Recommendation on a Winch

[WDH]

I want to put a winch that runs off the towing vehicle's battery on my trailer that I use to haul small loads of logs.  The winch would need to be mounted on the front of the trailer and would pull the logs up a solid fold down ramp at the back of the trailer onto the bed of the trailer.  The biggest logs would be 24" in diameter and 10 feet long.  This would equate to a maximum weight range of 2000 to 3000 pounds to be winched up the ramp. 

I do not know DanG about winches.  From your experience, what should the specs on the winch be as to hp and capacity? 

[pineywoods]

3000 lb capacity, 5000 better. Get a separate battery and mount it close to the winch. Otherwise, you'll need enough welding cable to run from the vehicle battery to the winch. Big $$$$. Most of the garden-variety winches are intended for a light duty cycle, they tend to heat up in a hurry if used hard. Keep a snatch block handy so you can double up the line when you tie on to that 1 big log. ;D

[jander3]

 



Works well, sort of portable (with two men and a boy).  When I pull something out the woods that is 30 feet or so long, this tends to overheat the battery cables.  Works great on the small stuff.

I think this one is rated to pull about 8k.

[metalspinner]

Mine looks just like Jander3's.  Though I have changed out the smaller cables with  larger ones. It's 8,000 pound rated, though I've not knowingly pulled anything that heavy.  It's good to know the extra umph is there just in case.

Here is a good discussion on winches...

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,20633.0.html

[WDH]

Thank you Chris.  This is more complicated than I thought, but I should have known  .

[metalspinner]

It's not complicated at all, WDH.  The more money you spend, the better winch you get. :D

[coyotencuttin]

my 4500lb winch is rated in rolling resistance. where it will pull a vehicle on level ground that weighs 4500, it may not pull a 1000lb log across rough terrain.you may also want to look at duty cycle. the smaller winch's probably have a 10-20% duty cycle. for every 1 minute of pull you should wait 5 minutes before using it again. if you plan on using it alot, opt for a real vehicle type winch. +1 on an extra battery either in the engine compartment or stand alone and jumper cables handy to recharge battery. good luck,  harold

[WDH]

What type of duty cycle do the real vehicle winches have?

[DaveInVT]

The amount of resistance a log has is surprising. You may find that pulling a log up a ramp onto the trailer may tax even a larger electric winch. I pull some small stuff with an 8000lbs warn winch and I find at times that the truck gets dragged instead of the log. I also agree that you need a sufficient size battery and cables. Under full load my winch will draw 435 amps. One other thing to remember is that the pull rating is for the first layer of cable on the drum. On my winch when pulling with a full drum it will only pull around 6600 lbs.  I also agree with other posters, buy the best you can afford. I bought mine in 1989 and have moved it from truck to truck sense then. Last year I broke one of the terminals for the motor. The replacement parts were still available.

[Ironwood]

You can always use some rollers (cordwood style cutoffs) to do some ,... "pyramid building" as we call any simple physics project.

Ironwood

[WDH]

Yes, like the Egyptians did.

[scsmith42]

WDH - many good comments thus far.  As Dave mentioned, it's not so much the weight of the logs, but the friction.  I have a Pierce 8K winch mounted on the front of one of my trailers.  It attaches to the trailer via a receiver hitch, which allows me to move it around.  The trailer has two on-board batteries to power the winch, said batteries are recharged automatically from the tow vehicle when the engine is running.

Good (and common) winch brands include Warn, Ramsey and Pierce.  There are some others; these are off the top of my head.  Many of the Ramsey and Pierce products are 100% duty cycle, and are used on wreckers or in the oil field.

Don't skimp on the cables, as the link that Chris posted explains why.  You will want some snatch blocks to go with the winch, as well as the rollers.

[arojay]

There are some gas engine alternatives as well.  Bailey's has some examples.

[scsmith42]

There are some gas engine alternatives as well.  Bailey's has some examples.

That's a good idea, because this way you could use it in the woods also...

[sawwood]

We have a winch mounted on the front of our trailer and i found a company in Indianapolis
that has cables made up to run from the battery back to the trailer. they are heavy duty ones
and worked out good on my Grand jeep. The company is Greg Smith Equipment Sales.
  www.gregsmithequipment.com

sawwood

[WDH]

Thanks Sawwood, I will check it out.

[scsmith42]

We have a winch mounted on the front of our trailer and i found a company in Indianapolis
that has cables made up to run from the battery back to the trailer. they are heavy duty ones
and worked out good on my Grand jeep. The company is Greg Smith Equipment Sales.
  www.gregsmithequipment.com

sawwood

You can make them yourself out of welding cable.  I have a pair of 2/0 cables that are 25' long that I made 20 years ago.  Cost a pretty penny, but worth it.

[captain_crunch]

Depending on trailer design but if you can hang block midship and Parbuckle(roll) them on over side. Logs roll lots better than they drag. I would recomend the Warn winch they are(were) good product
Brian

[John Mc]

I would recommend the Warn winch they are(were) good product

"were"? What happened?

[Jasperfield]

Take a look at the "Portable Winch" (Portablewinch.com).

I bought mine for winching logs, etc. and find that most of the many times I use it are for other applications. Although it works perfectly well for all the forest uses.

It pulls! It'll surprise you how much that it'll pull.

And, It's easy AND fast to set up and use.

Get your money's worth, look at a Portable Winch.

[captain_crunch]

John Mc
Nothing is what it use to be I have an old Warn M8000 that has  never failed me in 30 years but it had bearings on off end I also have 2 newer ones and all they have is a Nylon bushing in same place. I would proably buy another Warn Winch but would hunt for an Older one.
Just STAY away from Harbor Freight crap

[Tom the Sawyer]

Got a call from a tree service who had 5 walnut logs up to 22" x 11'.  Been looking for a bigger trailer but didn't want to lose out so I headed out with my 16' utility trailer and a HF camo winch I got for $50 on sale (rated @ 3000 lbs.)  Ran the winch off of a deepcycle trolling battery I had.  I offset the rear of the trailer with the axle parallel to the logs (don't want the 'thud' that would go with parbuckling over the fender/rails), put out the ramps and put a chain around one end of the log and hit the button on the winch remote.  That little winch pulled those logs right up the ramp.  It strained a bit on the biggest log as it drug over the angle edge of the trailer but rocking it with the cant hook freed it up and it pulled it fine.  The wireless remote was nice because I could move around and 'steer'.  Took three logs on one trip and two on the last, battery still had plenty of charge.

Somewhat weaker and older after surgery/chemo, etc., I promised my wife that I wouldn't muscle logs anymore but I don't want to pass on any if my mill can handle them so I ordered a MileMarker 8000 lb winch and am mounting it this week.  It should handle anything I might get a crack at. 

[Doc Hickory]

Something you might find real helpful in winching logs onto the end of a trailer is to install a roller across the rear edge of the trailer-that'd be a lot easier pull than dragging them across the sharp metal edge....cut down that resistance a LOT!

[captain_crunch]

I also agree with roller accross back of trailer seen one flatbed they made kind of a Aframe that mounted midway of deck(was pined together to remove) but it gave some lift they used tongs and when ran out of pull moved em back and got second bite. Worked good especially if you went two tiers high