Just bought a 230 and wondering about mainline it has a swaged cable on it now and it is all coiled up, like working in a blow down is not hard enough. Swaged vs reg cable ?
I would never run swaged cable, in all my years of running mainline, i used 9/16 reg cable.
Any tips on keeping the line in good shape would be greatly appreciated.
Where are you located? That may determine size of line, as far as keeping it in good shape free spool the cable out when it looks to be getting nested and winch it back in paying attention to the lay of the cable. Having a tree hooked up when doing this helps as it keeps the slack out of the cable as your spooling the cable. One hand on the winch lever and one on the steer stick and you can walk the cable back and forth across the drum to make it lay nice
Thanks for the advice just bought this machine to clean up our Woodlot that's located in New Brunswick that blew down after a hurricane we had last summer. We lost around 40 acres out of 100 that has never been logged before so most of the wood is good size and running 8 cable chokers but thinking on changing to chain chokers when I change the cable.I operated singe grip harvesters for 10 yrs before leaving the industry. Work in construction as an operator now I am only the second owner of this machine and the guy who operated did so for 29 yrs. I am only running this machine on the weekends.
Its just common sense to keep the cable straight on the spool. As soon as you start winching you look at the cable coming on to the spool. If its not spooling right, you release the winch, pull ahead as far as you need to get it started straight. Every time you winch in you glance back at the winch, it gets to be habit.
But then i've had guys that never did learn. I would never trade my cable chokers for chain, about 5 times slower to work with. I pulled 2 cd turns with a 9/16 mainline and 1/2 inch chokers, never had a issue. But then again i had guys that could break a mainline every turn. Because of no method to their madness.
I run 9/16 supper swedge 100'on my 540 and 5/8 supper swedge on my 640 150'
Allot of truth in what lumberjack just said :D I have seen guy's snap 7/8 like a shoestring because of full tilt power and not paying attention to the tree's they were tied to. Personnally I run 5/8 mainline and 10ft 9/16 cable choker's on my 225. I think it is more of a regional thing on cable size, I got 3/4 on my grapple skidder but rarely get's used. If I had to pull that cable everyday it would get downsized.
I was thinking of chain chokers because of the blow down, I could pull one out limb it leave the chain on it , get another pull it out limb it leave the chain on and so on until I had a 8 then hook all the chains to the sliders and go ? What do guys think ?
It's all in your prefference, I have never used chain choker's but several guy's here on the forum love them.
If you are having problems with the main line there is a chance that someone wound it wrong to begin with. Here is a link to a good PDF about winding wire rope on a drum like a winch. http://www.wescovan.com/catalogs/handling&maintenance.pdf (http://www.wescovan.com/catalogs/handling&maintenance.pdf)
Here is another link that describes right and left lay http://www.stren-flex.com/wire-rope-handling.aspx
jwbird
As the wood we cut is usually not that big I would just go with a 1/2 mainline. If the wood is big "load light and go often". A wise old logger told me those words and I believe in them.
I've never used chain chokers so can't comment but I do know they are not common here. Must be a regional thing.
If you are who I think you may be from your username I am well aware of the skidder you bought. I think it may be a 225 model which I operated many moons ago. Tough old machine but needs some TLC.
Cheers
Ken
Hey Ken how are ya , and yes its me the machine I bought was Otties.I called aftermarket parts and they confirmed that it is a 230 good ol machine works well now it's me the needs the practice.Every time I look at the blow down how I wish I was still in the seat of that Prentice 620 with the ponsse head. I wish it was all poplar that fell but it was mostly softwood what a mess.Going to chases to get a 1/2 inch mainline thanks for the help.
Ken the tag on the machine where you get in says 230GS so I assume it is a 230. With the serial number somewhere around a 72 or 73 ,same as me.You must have been really young if you run this one when I went to Elwoods to get everything that came with it he said he run it for the last 29 yrs. The machine works great as far I can see it needs nothing pins are all tight tires are decent the engine has good oil pressure and I even got a big snow blade with it,10 new chokers, 8 new universal joints, cable cutter some spare hoses , a winter fan ,enough oil for a couple oil changes some filters he even gave me a sledge hammer and a round pointed shovel, oh ya and a spare tire on a rim. I think I did ok for a machine. The one thing I would like to have is a decent set of chains the ones they gave me are just about done they never replaced them because they never ran the machine after x-mas, Ottie said it gets to cold out.18.4x34
Quote from: jwbird on June 04, 2015, 08:52:21 PM
Ken the tag on the machine where you get in says 230GS so I assume it is a 230. With the serial number somewhere around a 72 or 73 ,same as me.You must have been really young if you run this one when I went to Elwoods to get everything that came with it he said he run it for the last 29 yrs. The machine works great as far I can see it needs nothing pins are all tight tires are decent the engine has good oil pressure and I even got a big snow blade with it,10 new chokers, 8 new universal joints, cable cutter some spare hoses , a winter fan ,enough oil for a couple oil changes some filters he even gave me a sledge hammer and a round pointed shovel, oh ya and a spare tire on a rim. I think I did ok for a machine. The one thing I would like to have is a decent set of chains the ones they gave me are just about done they never replaced them because they never ran the machine after x-mas, Ottie said it gets to cold out.18.4x34
Wow that's a lot of money in extras!
The 1/2 inch line will work good, just remember its only 1/2 inch when winching. I personally would put 9/16 on. I ran 1/2 inch line with 7/16 chokers when i had row cut pine, or selective cut pine.
The main think with chokers is to always hook trees from the right hand side. If you hook from both sides, left and right hand side they will coil up on you. Another thing with chokers they don't want to stay hooked. The first thing you do with chokers is hook one at a time on your ball hitch on your pickup. Don't pull real hard, just sung-em up, it puts a little kink in them. Now you can hook a 4 inch tree with out it sliding off the end.
Then when dropping trees to go back and get more when using chokers, use this type of slider.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21649/import_ring_hooks_large_medium.jpg)
I never realized the extra parts were going to come with it until I went to pick it up. It was owned by a man who truly loved the woods . He passed away this past winter at age of 91 at the age of 90 still drove his own Peterbuilt truck and loaded his own wood with a Prentice 120 . He will be missed by all who knew him and it's an honor to own a machine that was once his and I like to think he would be happy that I have it now.
Don't go with chain chokers. They are nice because you can turn the wood around stumps and rocks as well as bunch the wood up better but are a pain. I'd rather grab eight chokers and tug on them rather then throw eight chains over my shoulder and tug on the mainline. You can feed cable under wood a lot easier then a chain. Like LJ48 said I would run just regular cable and size is up to you. I run 5/8 mainline and chokers but we got some big wood in places around here. Just keep that cable nice tight and straight.
Thanks for the advice I am going to run cable chokers since I have all the extras.I need to tighten the winch up a bit so it doesn't free spool so easy I think a little drag on the cable wouldn't hurt.When I release the winch I started to stop it again before it hits the ground then let the load down easy helped alot to. I see some guys have a bar on the back to hold the chokers I wouldn't mind seeing some pics of what other guys have on the back it really common around here.
I only run 5/8 swedge On my 548GIII and 440d. Around here pulling big red oaks up bluffs your just wasting money with anything lighter. I run 10 ft 9/16 cable chokers. Tried chains one time and will never run those again.
Quote from: jwbird on June 04, 2015, 08:16:58 PM
Hey Ken how are ya , and yes its me the machine I bought was Otties.I called aftermarket parts and they confirmed that it is a 230 good ol machine works well now it's me the needs the practice.
Sorry I thought you may be the person who bought my dads old 225. His last name was Bird so from your username and made an assumption. I suspect Otties old machine will be a keeper. He was a true gentleman who truly loved the woods.
Just as logger48 and others have said.
I have always used a 5/8 mainline more out of habit than anything else.
Try to layout your felling pattern so that you are pulling in as straight line as possible a zig zag pattern is hard on the mainline.
I pour little a chain oil at the end of the day on the spooled mainline and let it soak in. It lubricates keeps the cable supple the down side is your the mitts or gloves you use to pull the mainline will pick up a bit of the oil.
Al