Winches on the back of a chipper.

[beowulf343]

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 ?

Get one! It's like a grcs, you don't know what your missing till you have one. And once you have one, you'll be amazed at the dozens of little ways you'll come up with using it to make your life easier.

 

[appalachianarbo]

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

it'll either come free or tighten it up so it won't ever come out! Now that's a PITA


Careful when using the winch to "speedline." Your forces change direction and can multiply quickly on your lowering point. If your groundie doesn't give enough slack and the winch man pulls too much, you can snap a rigging point pretty quickly. That said, it's really cool when you can do that and never have the piece touch the ground...

 

[TreeDivision]

whole tree or top

If you take your cable and cinch it around the middle or neer the far end of the tree, already on the ground, and then make a loop and put that around the butt you can winch over the piece and when the but is on the tray take loop off and pull it the rest of the way to the feed wheels. try it, you'll do it evry time.

Then go out buy yourself a log arch or two from LogRite tools and you will be winching everything across pristine lawns and leaving them that way. With the arch big wood can be winched easily.

 

[kennertree]

If you take your cable and cinch it around the middle or neer the far end of the tree, already on the ground, and then make a loop and put that around the butt you can winch over the piece and when the but is on the tray take loop off and pull it the rest of the way to the feed wheels. try it, you'll do it evry time.

Then go out buy yourself a log arch or two from LogRite tools and you will be winching everything across pristine lawns and leaving them that way. With the arch big wood can be winched easily.

Never thought of looping the butt like that, thanks for the tip. Here is a pic of the winch in action pulling a walnut tree here at the house.

 

[kennertree]

one more

 

[TreeDivision]

Yeah then you are only rigging it up once, you take off the butt loop and through it goes.

 

[teamtree]

I could not live without my winch. It is awesome.

 

[md_tree_dood]

Winches are great, most of the chippers we use have them, however, they do considerable damage to lawns when you're pulling logs and brush. If you're working in an area with high end clients with nice lawns, I'd say its not worth the money, however if you've got alot of clients who aren't worried about their lawn and would rather their lawn suffer than their wallet, they are definitely the way to go.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

No winch yet

I d:monkey: on't have a winch, but try using one of the new plastic nose drags or a plastic snow disk under the butt end of the log and back that up mid log with a modified dolly with the handle cut down. This should take care of most of the lawn damage, allow you to glide right to the chipper in most cases and can easily be set under what's being drug and cinched tight with a tie-down!!

 

[treemandan]

Yes, I use cheap plastic toy sleds to skid logs. Get them from the dollar store or the trash.

 

[NORTREE]

The winch was the best option I got on my 250 Bandit!! Especially now that I have the crane. We pick the piece with the crane lower it and attach the chipper winch to guide the piece as we set it down. Last week I got the chipper and 1 ton stuck crossing a field.The winch wouldn't pull both of them out put after disconnecting the chipper I was able to drive the 1 ton out(wished I had a set of ARB air lockers in it) We then were able to use the winch to get the chipper back on solid ground and recoonect the 2. The hydraulic winches are faster than electric winches but there have been jobs where I have used my Jeep with it's 8000lb Ramsey electric winches(1 front,1 rear). I would like to build new winch mounts like on the newer Bandits to weld on my machine but I don't know of anyone close by(recently moved to another state) to make a set of templates from. I may have to just fab up a set which is what the Bandit dealer suggested. I would like to switch to synthetic line over the current wire rope. We now have a venue for our wood chips so we try to chip as much as possible.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

Do any of the chipper winches allow them to be directed towards the chipper truck for loading as in my crude drawing?

I saw your drawing and looks like you read my mind. I def think that's a great idea, and have often contemplated the idea/design. A friend has a hyd winch on his chipper ,but thinks the upper horizontal beam of the dump above the gate is too weak. I see it different tho. If the beam can support say 2.5 tons of box, then a 300 lb log for example should be no problem. Go for it man, keep us posted. Good luck!

 

[md_tree_dood]

The bandit chippers i have seen have static winches so you couldn't run the cable towards the truck.

 

[a_lopa]

Winches on chippers are da BOMB!

 

[Ax-man]

GET THE WINCH YOU WON'T REGRET IT

We have had one for two years now. Best money spent.

My chipper is almost like A Lopa's. Morbark 2400 with the hydraulic winch that has a neutral for free running the line out.

We tried feeding our chipper with our grapple truck. Didn't work so great but the winch is much more productive and easier to work with. It won't be like having a mini loader on the job with a grapple but it comes close if you have the right set-up. You don't have to trailor a loader either because with a winch it is always there on the job.

A large grab hook and a line like Amsteel works the best.

You would be surprized what you can do with one.

You can driftline large leads right onto the back of the chute and then rehook unto a smaller limb and feed the whole mess into the chipper if your chipper has a forward ,reverse and neutral functions for the feed wheel. Driftlining really works good if your using a GRCS. We have literally floated large pieces over the top of hedges and small valuable ornamental trees without ever touching them.

You can pull over smaller multi stem trees in one cut. Just encircle the whole mess with the line. Tension your line a little. Make your notch and back cuts but don't cut all the way. Let the winch pull the whole mess over using the last of the hinge wood. Works great if your down in a steep ditch. You can pull everything out and up onto level ground in one shot. Snap cuts or z cuts work better for the smaller stuff but the principle is still the same.

If you have pull across a yard and can get the butt ends of several large limbs or leads going the same way, then using a series of half hitches on individual leads with the final lead hitched with the hook you can pull the whole mess to the chipper. The trick is to keep the butt ends up especially the first one. Live limbs dragged on the tips do little damage if the butts can be dragged off the ground, dead pieces will put marks in a lawn.

Another trick is if the tree can as a whole can be winched but is too big to get to the chipper in one piece. You cut it in half but leave enough wood so when it folds in half your winching two pieces at once instead of two.

We have done other crazy stuff with the winch but these are the highlights.

Even though a winch has it's limitations. It definately is a labor saver and when it comes to resale time it makes your chipper bring a higher price

 

[outofmytree]

GET THE WINCH YOU WON'T REGRET IT

Another trick is if the tree can as a whole can be winched but is too big to get to the chipper in one piece. You cut it in half but leave enough wood so when it folds in half your winching two pieces at once instead of two.

We have done other crazy stuff with the winch but these are the highlights.

Even though a winch has it's limitations. It definately is a labor saver and when it comes to resale time it makes your chipper bring a higher price

We do something similar with mid sized trees where you know that the feed rollers wont have enough pressure to snap the crotches. I walk down the trunk cutting the larger leaders about 2/3 through. When the winch pulls the trunk in the leaders fold back and the whole tree goes through in one run.

 

[oldirty]

Winches on chippers are da BOMB!

bout time you put that thing back together.

 

[a_lopa]

GET THE WINCH YOU WON'T REGRET IT

We have had one for two years now. Best money spent.

My chipper is almost like A Lopa's. Morbark 2400 with the hydraulic winch that has a neutral for free running the line out.

We tried feeding our chipper with our grapple truck. Didn't work so great but the winch is much more productive and easier to work with. It won't be like having a mini loader on the job with a grapple but it comes close if you have the right set-up. You don't have to trailor a loader either because with a winch it is always there on the job.

A large grab hook and a line like Amsteel works the best.

You would be surprized what you can do with one.

You can driftline large leads right onto the back of the chute and then rehook unto a smaller limb and feed the whole mess into the chipper if your chipper has a forward ,reverse and neutral functions for the feed wheel. Driftlining really works good if your using a GRCS. We have literally floated large pieces over the top of hedges and small valuable ornamental trees without ever touching them.

You can pull over smaller multi stem trees in one cut. Just encircle the whole mess with the line. Tension your line a little. Make your notch and back cuts but don't cut all the way. Let the winch pull the whole mess over using the last of the hinge wood. Works great if your down in a steep ditch. You can pull everything out and up onto level ground in one shot. Snap cuts or z cuts work better for the smaller stuff but the principle is still the same.

If you have pull across a yard and can get the butt ends of several large limbs or leads going the same way, then using a series of half hitches on individual leads with the final lead hitched with the hook you can pull the whole mess to the chipper. The trick is to keep the butt ends up especially the first one. Live limbs dragged on the tips do little damage if the butts can be dragged off the ground, dead pieces will put marks in a lawn.

Another trick is if the tree can as a whole can be winched but is too big to get to the chipper in one piece. You cut it in half but leave enough wood so when it folds in half your winching two pieces at once instead of two.

We have done other crazy stuff with the winch but these are the highlights.

Even though a winch has it's limitations. It definately is a labor saver and when it comes to resale time it makes your chipper bring a higher price

The infeed on the 2400 is perfect for winching its suprising how much bushy material WILL go thru without to many issues,I want another one!

Ive just had that chipper on hire for 3 weeks doing a chain link fence clearing job around a lake where there was no access for a machine to feed it just winched all day long the client was very impressed.

 

[Mass tree guy]

I figured they all come stock...

All of our chippers have winches on the back....very handy and I tell you the guys love it..

Nothing beats bringing a Giant top right to the chipper in with a few actions...

signed

Loves a winch

 

[a_lopa]

My fairlead rollers had worn the chrome off and were doing the rope no favors so i got some stainless steel rollers made up.