Farmi/Tractor winches?

How many of you guys use these? Have been looking at either getting a tractor with winch or a small cable skidder for small scale logging and firewood production. What are your thoughts?

 

Welcome to the club, Mainelogger!
I think your gonna like it here!

 

What part of Maine you from?

 

Aroostook county

 

Nice! Thats our favorite place to ride! Been coming there every year since 2001

 

My brother uses a winch-I think it's a Farmi-behind a 35 hp Kubota. It has worked well for skidding tops for firewood.

 

Well...aroostook is the biggest county east of the Mississippi (6800sq miles) ....but, I'd go out of my way to meet a friend and fellow FHC'er

 

Welcome to the club Mainelogger ! I don't have much to add, but after seeing the winch chipper1 has on his tractor it will be one of the firrst implements I purchase when I get a tractor. Maybe he'll "chip" in here and show us all a pic or two...

 

I had a Farmi JL601 years ago. Used it on small jobs where a skidder was too big.
It was the catzazz!

 

I have a Farmi 351p on a NH 1920, 33hp. Works great. They obviously have their limitations. I have access to 4 cable skidders and two grapple skidders if I ever need them for big wood. Perks of dating a loggers daughter!




This is my old winch, Farmi Norbit.

 

Farmi skidding winch

 

Wallenstien makes winches also.

 

Welcome Mainelogger!
The nice thing about a tractor is the long list of other jobs it can do! I have a winch/grapple combo and it gets the job done.

 

I have a Norse, such a life saver at times. Go for it!

 

One of my used logging winches , a Igland 4001 on a Yanmar 336d , I also have a small Norse 180 for my MF1020 and I just scored an unbranded Scandinavian hydraulic logging winch .
The only expense on the winches have been a few extra slides and I replaced the cable in the 4001 with a 150' of new swagged 3/8" wire rope , the 180 got a new 5/16" wire rope but that one was free
Haven't gone over the hydro one yet , not sure what tractor I'm gonna run it on .
Depending on what your intended use a skidder can be had for reasonable money and is more efficient at dragging wood out but it's kind of a one trick pony where a tractor is more of a Swiss army knife .
I my situation a small cable skidder would not be a good thing for me even though it would make my life easier at times , I have access to thousands of acres and a key to the gate but none of it is mine , I only cut dead or blowdowns and clear a few house lots for the owner .
When I have my 1020 behind the gate they see it as a cute little setup , if I had a skidder , they would think different even though I play by the rules .
I haven't had a hitch that I couldn't get out with the 180 but I'm not cutting in big tree country and I'm not cutting to make a living .



I'm pretty sure that any winch you decide on if you go that route will be a bread winner .

 

I'm here, little late for the party, but I'm available to stay late and take care of the cleanup .
I have a forester on a kubota l3800 and its a good tool to have. One noce things is that it adds ballast to a tractor that has no butt if you will. I also use it a lot to do directional felling, I hook a chain at 20' or so and then notch, bore to set the hinge and then a back below the bore 4-6" depending on the size of the tree and many other factors(youtube step cut Daniel Murphy ). I find cool little uses for it all the time such as unloading logs from the trailer, hook a choker to one in the center and give it a tug and out it comes.
One suggestion is to get one with a folding plow, it will help you to make it over stumps and to not get hung up in the mud or on a log pile if using the plow to stack logs.
They are plentiful out your way, so take your time and get a used one that's like new for 2/3 of retail. I was very tempted to do that myself, but found this one locally. This one was used and abused and needs to have the clutch replaced. If I ever sell it to get a newer one I will most likely take a drive out there and make a little vacation out of it.

 

I have an Igland 3501 behind my 52 HP Massey Ferguson. The Norse brand sold by Labonville are made by Igland. I picked mine up at the Northeast Logging Show 4 years ago in VT. You just missed the one in Bangor this spring. The show is a great place to buy because you can see all the different models and make a decent deal; they don't want to have to lug them back to their stores! Best implement I've ever bought!
The day I brought it home:

Skidding some small stuff that was too big for the forestry mower.

Some of my modifications (maybe things to look for when buying a winch of your own). It came with one chain box, but IMHO it was not deep enough so I extended the sides

I made my own box for the other side as well. The mounting holes were already there. I have since welded these boxes on since they tended to get smashed/knocked loose from the logs.

This shows the chainsaw scabbard I made and my self-releasing snatch block (VERY handy!)

This blue cable end swivels. The winch came with a hook, but it did not swivel and this caused the cable to constantly twist when skidding logs and eventually caused a cable fray. The only place I found these were at Hudson in NY. The Scandinavian countries have them (why they don't supply them with their winches I don't know), but Hudson was the only place domestically I could find them.

 

Did you add the receiver hitch to your winch or did it come with it? Any detail photos? What about the trailer? That thing is sweet! More details please!