Thanx treetech. Dunno what she weighs, not sure of the pull either.
The winch unit is branded "SASGEN DERRICK" and according to my internet research appears to be a hand crank derrick hoist for hi rise construction, working limit 1000 lb. would be my guess. The shafts are 1 1/8 with babbet bearings and squared off ends for attaching the hand crank. I tapped a press in zerk in each of the holes for pouring the babbet and keep er greased that way. I had the center "input" shaft turned down to 3/4" and keyed. I put a #50 sprocket on that. A riding lawnmower transmission driven by an electric start Tecumseh 8hp powers it. It has 5 fwd speeds, neutral, and 1 reverse. A added a lever that engages the tensioning pulley on the 'mower' to engage the drive to make er go.
The winch first caught my eye in a neighbors yard with a sheet of tin over it. It really caught my interest because it had TWO drums! which could give you Mainline and Haulback capability, the two drums will actually interlock, but I don't run it that way. It's either Mainline ahead while I pay out Haulback, or vise-versa. To the side of each drum I added a motorcycle disc and a mini-bike brake caliper. a pull lever with a cable works the brake. That's not enough brake to provide suspension, I just use it to control backlash only as the line pays out on the free spool.
There's 500 ft of 1/4" galv 7x19 on the haulback drum on top, about 240 ft on the mainline. 1/4" is rated about 7000lb. I cut my logs to about 6 - 8 ft to keep loads light. I will STOP immediately if I even THINK there's a hangup. I can't afford to be breaking things or hurting anyone, this is just fun stuff, remember? If it's hung up my son will re set the choker on the opposite end. It'll usually swing around, clearing the hangup, then come in the other way.
There are four 3/8" guylines through blocks at the top of the spar, they lead down to truck bed winches welded just above head height. I use a truckers bar to wind em up tight.
The spar is raised with a hand crank ratcheting winch from a boat trailer. That hoisting cable is a two-part bridle which is anchored at the bottom corners of the back bumper. This "Y" cable assembly assures the spar stays centered as she comes up and doesn't swing to the side as a single-line hoist would (or used to!).
So far our first trip out was strictly a high-lead setup, you know, 'ground pounding'. So I had to keep loads light. Next setup will be with a standing sky line and I'll run a North-Bend setup. That should provide enough lift to haul some bigger stuff in.
You might notice in the photo it doesn't take much to plug the landing. What you see is the last log coming in. That pile was just cut up into 16" firewood right on the pile and tossed in the (other) pickup.
Since our last outing was just the two of us, we only had time for a couple of cell phone pictures (not too bad though), though I really want to get some video and more photos of better quality which I'll post soon as I get em.
Standby for more and thanks all for the compliments and encouragement.
