Skidding trees with a Taco and 12k Winch

Posting this in hopes someone out there may have experience with this. I am putting a 12k Tiger Shark Winch and new Body Armor front bumper on my 2011 Taco. My wife and I recently just purchased some land and are going to build our first home. We have many large trees that we have unfortunately had to cut down. Has anyone used a Taco with a winch to skid large trees? I need to move the trees around the property. Ideally a tractor or excavator would be the best way but we are on a super tight budget. I am sure the truck can handle it but my concern is with wear and tear to the truck and frame. Is this a terrible idea I have or if I practice good winching technique and take it easy, is this okay to do? Thank you advance.

 

If you have a tow package you can pull about 6000 lbs. You can assume the frame can take that load. Also note that's a static load. Getting a running start to yank something out can go over that. Also angles change how much you can pull or winch. An electric winch is designed for periodic use; watch the temperatures on power cables. Professional loggers use hydraulic winches.

 

Sounds like a lot of abuse

 

Thank you, was thinking that might be the case.

 

Thank you. I was wondering how much abuse i would do to the vehicle. Well back to plan b, need to find a tractor

 

I skid trees with my 8K winch on occasion. It's not ideal. A winch is slow and drains the battery. Quickly. Get several winch extension lines and several pulleys rated far higher than you think you need. Use the pulleys to get mechanical advantage. This will take stress off of the mechanical components and also reduce the draw in your battery. A winch can draw 450 amps, and at best your alternator can replace 130. That's assuming you have the high amp alternator and have the truck RPMs around 3000.

 

The tractor is a much better idea.

 

Look into renting a Kubota mini-excavator on tracks. You can get some lift on the tree to avoid digging it into the ground, which is likely using a winch.

 

Getting the butt of the log off the ground is important. I used to work for a forestry outfit (for 10 years) that did a lot of skid steer logging. We used skid steers on tracks. I would recommend a skid steer (even a wheeled machine) over a mini excavator for many reasons. In many ways, a skid steer is better than a tractor, unless the tractor is properly outfitted with a Farmy winch/ skidding plate on a 3 point hitch.

 

RENTAL

I have owned a few small tractors as well as running all sorts of heavy equipment. A Tacoma is no match for proper equipment. You also mention MANY trees. You also say you have a super tight budget. So you try to save a buck and damage your truck. How is your super tight budget now?

Trees are much heavier than most people realize. Now drag them and find that weight doesn’t move very easily. http://www.sherrilltree.com/media/pdf/products/Log_WeightChart.pdf

Now a “mini” excavator may work like suggested above. But most mini’s are too small to be of any use. I would use a larger wheel loader or a mid sized with forks and cut the trees down to size. Excavators are horrible to drag with. A wheel loader and forks can scoop them up and move them around best. When we did clearing that’s what we used. Excavators only moved the trees out of the way or stacked them. Loaders did the moving.

 

Depending on where you are located and the type and size of trees, you may be able to find a logging company to log them and remove them. I cut down a lot of trees on a mountain track in VA to build a cabin. A local guy had a loader and removed them all for firewood. Also, there are people who can bring a portable sawmill to your site to produce usable lumber of the closest and easiest logs to access. We also had people who used mules to skid logs out. There are many possible options. Certainly a skid steer or front end loader would be better than a mini-ex. My neighbor was a mini-excavator artist and would not hesitate on something like this. Cut up the trees. You need to give up using your truck for this.

 

Like you I have been clearing a piece of property for the past 5 years, only work on it in the winter. We plan to begin building this Spring/Summer. We purchased a tractor, John Deere 770 with front end loader, it was used and cost 10k 5 years ago. It has been the biggest help with moving timber around. Feel your pain, without heavy equipment clearing a wooded lot it a lot of work. We are not allowed to burn wood here so everything that is cut must be hauled to the dump. Using your truck for this does not seem like a good option to me.

 

How big are the trees, is the property flat or hilly, is the ground soft or firm? Pictures would be helpful.

 

It is a natural bowl, depression, with a lot of little hills. Very dense forest. Logs are mainly Sugar Maple and some of them are as large as 40" in diameter. Have been cutting into 16 foot logs. I am thinking that a tractor is going to be the best bet as much as I would like to have an excuse to buy a winch. I didn't realize how much AMPS a winch can draw and it sounds like it puts a huge wear on the alternator. So, back to the drawing board.

 

Advertise for free fire wood come and cut all you want and maybe you can get some of it gone for nothing

 

It will work and you can do safely. I have moved a lot of trees clearing land and moving trees for better access when cutting firewood with an 8,000 Warn. Trick is to line up with front bumper up against a tree close to the fairlead (6-8 inch tree is ideal) then run cable to load. I normally leave vehicle in neutral. This isolates vehicle from any stress and puts it all on the winch and bumper. I went through three winch rebuilds and two motors worth of use most of it in this mode without any damage to vehicle or bumper. This was with my FJ-40 before the Tacoma but still applicable. A good quality snatch block is also handy lining things up sometime since there isn't always a tree in the perfect place for a backup.

 

You can buy a used tractor for $3-4k, but a front end loader would be even better. With the loader, you can lift the 16' logs onto your portable saw mill, and then you have the wood to build your house or barn! Win win! You will save more than enough money to pay for the saw mill. Wood is expensive! Good luck!

This is what we have: https://woodlandmills.ca/product/hm126/
With the extension, it will cut 16' logs. On sale, it was about $4k

 

Logs that size are shockingly heavy. Once you add the friction of dragging them on the ground... You're gonna need some horsepower. Hold your head high, you've got some seriously big wood!

 

A group of neighbors and I all heat our homes with wood in winter, and cut a lot of wood in the forest summers. SW Colorado mountains, sometimes pretty rough terrain. Both dead wood and green, mostly ponderosa pine and aspen, the green mostly coming off some landowners who need lots cleared. Man that green wood is heavy, esp bucked up and putting rounds in the trailer by hand. But I have no issues dragging whole trees out using a chain and the trailer hitch, esp in 4 low. I would rather do that than use a winch as others have said truck has 6000 lb + towing capacity and I prefer stout chains to cables (or straps) anyway. Have used front tow hooks a few times too. Do this every summer never had any problems.

 

I would rent a tractor with a front end loader on it. I would also invest in a Stihl chainsaw and get an extra bar and chain. You can take the saw off the bar if you hang up and put the other bar on to cut the first bar out. Save the wear and tear on the Tacoma.