Mount a hydraulic winch on a Cat 966C?

[Garrik]

I have a 966C with forks that I use for logging - mostly decking and loading.

I saw a local guy with a wheel loader that he had mounted a hydraulic winch on - in the front, so that it pulled into the forks - and that looked like a pretty sweet setup for doing some limited cable skidding.

Anyone ever seen such a beast, or better yet have pictures? Any thoughts on where best to mount the winch - on the horizontal connector between the two main arms seems like one option (but then the winch goes up and down with the forks/bucket) and at the tow point on the front of the machine seems like the other option.

The hydraulic lines seem pretty easy to access - would just add an electrically actuated valve to switch the aux hydraulics between opening/closing the forks and driving the winch.

Thanks much!

 

[Nige]

I haven't ever seen anything like you are proposing but I will mention one thing. The crosstube on the lift arms, which you are considering as one option to mount the winch, is a casting with limited weldability. So installing mountings on it might not necessarily prove too dififcult, however getting them to stay on might be a tad more of a challenge.