Want to build a log arch

[Taylortractornut]

I helped build one a few  years ago that  was a heel type as the man I was helping called it.     It was a bit longer than a regular arch.       We made a heel like a knuckleboom has on the stick.   THis ewn near the  front of the  tongue. 
You backed over the log and     got the  heel over top of the  butt of the log and     hooked the choker off center of the log.   When the winch lifted it up  the front came off the ground first and  then heeled up and  then the end would raise.  This was a big arch made with the spindles and tires off a 2 ton truck.   

[kelLOGg]

I used mobile home axles, too. A chain hoist lifts the bulk of the log and a come-long lifts the remainder so I can get a 16 foot log completely off the ground to avoid dirt in the bark. Has a 40" throat.

Here's a pine going to the mill.

[Piston]

KelLOG,
That thing is a monster! 

[wvwoodchuck]

I didn't expect all the replies.  This is great and a lot of great suggestions and tips.  Thank you all very much.

KelLOGg...that thing is a beast!!

[Banjo picker]

I am glad I didn't put a pic. of my whimpy looking thing on this thread...KelLOGg I think maybe that is the strongest looking arch I have seen....   I like it....Tim

[kelLOGg]

I did build it big - it weighs 500 lbs - at the time I thought arches should be huge. Even though I can saw a max dia of only 32" I made the throat larger so I could carry several logs at once. I even put tail lights on it because I planned to take it to a farm we own an hour away but I have never done it. I took it on the road once for a short test drive and at 45 mph it bounced like a ping pong ball because it has ~100 psi in the tires; I watched the following traffic back up to a safer distance   Never took it on the road again. I'll transport it on a trailer.

It would be nice to make a smaller one, too - one that can be pushed by hand over a log, pivot up and lift one end and winch it out. that project is a long way off - if ever.  Thanks for the amazement, I think.
Bob

[thecfarm]

I like the tractor. Looks like an old Ford.

[kelLOGg]

I like the tractor. Looks like an old Ford.

It's a 641 year 1958. 6volt is the only thing I don't like about it but haven't taked time to convert it.
Bob

[Ron Scott]

A good selection of arches.

[caveman]

Kellogg, nice arch and high voltage pine.  Caveman

[kelLOGg]

Kellogg, ... high voltage pine.  Caveman

   Yeah, it was my neighbor's tree. They wanted to wait and see if it survived the strike even though all the needles were brown in the spring . The tree went through the summer and fall picking up larvae and when I milled it, it was soft on the outside and solid on the inside. I cut them some fence rails for fence repair.
Bob

[Furu]

kelLOGg

You said you used mobile home axles.  How exactly did you do it?  I assume you cut the axle leaving a short stub of axle and then connected that to the square tubing.  I am not seeing how that works without undue torque on the short axles that would break them or the connection.  Do you have any close up photos of the joint of axle to upright?  I am planning on doing something very similar only with 3" pipe that I have laying around.

[Spalted Dog]

I used standard trailer spindle, and hub and dot tires.  Local farm store.  No chasing parts in a yard.  $200 max w all new.  If I had more time I probably would have scrounged parts.  It has paid for itself many times.  I set it up somewhat like a decked out slighty oversized Logrite Fetching arch.  Its not as pretty though.  I can move logs around yards by hand, tractor, or atv.  I can pick a 30" log.  I have also used it at the small end of tree length trees with th tractor and winch.  I would use caution hauling at road speed, if the log isnt rock solid, bad things can will happen (i got lucky)

[rogdan]

 A couple of other designs:
 By a fellow Mountaineer using an engine hoist http://myfrenchforest.blogspot.com/2010/10/log-arch.html:

 winchless
Out of the box  http://www.bercomac.com/accessories-30-skidder.php
Another forum member http://www.forestryforum.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=2254

[Lud]

I built my arch out of an old transport disc.  The split axle  lets me straddle the log, lift with my tractor mounted winch and back over the manual mill as well.

 
I've hauled good size sticks on the country roads in 4th gear high range up to 6 miles.  Just showing that a bigger arch can have it's uses.