Skidding winch

crmorse

Member

Equipment
'20 RTV-XG850, '16 L47 TLB, '06 JCB 506CHL, '99 JD 455G, 1953 Ford 8N
Nov 28, 2016
102
0
16
Anniston, AL
I had the opportunity to use my winch again this past weekend. I needed to pull 1000' of 1/0 triplex cable up to the construction site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkLrOX0Rjls


This was a perfect use-case as it played to the capstan's strengths... I have a 600' rope meaning I only had to do setup 1 intermediate pull and the ability to progressively slip to control the speed made it much easier to work with my son who was following the leading edge to avoid snags. And it wasn't a very heavy pull. It probably topped out at about 500lbs. The one time I was able to see my pressure gauge move it only went to 100PSI which translates to about 500 lbs so the math works.

Once we got to the last bit where I had clear line of sight I cranked up the speed a bit and probably got close to 60fpm. That was about as fast as I could comfortably pay off the rope. Any faster and I've have just been dumping it anywhere instead of making (somewhat) nice loops on the ground.

As you'll see in the video, even with the taller capstan and the fairlead now lined up perfectly I still had problems with the rope wanting to climb over itself. What I eventually found with practice is that if I use a lighter touch on the tension I could find a happy medium where it didn't slip too much and it didn't bunch either. By the end when I was pulling more load I added an extra loop which helped reduce slipping but still let me keep only very light tension on the rope.

I think with the capstan all the way full of loops (about 14) I might be able to get a decent heavy pull and still be able to balance the tension enough to avoid the rope bunching issue but I'm not sure. It definitely worked better than before but still not as good as the Norwood videos unless they were pulling hollow logs. The other adjustment that seemed to help was shortening the toplink to tilt the winch backwards some. I didn't have a chance to try any other ropes yet.

I'll try some heavier logs next week and report back.

P.S. Stomper, one thing you need to have for sure is some way to very quickly stop the capstan. If the rope does bunch over on top of itself you lose all ability to release tension so it will pull until something breaks--usually shredding your rope. In my experience, it always happens right before you need to stop suddenly.

I don't use my flow control valve for actual flow control (engine throttle is much more effective for that) but it does make a handy cut-off. I mounted mine on the tractor side of the frame to keep it safe from logs when dragging but I wish I'd found a more accessible place.
 
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Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Sorry for the late reply. I have been very busy lately and haven’t had much time to be on here. That did seem to work much better than before but I still can’t understand the rope wanting to climb up on itself. None of the other winches I’ve seen have a tendency to do that. I was just on the shop today looking at the stuff I have collected for this project and thinking I better make some time to work on it. I haven’t got my rear remotes installed yet either so I think I will hook the capstan motor up to my 3rd function just to see what rpm it runs at.
 

crmorse

Member

Equipment
'20 RTV-XG850, '16 L47 TLB, '06 JCB 506CHL, '99 JD 455G, 1953 Ford 8N
Nov 28, 2016
102
0
16
Anniston, AL
I just recently ran across my PortableWinch capstan. Since the new one works better I won't have any need for it. If you haven't gotten one yet I'll make you a great deal on one (slightly used).
 

Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Looking forward to recieving it.:)
Now I can get on with building this thing.
 

mike paulson

Member
Jan 11, 2012
226
24
18
ulster, NY
No problem at all with with tossing around different ideas, im open to all suggestions and ideas. After all the title does say skidding winch.
I have thought about swapping the electric motor for a hydraulic motor for use in feeding logs into my firewood processor that I am designing. Similar to what the wallenstien processors have. I was just going to use a hydraulic motor for the winch but I didnt know how I would be able to free spool it, so thats the idea I came up with.
I think it would work good for the application you are talking about. And I dont think you were correct when you said that you suck at fabrication. You did an awesome job with the capstan winch fabrication. Thats the thing about building your own stuff with your own ideas, there is bound to be some modifications in the process. That’s the whole fun part in fabrication.

BTW I picked up that 15.4 cu.in motor for my capstan build. It has high torque at a good rpm for my tractors flow rate and pressure. Now I just need to get the capstan spool and find time to build it
Hi Stomper, could you provide a make and model of the hydraulic Motor you got for this build and also where you bought it. Thanks in advance.
 

Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Mike the link below is the motor that I went with because with all the research that I have done and and lots of help from crmorse it seems that this one should get the rpm and torque that I need/want with my tractors hydraulic specs. At least according to the flow chart in the instruction booklet anyway. I havent had time to test it out yet though. Been way to busy. Princess Auto would be canada’s equivalent to Harbour Freight. Hope this helps.
https://www.princessauto.com/en/deta...or/A-p8490104e
 

mike paulson

Member
Jan 11, 2012
226
24
18
ulster, NY
Mike the link below is the motor that I went with because with all the research that I have done and and lots of help from crmorse it seems that this one should get the rpm and torque that I need/want with my tractors hydraulic specs. At least according to the flow chart in the instruction booklet anyway. I havent had time to test it out yet though. Been way to busy. Princess Auto would be canada’s equivalent to Harbour Freight. Hope this helps.
https://www.princessauto.com/en/deta...or/A-p8490104e
Was wondering if your going to plumb in a flow valve similar to Crmorse's. Might be a good idea to have it as a shut off so the capstan isn't spinning constantly whenever the tractors running and as a safety in case something goes squirrely
 

Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
I will if I have to but only if I have to reduce the rpm of the motor. I am going to install rear remotes with a valve that has a detent to keep the valve in the open position while operating the winch. I fabbed up the motor mount today.
 

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mike paulson

Member
Jan 11, 2012
226
24
18
ulster, NY
Very nice, I like the way you used channel steel to strengthen the motors mounting plate, I was planning on cutting 1/2 steel and putting support braces with small diagonals and welding into place, but your method looks clean and neat. If you don't mind me asking what shutoff valve are you planning on using.
 

Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Thanks. Yeah the top mount plate of the motor fit nicely inside of the 4x4x1/4 square tube. I havent sourced out the exact valve yet but it will be an open center with power beyond. It will go from the pb of my loader valve to the rear remote valve the back to my third function valve. I will be getting it for the same place I purchased the motor.
 
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Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada

Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Got a bit more work done today. Chopped up my existing trailer mover and replaced the upright with the new and improved version. Not sure why my pictures are loading sideways. Maybe because Im uploading them from my phone.

PS- fixed pic added by moderator.
fixed online with with https://www194.lunapic.com
 

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Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Thank mike. I had some time to hook up the capstan motor to my 3rd function just to see how I did with the calculations on sizing the motor and I’m pretty stoked because it came in right where it I was hoping it would be. At idle Im getting around 55-60 rpm and with a slight bump of the throttle it picks up nicely. I also picked up the rest of the stuff to install my rear remotes. Just have to make time to do it now.
 

mike paulson

Member
Jan 11, 2012
226
24
18
ulster, NY
Thank mike. I had some time to hook up the capstan motor to my 3rd function just to see how I did with the calculations on sizing the motor and I’m pretty stoked because it came in right where it I was hoping it would be. At idle Im getting around 55-60 rpm and with a slight bump of the throttle it picks up nicely. I also picked up the rest of the stuff to install my rear remotes. Just have to make time to do it now.
Great to hear about your RPMs, you know your on track now
 

coachgeo

Well-known member

Equipment
L225 w/woods Few Mowers & Back Blade, D722 in Motorcycle (Triumph Tiger), LMTV
Nov 16, 2012
2,460
32
48
Southern OH
Got a bit more work done today. Chopped up my existing trailer mover and replaced the upright with the new and improved version. Not sure why my pictures are loading sideways. Maybe because Im uploading them from my phone.
Yep... phone attaches little codes to the pictures saved file that tell phones, tablets, newest computers and software... which way is up.... but 99% of small forums like this one do not have the tools to read those codes... so it shows the pic the way it was orginaly stored in device picture was shot with.... only recently has new forum software started becoming available that can read these codes during uploading so they get placed into a post correctly.

PS- fixed the orientation and uploaded it in original post above
 
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Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Well I spent some time on the winch project the past few days and it's getting close to being wrapped up. I built a mount for my valve that positions it directly above the existing loader valve. I'm real happy with where it is. This is going to make it easy for running the hydraulic lines. I also fabbed up a mount for the rear remotes that will be U bolted to the ROPS. The fabbing of the winch mount/trailer mover (or what ever you want to call it) that attaches to the 3 point hitch is also done. All that is left to do is to paint it all and run the hydraulic lines. I didn't get any pictures but I will get some tomorrow. Can't wait to try this thing out.
 

mike paulson

Member
Jan 11, 2012
226
24
18
ulster, NY
Well I spent some time on the winch project the past few days and it's getting close to being wrapped up. I built a mount for my valve that positions it directly above the existing loader valve. I'm real happy with where it is. This is going to make it easy for running the hydraulic lines. I also fabbed up a mount for the rear remotes that will be U bolted to the ROPS. The fabbing of the winch mount/trailer mover (or what ever you want to call it) that attaches to the 3 point hitch is also done. All that is left to do is to paint it all and run the hydraulic lines. I didn't get any pictures but I will get some tomorrow. Can't wait to try this thing out.
Nice Stomper, I just received my motor and flow valve and bought the steel for my project this week and fabbed the mount plate for the motor to sit on. Pretty tight tolerance between the motors mounting bolt holes and motor body. Where are you getting your lines made. I was thinking of my local NAPA store who I do alot of business with but hate giving them an order without knowing what I'll have to fork out especially when the cost is one I won't be able to pass on, lol.
 

Stomper

Member

Equipment
2017 L2501. Landpride Mower. Farm King Snow Blower. DIY Root Bucket grapple.
Jun 30, 2017
240
6
18
Northern Canada
Well here are the pictures I promised. Better late than never. I have to make the legs for it yet and I was in too much of a hurry that I forgot all about a chainsaw holder. I will build one or buy one and then drill and tap the tube and bolt it on. I know where its going to go so bolting will work and I Wont have to repaint. I hate painting
 

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