who makes the best winch?

treefarmer87 · April 13, 2011, 04:17:50 PM

who in your opinion make the best skidding winch, that would give the operator least trouble/maintenance?

Maine76251 · April 13, 2011, 05:22:32 PM

The JD winch has my vote but i confess its the only one ive ever worked with or on and they can be expensive to fix.

PAFaller · April 13, 2011, 05:44:06 PM

I have run Deeres and Gearmatic, and like the Gearmatic better. On my Gearmatic you can adjust the free-spool tension with just an allen wrench and its on the outside of the winch. Beats having to take the side cover off like on the older Deeres. Also spent 2 years falling for a gentleman with a big Cat skidder and that had a Lufkin winch. Plenty of power, never had a problem with it, and never had to work on it. In my eyes that was a good winch, but I couldn't tell you whether servicing it was hard or not.

Mark K · April 13, 2011, 06:27:00 PM

I like my Hercules winch on my TJ. Rebuilt it 4-5 years ago, new discs, bearings and repacked the cylinders. Been trouble free and pulls strong. Simple to adjust the brake on, just need a 1/2" and 11/16 wrench.

treefarmer87 · April 16, 2011, 03:05:01 PM

i was looking @ a gearmatic 119 (unsealed version) the other day at the forestry parts dealer. it was completley redone. i finally went and bought new bands for my gearmatic 19, and bought a new combo spool for the steering and blade so ill be good to go

the dealer has a FEC 1000 sawbuck with a 36" bar for $900, it comes with three extra bars and chains. its a smaller one with only two hoses for the saw.

Ed_K · April 16, 2011, 06:10:06 PM

I like my gearamatic 19 it pulls good and easy to work on.Thursday the brake started slipping.Friday I pulled the bands and brake components and found the large band cam rollpin was not holding on the inside. Little drilling and a new roll pin and we're ready to go.
Treefarmer,how much you pay for your bands?