Portable winch or 60hp tractor mounted ?

[Youngstu]

I've finally committed to getting a tractor to help with the day to day jobs around the slopey North Devon Woodland that I manage. It's an old 4wd Case 65hp loader tractor so not too big but big enough to pull timber around, help unload the sawmill and basically avoid handling every log 7 times before it gets burnt. 

I'm planning on getting a winch of some sort but am unsure whether I go for a portable petrol powered one or one that attaches to the back of the tractor. It's not a big tractor so I obviously can't pull huge weights with it and dragging cables around the woods would probably be worse than ropes but I'm hoping that someone with more experience than me might offer some suitable suggestions considering that there wouldn't be much difference in pulling power if I went for a big portable or a 4-5 tonne tractor mounted. 

Thanks for any thoughts

[Mick Dempsey]

A tractor mounted forestry winch on à pto will be in a different league to a portable petrol winch.

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Mick Dempsey

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

A tractor mounted forestry winch on à pto will be in a different league to a portable petrol winch.

 

Yes the petrol powered one will be too slow compared with a simple 3pt linkage mounted one.

 

Even with a small tractor a 6 tonne winch with a ground anchor is handy because even if you cannot travel with a log you can winch in and move on in stages.

 

I'm considering a small petrol capstan winch for getting some poorly felled trees out to a place where the tractor can get a line on to them but don't expect it to be particularly productive.

[pie eater pete]

Had a Uniforest 35 on my little Solis.. shouldn't have sold it that thing was brilliant..

[Youngstu]

Thanks for the thoughts, looks like tractor mounted is the way to go then! 

So I guess the next question is which winch to go for? 

It won't be getting daily use but I'll need it to be reliable, are the Kirpan/Wirax ones on ebay good, bad or??? 

And what size of winch would you put on this size of tractor, about 68HP and weighing in about 3 tonnes?

Thanks again, thoughts/experience appreciated.

[difflock]

Prob not less than 5 tonne?

And try and get EH control, even consider splurging on wireless Romote Control upfront.

I got the EH option, having tried the rope operated version first.

I regret not getting the RC option, but it was about 15 year ago and only for little more than hobby use.

I will probably yet treat myself to a RC control option.

Soooooooooo civilized!

Marcus

P.S

You can run the 540 winch on the 1000 setting at tickover revs, so no need to  burn diesel needlessly, simply to get line speed.

And the tractor will probably usefully, and safely  stall, if the log/logs gets/get stuck, on the 1000 PTO setting.

Edited November 20, 2019 by difflock

[MattyF]

The smaller tajfuns of around 4-6 t will out pull the uniforest and iglands .. you can easily pick up up an old fransguard or farmi often for around £800 off eBay .. easy to work on and use but older and capable machines lacking in a few refinements often including safety that a newer winch will have.

[timberonabike]

Mostly used Fransgard winches, very robust, easy to work on, spares availability. Hence they've never been changed and I haven't used much else. 4.5t and 6t, only had the 6t close to the limit a handful of times in a decade, only spent a year or so with the 4.5t, but it didn't seem lacking either. All in mixed woodland settings and assisted fells.

 

You do need someone pretty heavy/strong on the clutch rope for heavy pulls to keep the plates tight ?

Edited November 22, 2019 by timberonabike
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