Skidder Winch or Quad and Trailer?

[woodland]

Hi Folks

 

Im doing a bit of extracting work in young ash plantations(12-16yrs old), I have access to and 80hp tractor so thought a skidder winch would be the best for extraction but wondered would a quad and trailer be better:confused1:. any thoughts would be very welcome

[Stephen Blair]

if it isnt too wet then use the trailer, no point dragging stuff when you can lift and stack it, especially if it is small stuff.

[woodland]

if it isnt too wet then use the trailer, no point dragging stuff when you can lift and stack it, especially if it is small stuff.

 

Heh Stephen

 

Probably should have mentioned that, the site is in the north west of Ireland so ya wet and hilly almost as much as sunny scotland:001_smile: Ive seen the utube vids of quads in sweden etc but id be worried about it coping with a load up and wet steep ground, hmm maybe il see if i can convince some Honda dealer to demo a 4x4 quad for a day

[josharb87]

you'd be supprised just what a quad will do and where it will go, i used to use the honda 550 with winch everyday for 7 months on a conservation contract, awesome machines

[Stephen Blair]

Heh Stephen

 

Probably should have mentioned that, the site is in the north west of Ireland so ya wet and hilly almost as much as sunny scotland:001_smile: Ive seen the utube vids of quads in sweden etc but id be worried about it coping with a load up and wet steep ground, hmm maybe il see if i can convince some Honda dealer to demo a 4x4 quad for a day

 

i know what you mean, i watch the utube vids and think that would be awesome, but our terrain is a nightmare, and kack knifing a quad full of wood, down a banking at 9am aint much fun i reckon, they are bad enough pulling out a hole on their own. I could sell you a real skidder if you want:thumbup:, it will be half the price of the other set up

[Charlieh]

if you have the tractor, buy a winch for it, the atv will be ok, but you wont shift as much and i constantly keep wishing now i had a tractor and not an atv, especially if its sloping ground and very wet, and the atv is quite limiting in loads, although does have decent speed on longer dryer runs, the other option is just get a trailer for the tractor and use that as you will shift far more than you will with a quad.

[Stephen Blair]

a small timber boggy would be perfect but that depends on the tractor aswell. Its never easy choosing kit, but fun trying:biggrin:

[Brushcutter]

 

That was this Feb/March skidding out some Chestnut which we felled to become coppice. We sat the skidder at the top of a rack we cut and dropped everything down it. Then Dragged it into the tractor and processed it ride side. Did 5' coppice posts 8' firewood and 12' logs.

 

Worked well as we weren't constantly driving around in the woods. The skidded ground threw up loads of intersting wildflowers after we were done. Not much we took out was >18" about 35 years old. There was a fair bit of sycamore in there too that came out the same way.

 

Not done much work in young woods so i can't say how useful it would be but if its steep then whiching is much easier than dragging it out with a quad/trailer. At the age you said it would be quite small stuff so it might be best to drag it out as a tree length and process it up on the landing. If its too tight for that then its best to use a long chain and do a wrap around 3 or 4 logs before chokering the chain and dragging up the load.

[woodland]

Cheers Lads the idea of doubling up the stems per choker chain seems like the best bet. What size dodgy winch you trying to sell me Stephen:biggrin: bearing in mind I have a 80 hp Lamborghini to put it on and im not sure how well The Royal Mail are going to take to the idea of posting it from Scotland:001_smile:

[Chris Sheppard]

If you do go down the winch route, and are pulling out bundles ,try and get them butt first as tip first on small stuff can be frustrating on some stuff as the chains will slip a bit however you set them.

 

There are some chains made of square link that are meant to help but I never really found much difference.

 

on 80 hp I'd have said up to around a 5 tonne winch would sit nicely - much bigger and it would be a bit numb for thinning IMO.