I have a 2013 525C skidder for sale, a prospective buyer has asked me if I can fit a 525B winch as he claims the hydraulic winch is too slow, and the mechanical winch is faster, my question is, can it even be possible to fit a 525B winch? Thanks for your help,
I believe that would require a pto drive. Does your c model have that?
Thanks for the reply, I will check for the PTO, Regards, Graham
You can run a pto winch off of a hydraulic motor. Deere does it that way now and it is much improved! Have one on a 640L. If the customer wants the best winch find him an old deere 6000, if he wants a really good winch that is fast find him a Franklin 38 (they made two they called a 38 or 40, the older ones had band brakes, yuk... the newer ones had clutch and steel brakes in the front and had electric over hydraulic controls. Very fast and strong with the right drum springs. I personally watched one break a brand new 3/4" swedged cable like dental floss with a line pull gauge reading 57,000 pounds when it broke. This was in the 90s when that winch came out, and Bobby Oates from Franklin, who designed that winch, was there tweaking it for us. When that cable broke he said, "good enough" lol. This was on a brand new 170 we just purchased. I have 4 of those winches still, 2 on skidders and 2 on a shelf). And in my 30 years of experience in mountain logging with all kinds of paint, if he wants winch trouble round up a Gearmatic, Carco, or just let him have a Cat winch...lol. The Hysters on those old 518 were fair, but still had brake troubles. Deere makes the only real logging winch these days. Others build more like a pipeline winch, and they can't take it.