Portable winch

[beenthere]

sandman2234
Wha Hoppen? : ??? eh?
Photo's are already missing from the --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!!!!!--.  Guess that explains real well why da Boss want's em posted in the gallery. 
I'm curious as to what the pics were, as sounds like they may have been a capstan powered winch for bringing in lines.

[breederman]

 I spent yesterday wondering if you could make a capstan work safely on a pto. If we could get the pics posted to the board it would be great.

[sandman2234]

I removed the pictures, not --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!!!!!--. I was not aware of the rule about posting. I will try to take some better pictures, and post them the correct way.



   I used this one at idle on my tractor, with one lap around the capstan. Any more and it would tend to want to catch sometimes, and I wasn't into getting a drill rig pulled over on top of me. I don't remember the weight of the piece of steel I was picking up, but it was 5" and about 5' long, with a 1" rod welded in it, another 4' long. Not something you would want to put on your shoulder and walk around with.
    David from jax

[sprucebunny]

I've hardly used my new winch on my snowcat and I hate the cable already  :( Today I spent a couple hours and some $ getting ready to make a tension plate for it but maybe I'll just replace the cable with this stuff.

http://www.rockstomper.com/catalog/recovery/ropes.htm

What do you think ??? Will the abrasion wear it out too fast ? This cost less than replacement cable ;D

[Dan_Shade]

I read something one time about the cable helping with heat dissipation on an electric winch, the rope wouldn't help that.

I don't know how much heat a cable can really dissipate either, so it may be a bunch of bunk...

[Kevin]

That rope is very strong.
The only problem is it takes up too much space on the drum unless the winch is designed for it.
They make a capstan for a chain saw that you could use off the front or back of the atv with unlimited length of rope.

[sprucebunny]

Kevin - a little ways down the page they list my winch and thier rope for it which is the same diam. and length as the cable that I have .  My winch is hydraulic.

What do you think about abrasion ? How much abuse do climbing ropes take ? How often do you buy new ones ?

[Ed_K]

I've been reading about the Amsteel Blue rope in Western World, the test they have been doing using it for winch line on skidders and high line rope on the yarders. It sound like its holding up well. I'd like to try some 1/2 or 5/8 but it is expensive.

[Kevin]

Amsteel is strong rope, I would be worried about the strands getting pulled in the woods.
For a strong rigging rope it's hard to beat.
I use 1/2" poly/dacron three strand and it holds up well.
Joan, what about webbing?

[sprucebunny]

Kevin, I would be interested in webbing if it has the strength. Say.... over 10,000 pounds ??? and behaves well ;D

I will probably never really need that much strength but I like the safety factor  ;)

Do you have a link to anything like that ? What would one call it ?

[Kevin]

I think you can only get them in a  m a n u a l winch like a boat winch.
I have a similar winch on my log arch and it pulls thousand pounders  and more with a mechanical advantage.