remote controlled winches

Mike_M · February 08, 2007, 11:53:20 AM

Does anyone use or have experience using a remote controll with their tractor winches?

OneWithWood · February 08, 2007, 01:40:12 PM

Could you be a bit more specific?

Remote as in wireless or hand held chorded unit?

Tractor winch as in electric winch mounted to the tractor or gear driven winch powered by the pto?

Mike_M · February 08, 2007, 01:52:21 PM

Sorry about that. Wireless remote for a hydraulic or PTO driven (25-35 HP)tractor winch. This seems like it could be a real time saver, but wanted to see what others had to say.

slowzuki · February 08, 2007, 02:42:37 PM

I've seen the ads and it interests me, but I also seen garage door openers go nuts for no apparent reson and it scares me. Hopefully they are reliable. Farmi used to offer a "wired" remote, is was a spring loaded spool of cable that ran back to the winch control cord.

TeaW · February 08, 2007, 05:24:57 PM

One of the members of our local loggers association has one on a 540 JD skidder. We had a meeting at a bush he was working in , he gave us a good demonstration of it. I think it was about $8500.00. He could start and stop the engine,increase and decrease the RPM's and start ,stop and release a load. It really has increased his productivity . I think they got it here. http.//www.gfpreston.com/

thecfarm · February 08, 2007, 09:11:38 PM

The way that I use my winch,I don't think the wireless would help me.I'm on the ground when the winch is running.When I place my chockers,the tractor is running,and than I go to the back of the tractor and engage the winch to start to pull.For the amount that I twitch out at a time,it would take a long time to pay for it.Now when I get into a rough spot and I have to drop the twitch and pull forward and winch it to me,than it would help.

Woodhog · February 08, 2007, 09:40:27 PM

I never could afford to buy that option, however I often wished I had it.

It sort of depends a bit on how good your legs are, many times if you are pulling in a log the end will get caught in a rock, root or some of the millions of obstructions in line with the cable pull, with the remote you can walk with the log as you are pulling it in after you choke it up, it would have saved many trips from the rear of the tractor area to the log for me over the years...you would be right there to pry it loose...

If you ever do this of course you have to stay off to the side of the log being pulled over a log length, I have seen them fly over their length when they come to an obstruction and then break loose and do a loop de loop...

Whole trees with tops on are not so bad, but if you are pulling in CTL they get stuck easy and really fly around....

TeaW · February 08, 2007, 09:55:42 PM

Like thecfarm and Woodhog it wouldn't pay me to have one . But this fellow has a late model 540 and is at it everyday.He does good work and has a real good reputation .It is worth the price for him. I would sure like to have one but it would be worth more than my old skidder :D.
TeaW

thecfarm · February 08, 2007, 10:10:00 PM

I thought we was talking about a winch in the 25-35hp range on a tractor?Big differance between that and a 540 JD.I can twitch out 3-16 footers with my 40 hp,if the going is good.Never been around a 540 before.Should be able to do 4 times that much.I can see where one would pay for itself on a skidder,but not on a tractor.Than the way that I am,I would not replace the battery the way I should in the remote and I would press to stop the winch because I see something wrong about to happen and it would not stop.

beenthere · February 08, 2007, 11:45:39 PM

I'd expect the default to be "no winching, if no signal from the remote"

Dead battery would stop the winch because there would be no signal.

The button on the remote would have to be held down to get a signal sent to the receiver at the winch.

Seems this would protect the system from running out of control.

slowzuki · February 09, 2007, 10:06:22 AM

The ones I'm familar with are similar to the self recovery winch remotes, it only is applied to a 3 pt hitch winch with off/on. You hold the reel in button and it reels in.

It would help me, I work in tight quarters with long lines often and snatch blocks so I'm out at the chokers a lot. I can usually drag 3 good sized spruce tree lenght logs per hitch on a Farmi JL501. I normally pull top first so there are less hangups.