Home brew log winch/grapple build

I hope this isn't like looking at pics of other people's kids but someone twisted my arm for a build thread. I'm not going to mention any names but his initials are Canadian border VT, with some help from some man in the NH mountains



This is the backbone of it. I spied 2 pc. of that 6x6 sq tube with that angle already cut on the ends. They were "drops" at the steel dist. and I knew what I would make out of them right away.


This was trying to figure out the angles and how far it would lower to the ground to attach the logs to. I had planned on waiting for a c/l cheap hydraulic winch to come along, so manual hook up was plan "a".


This was the start of the rear blade that serves as a parking break when winching it dig's into the ground. It also is an attachment point for multiple logs as well as a mini log pusher for minor stacking.


Mostly built


Hanging there, scratching my head on the cylinder size & mounting. Come along to simulate it's movement.


Gotta go, supper time.

 

Looking good!

 

Here is a couple of pics from a log trailer that my cousin over at "Footlong Milling" built out of a low boy.






That's Scotty Overkill guiding the log and my cousin running the winch. I have a video of it in action but I can't get it to load. Sorry.

 

looks great fuelrod .. now the reason I had to ask.. my great neighbor down the street is a fantastic welder fabricator just semi retired... his grandchildren live across street so I am gonna ask him to ball park me to build this and a grapple for the front..

Next question how many hp are ya using to run it?

 

Nice work fuel rod!

 

Who's Scotty Overkill?

 

Very nice.
Videos have to be loaded to YouTube then linked here.

 

Ok thanks. I'll have to get someone to show me how to do that!

 

With hydraulics, it's mostly about GPM & psi. I have 3 (pair) of outlets on the tractor and there are still 2 selector valves. Between the hydraulic top link and the winch, grapple, rotator & cyl on the butt plate, there are 5 hyd functions. As with most tractor jobs, weight is your friend. That tractor is 95HP. All said & done it would have been a lot cheaper just to buy a 3 pt winch, but that's no fun and like I mentioned, I was just going to use it manually, more like an "arch" until I found or built a winch. The grapple was planned for but I wanted to make one. I can barely run the computer to do this forum and building a grapple with all those moving parts, CAD is a must, way beyond my geek level. I'd be happy to give you any help I can building one. The winch new is about $1300, the grapple & rotator was the big "nut" at about $3k, then there's some hoses & stuff. I figure I'm in at about $5k

 

Now that's nice!!!
edit; just noticed those killer tong's, wow!

 

Wow, & I thought I had the world by the ba!!s with a dump trailer & loader tractor. Nice set up!

 

Thanks. He built it all out of mostly scrap steel. He bought a 12,000 lb winch at Harbor Freight for around $340 dollars I think. He has a manual hydraulic pymp cylinder on the boom itself with different adjustment holes. All in all the boom can reach 16 ft in the air if need be for other lighter lifting jobs. The heaviest log that we loaded so far I think was a little over 2,000 lbs. The only thing is that you have to manually push the boom. It's not too bad if the trailer is sitting level. But my cousin was talking about putting a motor on the boom to rotate it.

 

This is the other part of the main frame. A sheave go's in this end.


I don't know what you call these but they go from side to side and are welded in.



More metal, this made me more comfortable about that welded joint and gave the winch a place to sit.



Ready to join them together.



Got the winch on and some paint.

 

Those are both sweet, and I'll take either one please.

 

I'll tell you what fuelrod that is one sweet contraption! You did a heck of a job! Now you just have to go and find some logs to play with!

 

Time to wrap this up!

Some accessories & details.


and paint

 

The rear blade ended up not being tall enough to dig in, I had some worn tooth covers hanging around from the skid steer, so they got welded on.


This is how I intended to operate it until I found or made a grapple, after the log is winched in, lowering the boom down to the wood & short chaining it


then fully lift the boom to get as much of the log off the ground as possible.


It really works just fine as a winch (no grapple)

 

But then I just had to go & get a grapple and the rotator for it More levers & chit to play with,



and I was occasionally bumping that cylinder to the blade with logs so I made a telescoping guard and a hitch for a trailer.





I still testing it's limits

the end.

 

That is freaking awsome! Who cares how much it cost to build I am sure you had a heck of a fun time building it and even more fun using it! I'll bet you're going to find as much wood as you can just to play with your new toy, I know I would!:stacke: