built an atv log/firewood trailer

[tapper2]

I've been checking out atv trailers with walking beams for firewood sticks and saw how pricey they are. Just spent a little time and built my own. I took some pics.

Uh-oh....when I go to upload it says:
 
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First time I've seen this..... ??
 

 

[John Mc]

Part of the system updates Jeff is working on. He's still working out a few bugs.

[tapper2]

Thanks for the input.
 





Now it's working!!

[bill m]

Looks good. When do we get to see pics. with logs on it? What size tires did you use?

[tapper2]

 

[thecfarm]

Where's the hyd loader?    That looks good.

[tapper2]

Those are just some old driving mower wheels/tires. They're not very big. Everything on the trailer was recycled. Stuff that was kicking around at a buddies yard. The steel tube was an old engine hoist that I just cut into the right shapes /angles and welded together. Tongue was from an old junk boat trailer. Should do just fine up on the lot.
Thanks, I have a loader but it's huge compared to this little trailer. I built this little guy at work when it gets slow. Took me around 7-8 hrs. (not including finding all of the parts) HOur here/ hour there.
I guess for now I'll just parbuckle up onto it.  Mostly will be small stuff though.

[mad murdock]

That is a nice looking little trailer! Nice scrounging job too. 

[thecfarm]

I probably will never build one,but can you take a picture of how you connected the wheels to the frame and what you used for it, please? Really like the bogies.

[Magicman]

I think that it is a slick outfit.  The wheel arrangement certainly allows for uneven terrain.   

[Ironwood]

Nice, looks good

Ironwood

[tapper2]

thanks guys. The tires are 16-6.50-8. The walking beam was actually real easy to make. Each beam is 24" long, just squared off, then burned holes for the 3/4" rods for the spindles. Dropped the rods in/squared up and welded--X2. Then took 4 thick square washers with pre-drilled 1" holes in them and welded 2 vertically on top of the tube, centered between the spindles. The rest is kind of self explanatory. The pivots for the walking beams are 1" bolts with washers between moving parts, then double nutted on the ends. Greased it up on assembly,  painted it today, towed it around today,works pretty well. 



Hope this pic helps. I took it yesterday, before paint.

With any luck (haven't tried) if I remove the walking beams, I could mount wheels on the 1" bolts...instead of the walking beams ..if need be.

[tapper2]

Did a little clearing today.

 



Quite a bit of snow up there already, kind of tough going. We just cut a few balsam fir and hemlock. Trailer handles the weight quite well! These'll go in my brother in law's wood boiler.

[jueston]

the reason it handled so well is clear from the picture.... its the skill and experiance of the driver of the 4 wheeler.... haha

but it looks like its doing a good job, what do you think the maximum length you would put on the trailer would be?

[thecfarm]

That fir looks just about like mine,rotted. I should say looks better,some of mine shows rot through the length of the tree.If I'm cutting in an area I cut the fir and let something else grow.I use it for my OWB too.

[sparky1]

looks like a nice slick set up!!

[tapper2]

Yeah, that's my helper. He'll drive sometimes if I need to push!! He loves it. He's good, but towing the load will be my job (for now anyway). I tried some 8' wood, fits O.K. The bed is 4' ..so 2' in front and 2' in back. Trouble is, now with snow, may be too much up hills. We just cut some 4'-5'. Most fir will be that way down here. If you cut bigger ones, about half of them will be rotted up to about 4-6'.
After that, most will be O.K. 
We were clearing some logs/brush out of the way. We're building a cabin and need a good view of the mountains!!

[mad murdock]

Very cool tapper 2 the trailer looks even better wih wood on it. How much wood you figger you can haul on a load? 1/3 cord or so?

[tapper2]

Thanks MM. It's probably a close 1/3 cord +-. Maybe too much without tirechains though. Nice dry summer weather and it'd probably be ok.
Nice to keep the logs out of the dirt.
 

[Woodhog]

Gee it was more work to load the photo, than to load that little trailer   

Anyway, this little thing is the same principal with an added wooded box , the little wooden box is just sitting there, the side boards are wired on and everything that is wood flexes, if anyone remembers the old pole horse or ox wagons it is about the same, when you hit things or beat and pound all over the place , hopefully nothing made of wood will break...hopefully

This one holds about a 1/3 of a cord. The tongue weight of the hitch on the ATV is only rated for 35 pounds, how it stands the punishment is well beyond me.

The outfit is very hard to steer and beats the operator to pieces, the throttle response is too quick, it behaves like a jack rabbit on the throttle. This one is never out of Low Range, mostly in Low # 1.

They are geared to high for serious work in rough bottom.

I see them advertised with huge loads on them, they must be running on a carpet or hardwood floor as the load seen on this one is max of max for where it is working (playing).

[tapper2]

I think anyone on here can attest, it's going to be easier to load any photo than to load a "little trailer" with wood. Many people use these, "little things" .....yet they still do it.... because it works. Regardless the slow responding/hard steering/high geered/jack rabbiting.
 If i can get my 11 year old  to help with the wood, I don't care what he uses, but I'd rather he work with something like this.

[Woodhog]

In todays foresty climate these things are easy to turn over if you want to get rid of it, someone is always looking for an ATV.

Excellent for plowing walks and driveways if it happens to snow.

I keep spare boots for it in the shop as I find that is the weak point, they pick up brush and tear the boots to pieces.

I would like to try the diesel model, they also have power steering now which would be a huge help.

If it gets the young fellow away from the video based world all the better.

[thecfarm]

Woodhog,I see the same pictures and wonder the same thing. I have a 40 hp tractor and know what can be done and NOT done with lighter equipment. But just like you,it gets the job done fine,may not be as much as what the sales people or the videos show,but it works well for many. Good idea with the sides too.

[Ed_K]

The only thing wrong with a atv trailer is once you use it,you'll want a bigger one.I am now wanting an ironmule or treefarmer or a timberjack or or.Always buying larger timber to cut.

[tapper2]

Absolutely! When you need to get production up, bigger is better. I hope to.....in the near future, build a walking beam woodlot trailer big enough to pull with the tractor. Like a large version of this little guy. I'm sure I can come up with all of the parts,.....now if there were any way to aquire some more time for the projects I'll definitely keep track and take pics when I get started on it. I'm thinking of building it, but instead of using a log grapple, maybe a hydraulic side loader, like some woodsplitters use to put the big logs up on the wedge.

[John Mc]

Interesting idea about using a side loader instead of a grapple. I've been wondering about powering something like that with one of those portable capstan winches. Kind of like what LogRite does on their firewood processor. If it was set up right, you could use the winch for hauling logs to the trailer (either mounted on the trailer, or independently of the trailer), parbuckling, or running a side loader.

I suppose if you were using tractor hydraulics, then a hydraulic loader would make more sense. However, if you used one of the portable capstan winches, you could use the trailer set-up behind something other than your tractor (pickup truck or ATV), or you could drop the trailer and do other tractor work while someone else was loading the trailer.

[hiluxstihl]

 i was going to make a walking beam - rocking beam - 4 wheel trailer but i made it so i could ad a beam to it and just bolt it onto the hub.... cant upload pics cos there jpg?

[hiluxstihl]

 

 


thanks for the instructions!

[tapper2]

Nicely done, welcome to the forum. This place is great!!
The walking beam would definitely  ease up on how much the trailer bounces. Nice quad....Grizzly?
How's the weather over there? Looks quite green, kinda like here, Not much snow this year.

[thecfarm]

Nice looking trailer. Will be able to sneak out through the woods with that.
hiluxsthil,welcome to the forum. Must own land? Sawmill?

[hiluxstihl]

thanks for the welcome, i was going to make it a walking beam, i went and thought about the beam hinge and settled on a wheel hub, then i saidid try it with 2 wheels, so if i need to ill buy 2 more wheels and 4 hubs and connect where the wheels are now... its a 400 cc kodiak, ah its always green here and always raining too! yet to be used but will work it on saturday all going well

[hiluxstihl]

em have land, only grassland though, nearest thing to a sawmill is my ms 660!

[tapper2]

My wife and kids & I were in Ireland a few years back. BEAUTIFUL. We have a lot of great places here in the states, that we still  have yet to see.
We saw forests while we were there, sure is a lot of stone though. Looks like many forests were plantation. I'm sure there must be a need for logging in many areas. We of course didn't have time to see everything. Never forget the smell of burning peat.
You burn firewood for heat?

[hiluxstihl]

i do, currently working my way through a big beech tree... ah itsa lovely country, i was in  connecticut for afew months before, nice place around new england there id like to see more sometime! mostof the woods and forests are plantations alright, mostly commercially owned by the state agency caoilte.. they clear fell the plantations, there is a move towards low impact logging now though so im trying to network on great sites like this to learn from people with varied experience!

[tapper2]

We just do it as hobby. We own a wood lot that we harvest firewood from to pay the taxes on the lot, and some for our fireplace. Every once in a while we'll sell a load of logs, depending on prices.
We use it for camping, sugaring, snowmobiling, playing on quads, etc....New England is great!! Many people think of Northern New York as a "West New England". Lots of the same terrain and great hospitality.

[John Mc]

Tapper2 -

I like your set-up on the trailer. Now that you've used it a bit, do you have ny feel for how much weight those tires & rims will hold? I'm also curious how well the small diameter tires do in the woods & on rough terrain. I've got a junk mower I could strip the wheels off of, so I'd have two to start with, could probably scrounge a couple more. Just wondering if I'm going to be wishing I'd gone with larger diameter wheels.

I'd like to end up with something that could hold 2000# or so. I'd mostly be pulling it behind a compact tractor, or my Coot (a 1960's UTV I'm slowly getting into good running condition).

BTW... Where are you from in Upstate NY? I lived outside of Syracuse for a few years, and my wife is from Pulaski (between Syracuse and Watertown).

John Mc

[hiluxstihl]

in my brief time there i was mainly in manchester, hartford, weathersfield ct, up as far as boston and down to nj, i really like the place and can see why you are the backbone of atv and of course forestry industries, interesting geology too

[redlaker1]

I built an atv trailer about 4 years ago,  its a flat bed,  with removable sides that can be replaced with stakes for hauling logs.    after using it for a while I found that the single axle can handle more weight than I can stack on it,   but it get stuck and hung up way too easy.    I just used generic stub axles and smaller trailer wheels like you would get from harbor freight.      I have used a friends trailer with tandem wheels and a walking beam,   and that trailer pulls way easier in the bush than mine.      I will probably upgrade mine with a second set of wheels when I have the time.         

if you are going to build a trailer from new,   I would definitely recommend a tandem wheel setup.   especially if you are going to be in any soft or uneven ground

[John Mc]

If I build, it will definitely be a tandem wheel set-up. I was mainly wondering how the old garden tractor wheels hold up in this application. They don't seem like they're made to hold much weight.

John Mc

[thecfarm]

I would be concerned about ground clearance too. Your land may be differant but I have rocks on mine,garden tractor rear end has maybe 6 inch clearance? Not enough for me,even on some of my so called good land. Hauling a ton behind a small tractor is like the tail wagging the dog too, if going down a small hill. But if that's all you have, it can be done.

[hiluxstihl]

ok after working the trailer today i can see the benefits of the walking beam clearly! i would be concerned that it would be hard to turn loaded but it would halve the sway encountered when the wheel goes over a rock, stump etc and also i would leave the uprights tilted back and have a barrier low down to move the trailer away from trees that would otherwise catch the uprights...

[John Mc]

I would be concerned about ground clearance too. ... garden tractor rear end has maybe 6 inch clearance?

I wouldn't be using the whole garden tractor rear end. What Tapper2 has appears to be just the front wheels off a garden tractor. With no axle through the middle, I think I'd be fine for ground clearance. The bogies on a tandem set-up could be modified for even more clearance, if needed. Also, much of my wood is pulled to trail-side with a tractor mounted logging winch (230 ft of cable goes a long way, though I seldom use all of it). The tractor rarely goes very far off-trail, since it hasn't been "woods hardened" yet (no belly pan or FOPS).

Hauling a ton behind a small tractor is like the tail wagging the dog too, if going down a small hill. But if that's all you have, it can be done.

I'm already regularly hauling 2 - 3000# of split green wood behind the tractor with no difficulties (NH TC33D w/filled rear tires, and an old 4.5' x 9' "woods trailer"). I've got hills and rocks, but the trails are in pretty good shape, and not very steep. I stay out of the woods with the tractor when things get muddy or slick. If I have to, I've got ladder-style chains with V-bars that help the traction a good bit (unfortunately, no diamond or duo-grip style chains are made for my size rear tires).

ok after working the trailer today i can see the benefits of the walking beam clearly! i would be concerned that it would be hard to turn loaded...

I've never heard someone complain about turning a loaded trailer with walking beam set-up. Maybe the short wheelbase helps with this?

John Mc

[tapper2]

It turns quite well. Just remember, the quad was not intended for hauling a ton, so don't do it. I can easily put 7-800 pounds on it and it goes well. 1/3rd of a cord is +- 1000 lbs. Its about using it, not killing it. I think if I had built it with atv tires and high speed hubs...who knows. As for the tractor tires, figure 1000lbs/4tires=250 lbs each. Maybe a bit excessive, so I wouldn't overdo it. The top won't hold enough wood to overload the bottom.
You'll only need as much ground clearance as the machine that's moving it.
The way I look at it is like this, if you can take a smaller load easily, you can make 2 trips,...or you could wrestle pulling a full load all at once, but it may take you twice as long....spinning up your roads.
If time is the concern, use the bigger equipment. Big difference between the rear of the tractor and the rear of the quad.

[tapper2]

Sorry about that Johnmc we live near Lake George. Our property is near Gore Mt.

[DGK]

The tandem axle works great. The tracks make it even better. This thing has so much pulling power I just need a bigger box and brakes :-)



  

 

[John Mc]

I can easily put 7-800 pounds on it and it goes well. 1/3rd of a cord is +- 1000 lbs.

You may be under-rating how much you are pulling. If you're actually putting 1/3 cord of green hardwood on there, you could have as much as 1500 - 2000+ pounds there. Once it's dry you may be down in the +/- 1000# range. For Oak, Beech Hard Maple, they are easily in the 5-6000# range for a full cord when green (I burn some black locust which runs even heavier).

If I were going to be pulling with my Coot (a 1960's era ATV/UTV), I'd probably limit myself to 1000# or so, at least until I get around to fixing the old electric brakes on my firewood trailer, and figuring out how to hook them up to the Coot.

[Woodboogah]

Nice welds!

[tapper2]

Thanks there woodboogah, yeah johnmc, I guess I was light on my weight but dimensionally it's less than 1/3 cord. It pulls pretty good but I don't load it real heavy, to avoid spinning the whole time.  My 11 year old son makes the round trips to the pile with the trailer. I don't want him to get stuck or tip it over. The ground is really icy under the little bit of snow we've got.
I've got the chains on now and moved some ash and w-burch today, sunny but cool.