skidding winch advice

[clueless]

hi

 

we've come to the descision we need to buy a winch, to enable efficient extracting over the winter.

 

There seems to be 101 different makes, sizes, features, extras etc etc and i'm a bit confused. Surely someone has been in this situation before and can offer some help.

 

Our Tractor is 85hp so i have been drawn to something about 5t so that it 'looks right' but am not dead set on that size.

 

the timber we will be pulling out is mainly birch, ash up to 12" and a lot of mature hawthorn. not really looking to pull out much bigger as its only for firewood. may do some bigger stuff if theres windblown needs shifting (bit of pocket money!)

 

do i need remote control/radio control/dead man brake etc etc

 

preferably would look at a farmi as thats what my local dealer offers.

 

thanks for your help

[Chris Sheppard]

Having run both manual and remote control winches, they both have their pro's and cons dependign on what you're doing.

 

5 ton is a good all rounder but maybe a bit overkill for that size of timber unless you can get some decent size snigs in one hit (such as line thinnings) - most of the time you'll end up running backwards and forwards even with a big winch.

 

Remote control can usually be converted to wireless radio control but are expensive when compared to a manually operated one and one thing I didn't liek with a remote control one was when pulling over leaners you don't get the same level of control as you would ith a manual one - the manual one you feel what the tree is doing a bit better if that makes sense.

 

wireless remote does take some beating when doing a long pul though as you can walk in with the snig and stop it before it hangs up on anything.

 

I know a lot of people want a ratchet brake on a new winch, especially when pulling trees over, but you won't find one now with a CE mark on unless it's an old one.

 

I've only ever used a very old farmi so can't comment on the new ones but have had a reasonably newish 6.5t remote controll igland that was very strong but just didn't get on with it and had a 3.5 tonne uniforest from new which was reasonable money and did all i asked of it (and yes, it was before I worked for Riko )

 

just my 2p worth.

Edited September 22, 2009 by Chris Sheppard

[Stephen Blair]

it depends what you want to spend mate, a basic 5 tonner with a rope to operate the mechanism will be a couple of grand, i think jas p wilson has one now on his site, remore control is eacellent, it saves you a man straight away and sometimes the guy on the ground can see better than the tractor man, but the cost all adds up, the easiest way is to set your budget now and the kit will suit that, i know of a double drum winch with 2 6 tonners on it thats remote controlled, but it is worth around 12k

[clueless]

well thinking about it as we're probably not puling massive distances and there would be two of us on the job most of the time so going basic with cord control probably makes sense for a first timer.

 

i see wilsons have a ex demo igland 55 for decent money (on their website anyway not sure if its still there). do you have anything lying about Chris?

[clueless]

swb - you beat me to it! double drum is probably a bit overkill at the mo especially that money. we're not in it full time its just a hobby.

[Stephen Blair]

i may know of one that might be coming up, i will pm you mate

[Tom D]

I have an igland 4201 that I bought second hand about 3 years ago, its been totaly reliable although its not used everyday. plenty of pulling power for rthe jobs you describe. One tip: even if you go for a small winch get the thickest cable you can, you'll lose a bit of length but it'll be better than breaking it all the time whichh you may well do when you start draging stuff with the tractor.

[clueless]

tom is that 4 ton? what cable have you got it with?

[Tom D]

Its 4.2 ton and the cable is 10mm, it is available with 8 or 9 mm cable.

You could put really heavy cable on it but then draging it out becomes hard work.

[Mr Ed]

Best 3 point link winch I've used is a 5 tonne farmi, until I mounted an igland 5000 double drum on a blade with 3 point linkage. If your local dealer has farmi, I would go for that.