rgeparker

Ah ok, fair enough! That Fordson would look great in the woods!

Not mine but I wish they were (specially the super major, I have coveted it for many years)

He's owned the 2 roadless fords from new!

All fully functional but one battery between the 3 (sick of em bein chorrd)

Seriously nice trio of tractors there! Do they get used much nowadays?

At the risk of sounding like a complete novice... what is the purpose of double drum winches, compared to the seemingly more common single drum variant? Quite a few of you guys seem to use the double drums, and I see a lot of the old County's etc with them on...

Hi BEN that's nice looking mate thanks Jon

I agree with John!!

Yes but you can over do it and end up with the belhousing giving way

I see... definitely don't want that happening!

here's bit of my setup. Major (1955) on new tyres, good for skidding.

dubble drum ingland winch (3000) good for winching to grab. no anchor but high speed, even at tickover! A snatch block indeed essential!

might sell Major if interested (as also got 5t uniforest on JD)

Hi Bennovet. Thanks for sharing pics. That's a nice looking set up. Do you use it for winching trees over, swell as skidding? If so, how does it cope?

Would you sell the Major and Winch together? And if so, what sort of money would you be looking for? Feel free to PM me if you prefer. Also, whereabouts are you situated?

Thanks. Rob.

Well the top pulley means the tension in the rope is acting as a lever with the fulcrum being the butt plate on the ground and the load is the tractor

Makes perfect, logical sense when you think about it.. hence why more weight on the front is preferred when winching I guess. Thanks

The thing about the old winches is once you engage pto they keep pulling, if for any reason you don't declutch they can have you over very fast, especially if a heavy tree breaks out the hinge sideways and snatches the wire.

 

I don't know how they happened as I was not there on either occasion but in about 1981 a tilhill contractor was pulling a big beech, the feller left too large a hinge and the spades gave out, driver bailed out and fordson winched itself up the tree and snapped the rope.

 

Other occasion was at Shabden park, slightly older contractor than me, far more experienced and I had only worked with him pulling elms out of the Thames with one of freddy gear's matadors, he was felling a beech when the tractor (with no safety frame), flipped and crushed the lamb dead.

Hi Openspaceman. Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting and informative post. Couple of winch related horror stories there too... certainly pays to 'play it safe' as best you can. I've definitely been put off the older type units now, at least until I have sufficient experience to get the best out of one safely.

I would say 3-5 tonne was sensible for the fordson but the pull comes from much higher with an A frame

Would you consider the higher pull of an A frame type unit to be an advantage or disadvantage for assisted direction felling?

Many thanks. Rob.

Same; Uniforest upto 5.5t. A slow winch is fine if you want to land a tree in the fan between 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock but for bang-on 12 o'clock you want the faster line speed.

Ok, thankyou. Thats sound advice.

Hi mate offers there we have 7)8 of them thanks Jon

Ok great, I'll certainly bear that in mind. Do you have any pics at all?

J

on has already tried to off load them on me, but i like driving around the woods with only two wheels on the ground.

If you want them help your self, just watch out that Jon does not try to palm off any of his other junk.

Haha! Fair enough!

Hi mate it easy to make just a friend coming out from the side rails just need you to channel and put the whites on the front thanks John

Fair enough. Ill look into that then. Thanks John.

Hi mate it easy to make just a friend coming out from the side rails just need you to channel and put the whites on the front thanks John

Fair enough. Ill look into that then. Thanks John.

Hi SLACK I've 7)8 56lbs weights you after them then they're good for key in the front of the tractor going to push you know tractor as a cheap £10 each cheap as chips thanks John

Posted my last reply before I saw this! Obviously, it's only fair that SlackMaGirdle has first refusal on these, but if he doesn't, I may be interested John.

Hi ROB AS you look at main side rails on the sides were engines bolted in come out from the front with weights 450)600mm on front I've some nice 56lbs weights here I used thanks Jon

Ah ok, that makes sense. I'll have to look out for some Fordson front weights then!

Absolutely not for assisted directional felling; too slow.

Hi TimberCutterDartmoor. What would be your winch recommendation for said tractor, for assisted directional felling? (tonnage etc).

Cheers. Rob

Hi mate yes it was old major good old thing we had 250kgs weight frame on front help keep the front all you need to do is make sure the winch butt plate is well into the ground before pulling and do not pull out of line thanks Jo

Sounds ideal John. Did you make up the frame yourself? Any pics?

Beep beep, make way for the mighty Nuffield, with a Fransgard twin 3.5 winch.

Lush it is.

Sorry i don't have a close up, but there are a few of my videos with it working.

Hi Slack Ma Girdle. That looks like a beauty! Nice wide footprint and beefy rear tyres... bet you get some good traction with that set up?

Do you find that the 3.5 tonne winch is powerful enough for what you do? Be interested to see the videos you mention.. where can I find them?

Cheers. Rob

There she is

Thanks for sharing this. Looks just like the setup I have been thinking of. Very tidy looking tractor too! New Performance Super Major? Did you do the restoration yourself?

Hi mate we had a 5:5ton winch on 50hp tractor thanks Jon

Hi John. Was it an old Major that you were running that winch on, or different? Guessing most makes of older 2WD tractors in the 50hp range would handle winches in the same way?

Thanks for the replies guys! Sounds like something modern in the 4-5 tonne capacity range should be compatible then.

Difflock & Luftwaffe- as much as I'd like the electro-hydraulic models, I think they'll be way out of my budget, hence why I was looking at the smaller Uniforest models such as the 35M, 40E etc, as they're all manual control, and no electrics etc.

Woodcutter3- thanks, some good points there. Having to have the PTO engaged to work the hydraulics is a bit annoying at times, but something I'll have to put up with until the day I can afford a bigger 100HP 4WD tractor! Out of interest, do you have any pictures of your Major/winches set up?

Thanks. Rob

Boughton or preferably Cooks (with the open gears) suit the age of the tractor.

 

Lack of safety features like deadman's handle make them inappropriate for modern use.

 

The size of winch depends on whether you intend to use it to gather sticks up to the tractor and then skid them or to winch in, pay out and winch in again (which was the traditional method for big timber)

Hi Openspaceman. Yes, I agree the Boughton/cooks would suit the age of the tractor, and I have seen many pictures of these types of set ups, which I'm sure work very well. But as you mention, lack of safety features etc draw me more towards the more modern equipment.

As mentioned, the winch will be predominantly used for assisted directional felling. As far as skidding goes, I'd most likely use the traditional method as you suggest (winch in, pay out, then winch in again). How does this affect the winch size?

Many thanks. Rob

So what are other peoples thoughts on tractor/winch compatibility for my old Major then?

Thanks. Rob

Hi ROB your right I no people with old winches and they do a good job but you have to no what your doing with of them but new winches are safer thanks jonn

That's my thoughts exactly John. Safety first, productivity second.

Hi ROB just make metal butt plate into the ground well ROB the newer winch are safer then the old winch as with some old ones your seat on tractor thanks Jon

Yeah, the newer type winches certainly LOOK safer to me, especially as you're able to position yourself away from the tractor.

If the winch rope is spooled to run under the drum through the spades it will pull the tractor into the ground. If the rope is spooled to come over the top of the drum and spades the tractor will flip.

Thanks Bob. That does make sense now you mention it. I don't have any experience using the older type winches, such as the one in your picture? Although my tractor looks a very similar age and size to yours (Nuffield?)..

With the newer type winches, I guess you don't need to worry about which way the rope is spooled, as they generally just have a straight butt plate that the weight is transferred onto? Unlike the older types with the spades? As a relatively inexperienced winch operator, I think I'd rather go for something that is somewhat foolproof, to minimise potential hazards. I appreciate that any type of winch used incorrectly can be deadly, hence why I'm doing as much research into the best combination for my tractor.

Cheers. Rob

Thanks John, I appreciate the advise. Cheers. Rob.

Hi MATE there good winch you may have to fit a weight frame on front of tractor help keep tractor down thanks Jon

Sounds like a sensible plan. That's one of the issues I was concerned about with running a higher tonnage winch on a smaller tractor. Don't want the nose pointing at the sky as soon as I pull the cable!

Hi Bob. Yes, the old Boughtons look like great bits of kit, but like you say, finding one might be an issue. Plus, I think I prefer the idea of the more modern designs that are typically offered nowadays. Thanks. Rob