Back-Hoe Winch

[chuck172]

I'd like to use my old Back-Hoe (ford 4500) for winching out firewood from my woodlot. I'm thinking on mounting a winch on the loader frame above the loader bucket. That way I can wedge the front loader down for a good pull.
This isn't big-time logging, just firewood. I would like to reach out as far as possible although I do have some woods roads cut in.
Can anyone recommend a decent, economical winch for this application?

[pineywoods]

Go for a hydraulic winch. Them light duty electric jobs look good, but they aren't built for serious work. Look in my pic gallery for pics of a home-built hydraulic winch.  Cheep and works fine.

[chuck172]

Thanks for the reply but I'd really like to go electric. Much simpler. Remember its not real serious work, just light firewood.

[Timburr]

Welcome to the Forum.   I'm with pineywoods on the hydraulic.   Plenty of places to tap into for auxiliary hydraulics on a back-hoe.

If you are going electric (also works with hydraulic), why not mount the winch at the back of the machine, on top of the hoe main boom.   Run the cable over a fabricated pulley set up on the top of the dipper/outer boom.   This will give the cable lift when the pull hits a snag.   Bucket on or in ground of course, to give stability.   You will need a weldmesh screen behind the winch to save a broken cable from hitting you on recoil.   We have a similar (hydraulic) system on a 360° excavator / track-hoe and it works well.

[thecfarm]

chuck172,welcome to the forum.I myself would rather see the winch on the back end too.I have a 3 pth winch on my tractor.I don't think a electric winch will throw around a Ford 4500.If you did mount it on the front,how do you plan on getting the wood out,in the loader?

[zackman1801]

if you mounted it on the back you could still put the bucket down to dig in to keep the tractor from sliding. but it would be hard to get wood to the yard with the front unless your going to back your way out each time.

[chuck172]

You all have good ideas. On the front loader structure I have a 6"X6" cross-member.  Perfect spot for a winch. Well above the loader bucket itself. I don't plan on operating this winch from inside the cab. One man deal here. I'll just get as near the load as I can, apply downpressure with the loader. Winch the log from outside and work the winch.
The back-hoe has a generator, I'll replace it with a high out-put alternator. I'd like to know of a fairly economical 12 volt winch with large capacity. Remember, this is for light work, not everyday logging. I don't need heavy cable, maybe even light kevlar rope.
Right now I'm using the loader, nylon slings, shackles, rope, Ford 8n, 4WD Quad, anything that works.
I think a winch mounted on the TLB with a long light cable will be the cat's meow.

[John Mc]

The problem with electric winches isn't their pulling power - you can get just about whatever you need. It's that they are incredibly slow. The faster ones might do 30 or 40 FPM, but that is not under load. With a good load on, they'll go significantly slower. With a typical electric winch under load, you're luck to be getting 15 FPM. This might seem OK till you realize that the PTO powered logging winches go 200 FPM at normal rated PTO speed (I usually run mine a bit slower). Think about it. You want long reach. 100 feet less than half the length of the cable on my 3 point hitch skidding winch. I'd fall asleep before I winched a tree in at 15 FPM.

The other problem with electric winches is the duty cycle. Not a lot of them can take operating under full load for multiple minutes straight, especially over and over during the course of a work day. You'll overheat them.

Finally, I have no idea what the battery and electrical system on your backhoe is like, but I know my compact tractor would not stand up to this... without a lot of rest time in between to charge the battery back up, I'd suck the battery flat in no time. You can beef up your electrical system to handle this, but overcoming the other shortcomings of electrical winches for logging applications is a bit tougher.

If you want a cheap hydraulic winch source that is built tough (though not blazingly fast), look at something off an old military truck. Many of them had hydraulic winches which could be easily adapted to your backhoe. A military surplus guy or scrap yard might have some.

[chuck172]

You're post is an eye opener John, thanks.

[logwalker]

Ebay has one for sale right now. Seller is the state of Washington. Generally good sellers. How do you shorten these links? Joe

http://cgi.ebay.com/12-000-Hydraulic-drive-winch-410-8-1982-D-148_W0QQitemZ350073574546QQihZ022QQcategoryZ61567QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[ex-Engineer Wannabe]

Great thread, folks!  ;D

We have a CAT 420D that I'd like to use our Warn 16.5ti with.  Yeah, it's electric, but it's also paid for. ;)  Seriously, though, it would be great to mount that thing on the CAT somewhere to facilitate winching some of those pesky saw logs (on slopes) with.

I'd love to read more on this ...  :P

[leweee]

How do you shorten these links? Joe

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,8923.0.html

[dancan]

electric motors burn out fast from poor connections or not enough current so make sure you use good cables .