Radio remote control skidder winches

cory

Tree House enthusiast
Joined
Aug 23, 2008
Messages
26,041
Location
CT
This is the second French vid I have seen of a skidder op apparently using a radio remote to run the winch while out of the cab. Never seen this before. I guess I can see the potential advantages but are they worth the extra cost and complexity?

Hmmm, it won't embed.

http://youtu.be/hWiqZOWo8wA
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
Only saw it in cable skidder vids...
 
Saves needing a choker setter, should pay for itsself quickly. I liked the double winch/fairlead setup! Oh, and the red log tape...
 
A few years ago I had a job removing 6 big firs on a slope in a garden, I had planned to strip them, flop them and find someone to take the trunks (working on 3 day minimum) I found a local sawmill who said to me he knew a bloke with a "tractor" who could get them out in a day €1700. Well I had €2500 on the job so I thought "ok in and out in a day, I'll give it a go" so we stood waiting for the tractor and then over the hill this articulated twin winch debardeur trundled.
Out jumped a guy of about 5ft full of beans. Anyway we set to work, he would reverse up to the tree, stand on the machine, choke the tree at 10ft drive off, get out with a short bar 660. He had a remote on his belt and would tension at the base of the tree, then bore cut and fell using the winch on his belt. He could even turn the trunk for snedding by setting the choker on the side.
He was a demon, it was 33 degrees (in the high nineties), biting flies everywhere, we were chipping the brash, I was drinking pints and barely pissed all day.
He was an owner operator, he certainly impressed me.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8
....the winch cats at the ski area have a remote for the winch

Those things have every conceivable option, right??



Mik, good story. "Debardeur" means 'skidder?' What is snedding?
 
Ah, limbing or brushing out is how we say it. Might have to try your word out on the crew..
 
That six-point limbing technique thread talks of snedding, and there is competitive speed shedding mixed in with the other events at some timber sports events.
 
For pulling trees, it is the cat's ass.
You can have the operator standing right next to you and communicate directly, face to face.


Just don't forget to put the antenna on.

I lost a 250 year old beech in a castle park sideways a few years ago.
The winch started pulling, then stopped. I was yelling: " Pull, pull, what the f... are you doing" and the tree came back, broke the hinge and fell sideways.
Luckily to the side whrere there was room on the lawn for it.
Turned out the guy had forgotten to mount the antenna, so he lost signal right at the crucial moment.

I still rag him about it every time we use him.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #13
I wonder why you never see them afaik in the USA
 
Imbedding

Warn has a radio remote option on some of their winches, even there it would be handy.

It is! I have a small winch mounted on my chip truck that I use for loading logs, but I also used it in this video for tensioning a semi vertical speedline...it worked great!

I started using my remote at about 6:40

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zSGDfovMJXo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15
Hey Cody, how ya been? How's your buddy doin who had the kick back injury?
 
Doing okay pard. Has been a busy year for me, so I took this last week off, and it has been nice to laze around for a few days. I know he has been back to work for a while, but not sure how it healed.

BTW, is my video visible on here?
 
No, and I couldn't make it work for some reason.

You must click the link and view it in another browser.

?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #20
I liked the vid, different than most vids these days as it was solo. Nice use of the remote control speed line, creative. Why did you come down 1/2 way thru the limb removal, to get more slings? Are you solo to save costs or is nobody available? You use a lot of new style gear, interesting. How'd it go with the fw chunking? It would be a pita if you had a chunk end up in a bad spot re dropping more chunks, ya know the way a chunk lands in the way and it might make successive chunks ricochet into the propane tank. I'm guessing, with all that room out there, he lets you dump chips on site? Btw, what species was that?
 
Thanks Pard. I did come down for more slings. I work solo most of the time by choice, because I don't feel like dealing with the headaches of having someone around to try to find stuff for them to do. I like to be challenged to figure out ways to do things solo, but, make no mistake, I realize the days when it is invaluable to have some help...even for something so simple as to untie a knot, send up more slings, tension a speedline, gas up a powersaw...but it works for me. I am getting real close to owning a mini skidsteer to hopefully help with some of my solo endeavors :) As for the climbing gear...I love to try new climbing and rigging styles as I was born to do this work, and I have been very fortunate to gather valuable pointers both online with folks like found on here, and with awesome folks who have had a hankerin to help me like Dave (DMc), and his lovely Wife. I don't know why they chose to help a bloke like me, but I'm sure glad they have. Anyhow, I have been so busy with work that I find it challenging to try new techniques and gadgets, other than those that work real well for the time being.

The chunking down went fine, and you are correct, it is challenging to get the pieces to land where you want them without ricocheting, but I am pretty good at it :) I took two days to do this job, so the first day I took the tree down, chipped what little brush there was into my truck, and loaded some wood for a payload, and came back the next day for the rest of the wood, and my check :)

The tree was a beetle infested, Ponderosa Pine.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #24
Good info, Tarz. Stay safe.
 
Back
Top