I have a '96 1 ton with a removable Snow Dogg that goes on the front for plowing our road in the winter. Next spring I am planning to go chop my own firewood (I use about 3-4 cord/yr.) I am thinking about adding a winch to help with this job by pulling trimmed logs closer to the road before i cut them to firewood length. I would getting Fir and Larch of whatever diameter the winch would pull. But I don't know a lot about winches. Never had one before or even been around them much.

My first thought was to go to Harbor Freight and buying a 9000 lb unit and mounting it on the rear towing hitch. Then I thought it might even be handier if I welded a tow hitch receiver to the snow plow mount so I could move the winch to either front or rear.

Am I out in left field with my thoughts? Is a trailer hitch mounted winch adequate or does it need a permanent mount? Can that setup take any kind of a sideways load? Is a 9000 lb winch big enough? Any input would be welcome.

 

I think something along those lines would work good. I actually do the same, we go through 8-10 cords per year and I gather all my own logs / trees throughout the year. i built a little crane that sit in a pocket in my flatbed that works very well. Most times I'm by myself so getting to the logs was half the battle, lifting them into the truck manually was back breaking. Now I can leave most logs around 7' and load them in like a log truck.

I've had good luck so far with the harbor freight 2500lb atv winch. For the bigger stuff I use a block and tackle just to make it a little easier, but just this past weekend I had some fresh red oak at about 18" at the base, 7' long logs loaded no problem. I wouldn't be afraid to try their bigger winch on a reciever hitch for versatillity.

Only problem I've ever had with dragging logs out of the woods is the log snagging edges/getting caught and filling up with dirt, chainsaw's worst enemy. Was trying to think of a skid to sit the nose of the log in made of pipe or something....that won't just roll over.

For winching off the side I would probably add some turnbuckles off the sides to the edges of your hitch just in case. Pullies can really help also.

 

Getting logs out of the bush can be difficult even with a front end loader to lift up one end to get it over stumps or obstructions, without the loader it can be almost impossible to just drag every tree out on the ground to a clearing. Once in the open we load the butt end onto an axle then using a slip hook and chain around the bunch of 4 to 6 trees we chain them to the axle to drag them out with another tractor. Without the axle to keep the butt end off the ground the logs just dig in. And as Gorms already said keeping dirt out of the wood is paramount to chain life.

 

It sounds like for your application that a hydraulic winch is the way to go. Don't forget, electric winches can only work as long as you have a charged battery and a high output alternator. In other words, expect maybe only an hours practical use out of an electric winch. In reality, maybe all you will get is 30 minutes before stopping to charge the battery for a couple of hours.

I have a hydraulic winch on my truck and have used it for hours at a time with zero problems. Also, when considering a winch, take the rated winch capacity and then expect to only be able to use roughly 75% in reality.

 

A hydraulic winch sounds 1) spendy, and 2) like a permanently mounted affair. Neither of which seems attractive to me. However, Mexstan, your post did get me thinking about power requirements. A 9,000 lb winch could drain my batteries pretty quickly and leave me stranded in the woods.
And from what Gorms says, maybe a much smaller winch might work just fine, and not be much of a drain on the battery.
Getting hung up on stumps and plowing dirt could make the whole idea more of a hassle than it is worth. Perhaps I am better off just getting a small ATV winch and limit myself to small logs, and if that fails; just cut the wood to fireplace length in place and carry it to the truck.

 

The newer harborfreight winches are pretty decent for what they are. DO NOT go smaller than about 8k. I ran a 9k for years, but it was the older HF. So slow the logs would turn back into trees.

I run a 12k now and it's *way* faster than the older HF. Not due to capacity, the newer ones get higher HP motors. I wouldn't worry too much about killing the battery, just fire it up once and a while.

Be cautious of hydraulic disasters. Most hydraulic winches are rated to about 2k psi. Then people put them on their trucks running off the PS system which is more like 1k psi. So your fancy 10k winch becomes only a 5k *and* it only works when the engine is running. Plus it's tied to engine rpm. If you have to ask, hydraulics are not for you since the system needs to be properly designed and it's *way* beyond most folks' capabilities.

Mexstan does have a point due to duty cycle though. Watch out you don't overheat an electric winch. Though they can run hotter, if I can't keep my hand on it I let it cool down for a while.

Cheap trick for dealing with skidding: Cut a big round and put your cable over it. This makes the cable pull the log up outta the muck somewhat. Not a 100% solution, but it helps A LOT.

IMO most rear hitches are pretty danged tough, so if you fab the mount should be fine. Especially considering what the other option costs (like a grand for a bumper). But unfortunately there are a couple pretty severe drawbacks- first is that the rear doesn't have much weight, so it'll be dragging the truck around if you try and side-pull. But the big one is the length of cable required to get to the battery. Voltage drop is SEVERE with low 12v systems, so performance is massacred if you don't go huge on the wires. Plus, this puts massive live hots running the full length of the truck, which brings it's own hazards- like fire.

PS I would toy with the idea of getting a small used tractor depending on if the wood is on your own place. A puny little 2 cylinder 4x4 yanmar with a wheeled log arch will pull a pretty good log, and puny little tractors can be surprisingly handy, logs aside.

 

Thanks for the useful insights. Good stuff to know!
It so happens I do have a 27hp 4x4 Yamar w/loader. I will be getting my wood on US Forest Service land, and unfortunately around here they won't let you use a tractor to skid logs.
This also gets me thinking about wiring. If I did go with a 9 to 12k unit, I would assume it would take about a 3 gauge wire. As I don't want a permanent mount; Would it be sensible just to make up something similar to a jumper cable and just run the wire outside the truck? (I would probably not want to use a clip clamp like jumper cable uses, but actually bolt the wire to the battery terminal.) I don't know if I would be OK running that much current through the chassis ground. Would a separate ground cable be advisable?

 

The Mile Marker winch that I use is supposedly designed to run at max capacity from the OE P/S pump. Not sure, but think it puts out 1,800 psi. I know that on some of the winching jobs that I have done that at engine idle speed it will drag the truck even with all 4 wheels locked. So far have never found it necessary to speed up the engine to gain more winch power.

I run a couple of 12 volt air compressors in the back of the truck, plus an invertor. To ensure no voltage drop I went a bit overboard and used 0000 welding cable. Right next to the battery it connects to a massive fuse that I found at a audio installer. For terminals I used 1/2" copper pipe over the stripped ends and squished the end down to provide a flat surface, then ran solder inside. Then it was easy to drill the hole size I needed, plus shape the ends to suit. In an area that the cable is vulnerable to impact or wear damage I ran it thru some of the thick, stiff orange plastic wire conduit that is used in concrete. Not worried about a fire with this setup. At full load have 13.9 volts.

 

The old "series" landrovers had an option for either a capstan winch or regular winch driven directly off the front of the crankshaft, you could winch all day without fear of killing the battery or overheating the winch.

 

Mexstan- sounds slick. But based on what you are running, you don't need to ask these questions

I tailored my response for the OP. No offense intended.

 

I sold 95 Lincoln Continental to a guy who had a 9000 lb harbor freight winch on his trailer. It was struggling to pull that car onto the trailer. Maybe his battery was bad I dunno.

 

We just got this one for my Dad for Christmas. He'll be using it to winch things onto his trailer. He told me today that he had a chance to use it and it is great. The winch is weatherproof, pretty good quality, the price is reasonable, and it has pretty good reviews. It has a 6.6 hp motor so it has better gearing and the speed of the winch is pretty good.
That Harbor Freight winch has a 5.5 hp motor and it moves pretty slow, I've heard where the wiring is shoddy and some people have had to rewire the remote a couple months in.

Sorry forgot to add the link...

 

What one?

 

Sorry I forgot the link. I added it last night after you commented back.

 

RE weak 9K Here's my old HF9K winch pulling a dead dozer onto my deck-over.

Single line pull, no ****** block. Barely, but it *did* load it.