skidsteer winch

[h2ofwlr]

 I am considering mounting a winch on my ctl  does anyone have any suggestions/observations or opinions.    Thanks  Mark

[mike_belben]

Youll wonder how you did without it.   Put it on the boom, not the rear. 




An electric winch brake is only good for half the rated line pull so if you try to drag with the cable of an electric winch it goes bang. I had to make a drum brake for mine to flat drag.

Smittybilt XRC8 logging brake - YouTube


Hydraulic would probably be better if you have the ports but i wouldnt give up my grapple function for it.  Winch to the machine then grapple onto a bunk trailer then move the trailer with the machine.  Can move a cord at a time with my tiny junk machine so a real one could do well.  My winch is only a hammered old 8k chicom.  Electric is slow compared to anything else but the most convenient to move from piece to piece.  Everything i own accepts this one winch. 

[Tacotodd]

Electric is great for hobby vehicles such as 4X4 off-roading, but I'd not think it's so good for depending on it for income. They are good for draining the battery though.

Their are times when I'd like more sustained winch use for my hobbies but @mike_belben is right, easy to swap to multiple "things".

[Haleiwa]

What will you use it for?  If it's for dragging out when you get stuck, it probably needs to be on the back, which interferes with the engine access door.  If you want to use it to drag logs, you need it on the front (drive it with hydraulics from the auxiliary circuit), which puts it in the way of your grapple.  The only places that I think it would be practical to mount one are pretty low for anything but rescue, and if you tried mounting one high up you would likely roll the loader if you tried to pull anything very heavy.  Loaders aren't really designed to be winch platforms.  In a lot of cases, unless you are moving long pieces, you can probably drive to the log and pick it up as easily as messing around with a winch small enough to fit on a loader.  A loader isn't a skidder, and a skidder isn't a loader.  I understand, sometimes needs must.  Heck, I have carried a load of cedar posts out in the bucket of my excavator because it was the only machine at the site and I had a customer coming to pick them up, but for long term, I don't think you will get all that much use out of it.

[mike_belben]

There is a knack to winching from up high but it wont take long to learn.  With a stump bucket you grab a chunk of wood for a 3rd leg prop.  Line up square to the drag and poke it in at full boom, now reel in.










Ive really never needed it though and its not like im working with a big machine.  The winch is slow but it is not the weak point. Itll pull in more than it can drag out so that why bringing the trailer along makes sense.  Once its in the jaws im just loading.  


If you need to reel in a hundred yards then skid a half mile youre fooling yourself.. Outside of gold plated walnut theres no way to make money like that. you just got the wrong tool and thats all there is to it.  


This is for good dry trails and 50ft twitches.. It is excellent for delicately fetching cut to length sawlogs or thinning around big money keepers because you can reach up 10ft to push things the right way.   nothing will fish a log out of with less of a trace on a skinnier trail, under the right circumstances. Until you find the wet spot and turn in it a few times.   Not good for side hills or soft ground.  Maybe with tracks or 31x15 R1s.




Im never side pulling.  Its a skid steer, nothing is so tight that i cant line it up straight.  They pivot in place.



This is 2 smallish maple trees, maybe a 12" and a 15" at the butts.. Ive choked the tops here.  the 8k will reel them in together just fine if they dont hang up on anything.





I have two group 31 bigrig batteries and 2gauge stock cable to an anderson connector up the boom, its never drained them yet but has on the kubota single battery. The bobcat is also my jumper box most of the time.  And no, winching has never closed the grapple either, that surprised me.


You could run a hydraulic winch and a grapple by using a 6port DC double acting selector valve on a toggle to switch your auxiliary stick from winch to grapple.  The winches on rollbacks and small wreckers will work.  They have about -8 hoses and freespool.   Id switch over but the bobcat never runs long enough to waste the time.

[mike_belben]

[h2ofwlr]

Thanks for the insights  and the great pics.   My use of the winch would only be as a tool maintaining trails and the occasional blow  down. Not as a   dedicated skidding  machine.   Mike, i wish i had your ability to fab!!  thanks again to all that have replied

[Walnut Beast]

I love that setup. You can do a lot with that 👍

[Walnut Beast]

 

 Factory hydraulic winch 

[mike_belben]

What holds true for any winch is it is only as dependable as the machine it is on, and my machine is terrible but im unable to replace it for a while.  I have sure learned a lot.. But a donkey would put up more wood than me.  Guess its a good thing im a housewife.   Off to powder my nose boys, tata. 

[230Dforme]

Good afternoon 

I agree w Belben first sentence 
( and the rest too )

I have a 230D w Hercules
10 ton tilt trailer w winch Warn
F700 4wd bucket truck w winch on
front and rear Ramsey
3 Tractor Supply 10,000# Travellers on
Pickup
Chipper 
Up in back of dump truck body

The Travellers have remote good for 100' + 
Really handy

Buying a couple of Warns soon

Want a winch on everything 

I do tree work, not logging 
Winches in general, make life much
easier

Get a few snatch blocks

All perfect all the time, no
But you'll figure it out for your uses

Always a learning curve