Using come-a-long to get logs closer

Winch is great solution.

Also elevate nose of log to keep it from catching. Think skidding cone, sled, dray, or snatch block. Actually, a snatch block may also allow you to redirect your cable so you can use your truck. Of course, what you're pulling with (cable, rope, etc.) has to be up to the challenge.

If you have an anchor point, you can use a rope/cable from the log to the road/trail, then a pulley at the anchor point, then the rope/pulley to your truck/atv/tractor to pull along the direction of the road/trail to get the log up to the road/trail.

A winch is not going to light the world on fire with speed. I would look at a snatch block and use the truck.

Yeah it's a slow process with a lever hoist.

Tirfor's work the same except they have more range.

Iam a rope and chain man, 4 low and have at her.

Iam thinking about a hidden Warn winch next year, @ $1300 - $1500 I need to sleep on it.

jebatty said:

If you have an anchor point, you can use a rope/cable from the log to the road/trail, then a pulley at the anchor point, then the rope/pulley to your truck/atv/tractor to pull along the direction of the road/trail to get the log up to the road/trail.

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BobUrban said:

I would look at a snatch block and use the truck.

Click to expand...

X3 for the snatch block! Catch the 5" (1.5 ton) one at Northern tool occasionally on clearance for about $20. Treestuff.com for 150' of 1/2" bull rope (working load near a ton for <$100. Use a couple of FRS radios for communications. Teach your spouse to run the yarder. (The old dodge) Start saying "stop, Stop, STOP!" into the radio a good ten to twenty feet before the knot, clevis, and choker chain get sucked up into the snatch block and you can move a lot of wood.
Doesn't make sense but it must be the lack of air at 9500 feet because there's about a ten second delay between the first "stop" and when the yarder operator actually does.

I don't need one, but I wish I had an excuse to acquire a Lewis winch.

I use the skidding cone kit from Portable Winch usually with a small garden tractor, sometimes with a truck. The automatic release on the pulley works as advertised.

Yep, the skidding cone would be a great addition. Wish I had one.
I've seen plenty of homemade versions online but none that I really like. The Portable winch version seems pretty well thought out. I do like the whole winch package and it would be ideal for where I get my wood. But, a bit pricey for my tastes.
I'll keep sawing points on my logs for now.

Since I already had a lot of the other equipment, I purchased the cone by itself. The cone is bigger and thicker than I had thought, and so far, a lot more durable.

The cone reduces friction and keeps the front end of logs from catching, which potentially can do a lot of damage to the tow line and tow vehicle.

I'm pretty happy with my Smitty 8, especially for the 269 & free shipping I scored it for a few years ago. It's done a bit of skidding, some vehicle recovery, etc. It's also about 20% faster line speed than my Warn M-8000.

For intermittent & occasional use, a stock vehicle electrical system will be ok. The stock electrical on the Jeep runs the Smitty pretty good, but a few RPM's above idle help out a lot. The S-10 did not like the Warn very much so when the stock 100 amp alternator (only 40 amps at idle) fried a bearing I jumped up to a 145 amp AD-244 (full size HD option, known to put out 100 amps at idle) & solved those issues. The D-max has the same AD-244 stock and dual batteries so it don't care one bit.

A full size winch runs about 85 lb with about 90 ft of cable. A good portable mount will be another 25 lb or so. Long wiring and extra disconnect plugs are not cheap.

TSC has some nice snatch blocks.

http://www.winchdepot.com/Winches-W...8&t_s=300&t_pt=100702&t_pl=6426&t_pn=S/B97281