Farmi winch cable replacement

[colincb183]

We have a Farmi jl306 winch that my uncle bought new in 1980 and it came with 7/16" cable. But I don't know what length.  Right now there is about 100' on the drum and it has been shortened over the years.  The cable was about shot when I started using it and I am finally getting around to replacing it.  My question is should should I replace it with 7/16" or 3/8".  And if i go with 7/16", how much? I am assuming it has a capacity for 165' of 3/8".  Any advice on this and on replacing the cable would be much appreciated!  Thanks in advance

[york]

Give Farmi a call,i would go with the fatter cable,not sure but think they 165 ft.

Just replaced mine,old Farmi and got it from Northeastimp at Spencer,ny

albert

[thecfarm]

I have no idea about the size of the cable,what size tractor is in front of it? But I do know about lenght. If it's on the drum snug all set,it's just when you release the tension to pull the cable out is when the trouble might start. That 165 may work week for a few months than one day something might happen and you might have to shorten it up. Mighty hard to walk even 100 feet out through the woods among a bunch of trees. You will be able to get more 7/16 on the drum than 3/8. I run 3/8 but I have a 40hp tractor.

[Maine372]

when we bought a new farmi 351 in 2004 it had 165ft. but with all the ins and outs in its life the inside was shot before we ever got to the last 80 feet so it went to waste. when we bought a new cable we cut it in half. used one end and saved the other for when that is worn out. less cable on the drum means a stronger pull too.

[colincb183]

cfarm, the tractor is 43hp so not much bigger than yours and I am sure 3/8 would get the job done.  But I think you have 7/16 and 5/16 mixed up, 7/16 is bigger.  The weight of the cable was one thing considered for thickness but not length. So maybe going with a shorter length would be better.  I can get within 50 feet or so of most of the trees I cut anyways so I don't really need three times that much cable. Thanks guys, keep it coming!

[thecfarm]

colincb,there is no think about it.  ;D  Thanks for catching me on that. My Father had the great idea of replacing the 3/8 with ½. The bigger cable was just too stiff for a small drum on a 3 pt winch. As soon as the tension was released it was almost as bad as a recoil on a starter that was let loose. That idea and cable did not last long.
I would get at least 100 feet. I have used that much to get myself out of a mess.
For others that are close to Labonville check thier prices on the cable for the Norse winch. The cable that was all set up for a Norse winch was cheaper than buying the cable that came off a wooden spool.
I also made up some short chains,4 feet. I use them alot too. Easier to pull a foot of chain through a chocker than 4 feet.

[colincb183]

Ive had that problem with the cable that is on right now, besides being frayed and worn the cable always seems to be loose on the drum.  I don't think i'm going to put as much on as possible but I think about 120' should be plenty. I've looked at Labonivlle to get prices before and they seem fair, but they're too far to get cable shipped.  I have another uncle that can get cable and I'm still waiting to hear back from him on prices. As for the chokers, I already have a few 4 footers with pins on the end and they work great, my 8 foot chains don't get used much

[Maine372]

if you need an 8ft chain I don't think your 43hp tractor will move the log. I cut one pine butt log that was 42 inches; I rolled it to the landing with the front bucket.

[thecfarm]

We hauled ALOT of white pines out that size,42 inches. Was not too many at 16 feet though.     We would cut them down to 10 footers.One reason why the Norse winch was chosen over the others. The top pulley was higher than the others. I know it did the 2120 Ford no good doing that either. I only regret I did not take pictures of some that we hauled out with that poor tractor. The guy doing the trucking for us asked once,Is that tractor twitching all these logs out?

[Maine logger88]

I had 100 feet of 3/8 on my jl303 I don't know how much bigger a 306 is but I had it on a 50 horse 2wd with 800 pounds hanging off the front and pulled way more too a twitch than I should have and never had much trouble with breaking the cable,had to shorten it a few times when it got bad though. One thing I always worried about with the farmi was the cable breaking and slinging back at me never had it happen though luckily

[thenorthman]

To start with I don't know much about the tractor winches, but there should be some kind of adjustment to add a little drag to the free spool, should keep it from birds nesting on ya.

The second thing is when replacing cable make sure it comes off the spool the same direction onto the drum (like a cassette tape), if you get it going opposite of where its natural bend is then you will surely be fighting birds nesting...

Also, as far as length of cable is conserned, more the merrier, lets you put snatch blocks and what not in there when needed.  That being said, you don't want to fill the drum to capacity, if the cable doesn't spool up perfectly, which it rarely does, than you get cable in places its not supposed to be causing all sorts of headache and pain.

[thecfarm]

Yes,there is a drag,too much drag and it pulls out hard,too little and it won't hold it in place tight.
Most of my problems came from winching in hard and than releasing it to drop the load.
I never break the cable when winching in,no matter how hard I was working the poor winch. What I mean is a good cable. I can tell when it's getting bad and time to do something. I have had it come apart,but it just fell on the ground. No coming at me at a fast rate of speed. Of all the twitching we did with it we only broke the cable a couple times. I can tell when they are getting bad,lots of little pieces are coming out from the center.

[Maine logger88]

I didn't mean you or anyone else didn't know when the cable was getting bad it just always worried me especially after seeing some skidder cables snapping and slinging back I bet they would cut a man in half or at least seriously hurt

[thecfarm]

I know that Maine logger. I don't think a tractor has the power of a skidder winch to cause much damage to a person,but I'm not taking any chances with my 3pt winch either.  ;D

[Maine logger88]

OK good I just don't wanna come across as a know it all and I'm sure they don't come apart like a skidder cable just any time I see a cable with a big strain on it I wanna hide behind something haha.

[thecfarm]

Good idea,  ;D   better safe than sorry.

[colincb183]

Alot of the trouble I had with the cable also came from winching in hard and dropping the trees so that would unwind the drum making it loose then when i would pull in the end  again it would be a tangled mess and almost impossible to pull out by hand.
As far as snapping a cable, i'm always been careful not to overwork the winch or cable but things can happen and that is my only concern with the 3/8".

[thecfarm]

colincb,it does help if you can pull the cable out until the slack is all out by hand after that happens too. Than winch in the cable.
I also will hook onto a good size log and pull all the cable out and drive the tractor away slowly,don't pull the cable out of the drum,and than I winch myself to the log. Or hook onto a tree.This will make it wind up onto the drum nice and pretty. May have to do it once a week,once a month. Just depends.
If I hook onto a good size log and I can't move it,I always drive the tractor forward because probably the cable has buried itself into the drum. I should not say always either. I can do that 10 times and it's never buried itself into the drum. But the first time I don't do it,it has buried itself.