Just ordered Hudson 35m winch. Accessories???

[bushhog920]

I have a case 885 40hp in Alabama and log up to 28" pines. I just ordered the Hudson 35m and was wondering what accessories you guys would recommend? I've never seen a logging winch before just been dragging them out with a chain for years.  

[thecfarm]

A nice thread to read about using a 3pt winch

I myself don't like the chainsaw holder on the winch.
I have hauled out some small wood and had to back up and bent my guard on the winch. Glad my saw was not there.

Read the above thread a few times. Many good ideas from FF members.
You will like a 3pt winch!!!
You will easily be able to bring out 5-6-7 logs with it.
I run 6 chokers on mine and a hook. Sometimes all 7 are used, sometimes only one. If I don't need them, then I don't use them.
I say logs, but I should say trees. When using all 7, the trees are only 6 inches across and smaller.
That 230 feet of cable sounds good, but walking through the woods in a straight line is hard. I've had mine out at 150 feet and I found out quick about that straight line.
I could use that 230 feet in the meadow that I am cutting off. I don't dare to drive to far onto the meadow. I am cutting everything, so no trees in the way. I have to use an extension, which takes longer to hook and unhook.
Have fun winching!!!

[Dan_Shade]

@thecfarm 

What do you mean by 6 chokers and a hook?

[thecfarm]

Probably should have said slides. But the slides are on a keyhole, choker. Maybe spelling-wording is wrong?
The hook is on the end of the cable.

Slide and hook

5th item is the choker, or slide and 6th picture is the hook.
You can see the hook on the cable in the 8th picture.

[Dan_Shade]

Ok, so you have a hook on the end and not another keyhole? 

[John Mc]

That 230 feet of cable sounds good, but walking through the woods in a straight line is hard. I've had mine out at 150 feet and I found out quick about that straight line. I could use that 230 feet in the meadow that I am cutting off. I don't dare to drive to far onto the meadow. I am cutting everything, so no trees in the way. I have to use an extension, which takes longer to hook and unhook.

Fortunately, you don;t have to be in a perfectly straight line. That's what a self-releasing snatch block is for. It's rare that I use all 230 feet of cable, but I do use it. The time I used it most regularly was when clearing a new trail. The trail was on a side-hill too steep to drive my tractor on, but we wanted to clear as many trees as we could to save having to pay the guy with the excavator to do it: we wanted him focused on grading the trail, not removing trees. We used all 230 ft of cable, 2 self-releasing snatch blocks (to redirect the pull at a couple of points) then added two 20 ft chains on the end. Even with that, we had to drop trees toward the end of the chain and pull from the tops.

Admittedly that was an unusual situation. But I do use a self-releasing snatch block regularly, since I'm working in fairly dense woods, and the odds of being able to arrange a straight pull every time are slim. So my favorite accessory would be the Self-releasing snatch block.

Here's one in use. This will be old hat to those of you who have done this before, but at least it gives an idea of using a logging winch and a self-releasing snatch block for those unfamiliar. The video was made a while go for a friend who was asking about a Crop Tree Release project on my property. (There's a chance I could have done this one without the snatch block, but my friend wanted to see it in use.) The discussion on winching starts at about the 2:58 mark. The self-releasing snatch block description starts at 4:28. The actual winching of the logs happens at starting at 7:00.

Crop Tree Release + Winching Logs - YouTube

[stavebuyer]

I have one of these D handle Grab Rods (very bottom of the linked page) for pulling the chain choker under the log. Comes in very handy at times.

Winch Accessories - Hud-son

[thecfarm]

Yes there is a hook on the end of the cable.

[NE Woodburner]

Yes there is a hook on the end of the cable.

I have the same Norse winch as @thecfarm and mine also has a hook on the end. I think I told this story in the 3ph thread, but a word of caution on the hook - it is fixed and does not allow free rotation like the sliders do. I think it was the first or second day using my new winch a few years ago that I pulled in two or three logs, one of which had the choker attached to the hook. As I was pulling in the hitch the cable suddenly went slack. When I walked out to the hitch I expected to see that the chokers had slipped off the logs, but instead saw that the end of my cable had broken where the hook was swedged on. Evidently the logs rolled as I was pulling the hitch, putting a twist and kink on the cable, and a log got stuck on a rock or stump and broke the cable at the point it was twisted. I was surprised how easily the cable broke.
Since then I don't use the fixed hook and only attach chokers to the sliders.

[g_man]

I would not go out w/o my cant hook. If you don't have one you should get one.



 

gg

[thecfarm]

I only use the hook when I need more to twitch out. So it only gets used on the small stuff. 
In fact, I had to grind some of the point of the hook to get a chain into it.

[John Mc]

I was not happy with the grab hook at the end of my cable: it was much more prone to release the choker. It also would twist the cable when winching logs on a side hill and they rolled sideways down hill.

I ended up replacing the hook at the end of the cable with a keyhole cable end on a swivel:

   

I found it at Hud-Son Forest Equipment. I ended up making up a short length of chain with a grab hook on one end. If I ever need the hook, I can just put the chain through the keyhole.

[g_man]

I like to have a hook on the end of the cable. There are many times I need to hook into the middle of a chain, or into one with hooks on both ends that won't feed thru a keyhole slider, or the hookup is in a barely accessible or in clumsy spot, or just needs to be quick and easy. A short chain with a hook would work fine but it is just something else to go walk back to the tractor and look for, so I have a permanent hook on the cable. It's on a slider so it won't twist the cable. I also like to keep all my choker connections in a tight group so the hitch bunches tighter below the lower pulley. Just another way of doing it and what I prefer.



 


gg

[thecfarm]

John Mc, I remember you posting about that hudson hook a few years back.
I added it to my favorites.
But it was no $92 then.       I thought about buying it.

[John Mc]

John Mc, I remember you posting about that hudson hook a few years back.
I added it to my favorites.
But it was no $92 then.      I thought about buying it.

I have no idea what I paid for it years ago, but for $92, I probably would have just left the hook on it. Had I thought of Gordon's idea, I probably would have done that. A cable slide is about $20, plus whatever the stopper on the end of the cable would cost.

[bitternut]

I have always used the end hook on my Norse winch. Never had a problem with it. Still using the original cable, hook and sliders that came with the winch. Hope I haven't jinxed myself by saying that. ;D

[NE Woodburner]

Well, maybe it was just one of those things that are very unlikely to happen, but just happened to be the right circumstances for me to have an issue.

I'm one of those guys who would never win the lottery, but give me a one in a million chance of breaking something and it will probably happen...

[thecfarm]

You guys have some nice looking ends on your cable. 
When my cable breaks, I just put a U on it and 2 cable clamps. I do put 2-3 washers before the clamps. I did have a piece of ¼ inch steel, instead of the washers, but lost that somehow.
Been doing that since '94. Works for me!!!

[John Mc]

I just realized: Since he ordered a Uniforest 35M, I believe his cable will already have that keyhole swivel cable end on it. I think that end is standard on this winch.