Using a skidding winch in place of hydraullics.

[krazykioti]

Hello , I was wondering how compatable would a Farmi style skidding winch mounted on a 45hp 4x4 tractor with FEL be with a manual mill .I realize it would be slower than hydraullics, but could it save a lot of back breaking work. Also the cost of a winch and manual mill would probably be a fair amount less than a hydraullic mill.I would like to skid the logs out of my woods .Pull the logs onto the sawmill deck & also roll the logs if quartersawing.Would this work well? Thanks!

[T Welsh]

Any thing can work if you have the frame of mind. can it be done,sure. would it be a lot of work,sure. one thing I do see happening while using a f,e,l on a tractor is banging the mill up. I have a 4x4 tractor loader and a skid steer, both have quick tach adapters on front for pallet forks,grapple. I always use the skid steer with grapple and I almost never place the log on the bed of the mill,I place them on the lift arms and let the mill load itself. but seeing how you want to stay on  a low budjet, it will work, you just have to be careful about loading,turning and unloading lumber. don,t ask me how I know this!! you guessed it, smacked the head with a log on tractor coming in for a landing on the mill bed. I do not do it any more. 6 hrs of work and testing to get it back cutting straight. Tim

[Larry]

I only used my tractor mounted winch a couple of times with my manual mill.  That was to roll a few monster logs onto the mill that the FEL would not pick up.

I used the FEL to turn quite a few logs that I couldn't roll with a canthook.  The canthook was always first choice as it is so much faster.

I use the FEL equipped with forks constantly with my old manual mill and new hydraulic mill.  Load logs, carry away slabs, and lumber.  I would sell my mill if I had to give up my tractor.

A tractor is at best a poor substitute for hydraulics on a mill but a great complement machine.

[bandmiller2]

Kioti,your a machinest,look up the Piney woods turner /clamp here on this forum.Build the turner then a dead deck to roll logs on the mill.If you use the loader to put logs on the bed its just a matter of time before the mill gets damaged,sorry but its the truth. Frank C.

[thecfarm]

I have a manual mill too. I put all my logs onto 2 logs,with my FET,level with the mill, and roll the logs on by hand,with a peavey. I can only put about 6 logs on at one time.But I never move my mill. If pulling the logs onto the mill I think you would need a roller for the cable to ride on to when winching a log onto the mill. I would not want to do that. Things happen. I have a 3 pt winch on my tractor,but I would not use it to pull logs on to the mill. I'm not to careful with stuff.

[paul case]

here is the link to the pineywoods turner.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,39860.0.html

i have also seen some low cost hand winch set ups for manual mills. setting your logs on 2 logs or bunks and rolling them on the mill with a cant hook will work better than you think. a hand winch set up may make it easier on the big uns. one such set up was just a heavy wooden post set deep in concrete just to the outside of the mill(past the head travel on the backstop side) with a hand crank winch bolted to the side away from the mill. cant hook on the end of the cable.
my mill came with a version of this but it is conected to the mill frame. it dont do much for the pulling logs on to the mill but it does help turn the biguns. however it is slow. and at that it is probably faster than you could climb on a tractor, hook up the winch rigging and pull some and shut her all back down and unhook it.
keep in mind that especially with a manual mill, the log will get much lighter as yousaw some off. on the real big uns i cut off a 4'' or 6'' slab cant from the top and slide it off to lightern the load.

a tractor with front end loader and forks or and old forklift  or bobcat IS a great help around a mill. manual or automated.
pc

[paul case]

 

[ahlkey]

Another issue is the amount of dirt that that the logs will gather in that process.  If you don't remove it before sawing your blades will dull real fast.  Nearly always better to lift rather than drag.  One thing I did when I first started out was to build a heavy-duty 3pt pallet type lift.   It allowd me to roll the logs onto it in the woods and then I could roll then directly to my log deck.  I used lumber beams and could hold & lift much larger logs than the front FEL.  Overall the costs to build was minimal. 

[sigidi]

I'm soon to take delivery of a skid steer bobcat to help me around the mill, just to make things a bit easier on the old body ya know  ;)