. I finally traded it in on some other gear, and went with an electric Warn 3500 utility winch for a number of reasons.

For one, I use it to pull large logs into my trailer, and with the lewis winch you have to be right at the power head to operate it.I prefer an electric winch with a long remote that allows me to be back where the log is in case it hangs up on something and I can take a pry bar after it. For that reason, the lewis winch sucks because you will find yourself running back and forth between the log and the power head to free the log from stuff hanging up the winch. The Lewis winch just does not have a lot of extra power on tap to just power through it, especially powered by a small saw.

There are advantages of the Lewis over an electric however that make up for it sometimes. Being a gas powered engine, you dont have the lag time of waiting for the electric powered winch to cool down between pulls, so if you are pulling small to medium logs one after another a gas powered may be the way to go.

Personally, I liked the Lewis winch, it just didnt fit my application and was the only reason why it went on down the road in someone elses truck.

 

[zogger]

Whatever happened to your log hauling idea, using something with wheels on it? You drag a log through the dirt, ya, hard to do unless you name is moose mcbig, but up in an arch or on a little wagon or something, you can haul 5 times what you can carry with the same effort.

My tractor supply steel mesh sides 4 wheel wagon I can pull with one hand with a 20 gallon full sprayer, plus a truck battery in it, when I am spot spraying weird areas that I can't drive the tractor to easily. I pull with one hand and spray with the wand with the other hand. nasty stretches I'll pull with both hands until I get where I need to go, but it's doable by this 130 lb semi geezer.

Now this isn't totally steep off road use, but some slopes, etc.

I have no idea the grades or terrain you are working in, just that "the wheel" is a tried and true human powered work amplification device, and has been for a long time.

Ha! I "logged" firewood with a 90 something lb dog before, but that was skidding on hard packed snow trails, but that boy could drag some logs. Of course, he could eat some dang mass quantities of food, too. Half Irish wolfhound, half English sheepdog, big fuzzy tall dog, plenty of four paw drive to him. I cut small trees with my bow saw, trimmed off what I didn't want with my axe, he hauled them home, then I would finish cutting them up on a sawbuck. He just *loved* doing that, tail wagging like crazy when he saw me coming out with the home made harness and my gear, etc.

Now I wasn't cutting anything more than around 10 inches thick, usually half that size, (nice cut size, one split, done, mostly a lot of birch) but if I had been doing beefier stuff, I would have switched to a sled/toboggan, etc to haul the rounds.

 

[flashhole]

One old geezer to another ... I can relate. I just did the carry thing this weekend and after one truck load I was done. Let us know how it works.