Hydraulic Winch Pulling Wood

[aronwyowind]

I have a 20k lb hydraulic Braden Winch with two speeds, how big of wood do you think this will pull?  Would a gin pole design on the front of my rig help skid the logs or does it even matter what height the winch is at on the truck?

[beenthere]

 

What is the truck? and is that the "rig" of which you speak??

[thenorthman]

with a 20 ton winch... not many trees you can't pull.  Especially if you get one end of the ground.  My gypo yarder has 8k tulsa's on it and they can lift a 30' 28-34" maple off the ground.

Your biggest concern is going to be keeping the winch and rigging attached to whatever vehicle you plan on using, and having strong enough winch line to not be pulling bits of wire out of your nose...

From the sound of it your trying to make a boom truck?  I've known many a logger that got their start with a boom truck, works like a poor mans yarder, and to reiterate getting one end off the ground is half the battle when moving logs.

[aronwyowind]

The winch will either go on the front of my f700 4x4 or on a 6x6 m139D grapple truck (i am trying to purchase) with a prentice F model on it and a 16 foot log bunk.  I will primarily be pulling lodge pole and pondo 18''-36'' 8' long.  The 6x6 should be heavy enough but the f700 is relatively light, may set up anchor rigging...  The winch line is 1/2'' from what I can tell.

I have been thinking of a way to get one end of the log up...log arch or old truck hoods/flat skid plate, something I can haul back into the trees by hand or 4 wheeler for each pull.  Any suggestions for getting one end of the log up during ground level winching would be much appreciated!

[thenorthman]

If you have the loader you could hang a block in it and a separate line to act as a skyline, and have yourself a gypo yodder, a second winch would really help with that though.  Just having the boom on short skids will make a difference, its the trying to pull at ground level that is the hardest, stumps are always in the way, and any chance to get one end up and over a stump is better than trying to roll the log around it.

18" lodge pole seem rather large to me, could be just where I grew up though. (Wyoming)

[aronwyowind]

Interesting, I am in southern Wyoming, from Encampment originally.  Where are you from?  I find quite a few pines that are over 18'' up by Elk Mountain, but with the new logging operations up there they are getting harder and harder to find.  Thanks for all your help on my winch questions.