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Loading big logs

Started by pineywoods, October 10, 2006, 07:23:57 PM

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pineywoods

Lots of pictures in the galleries of big logs on small trailers, but how did they get them up on the trailer??  Here's how I handle them:: this is a big old pecan yard log



The winch line goes over a roller on the front of the trailer



and down to a hombuilt hydraulic winch on the 3 point hitch





1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Gustavo

how many tons can you  carge in this ???

thanks to the forum for share very value informations.
here i have got good information  and  over all   good friends

pineywoods

Don't really know, never tried one I couldn't load. The winch is rated 8000 pounds, the trailer about 12000 pounds. Biggest thing to date was a 16 foot by 42 inch pine log.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

amberwood

I have a similar problem. It looks like we may have been offered a job for next year that will pay LOTS of bills but has a slight problem that needs overcoming. I need an economical way of moving 3500 logs over a short distance fast enough to feed a LT40 super cutting sleepers.

A small plantation of radiata pine ,level ground, great access to main roads and to markets. Best of all we have already presold the product (sleeper for CCA treating) if we can get it on a truck. The hitch is that there are only about 1000 trees, but in the main they are TOO BIG for the mainstream harvesters to handle with the typical forwarder and too big to go into the sawmill. 400mm would be the small ones up to 1000mm. Most of these trees will produce 4-5 lifts before we get into the small stuff..a ridiculously small amount of taper. Realistically they should have been harvested 5-10 years ago when they were small enough to be handled by mechanised harvesters and commercial mills. This why we are involved. The owner just wants them gone.
We can process them with the LT40 and a Lucas as required but after manual felling and bucking to 5.5m lengths they need to be skidded/forwarded to the mill. I would rather not have to move the LT40 twice day just to get near enough to the logs to safely shuffle them with forks.

We have an IH dozer (with fuel bill and slow transit speed to match) and an all terrain fork is on the shopping list already.

Comments on best machine/methods would be greatly appreciated from those with experience in this area.

As further background this is the second job we have been offered this week of this type. Too small a plantation to justify bringing in a mechanised harvesting crew, oversize/undersize logs, uninterested owners who just want the trees gone so they can use the land for other purposes. Many of these plantations were planted under poor advice, and have had little or no management. It appears to be a real niche if we can work out the bugs. It might justify buying in niche equipment if we can ID what we need!

TIA

DTR
MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

fencerowphil (Phil L.)

Amberwood,

http://www.blueoxequipment.com/BLUEOXPAGES/BlueOxHome.html

See top left pic on this web page.

The gooseneck version of this or your own building of the equivalent thereof would be my suggestion.  You could dump or lift logs off at your discretion.  Other companies make heavier versions of forwarders with grapples.  Just depends on how big you want to go.  The BlueOx products might be just right for your task.

Phil L.
Bi-VacAtional:  Piano tuner and sawyer.  (Use one to take a vacation from the other.) Have two Stihl 090s, one Stihl 075, Echo CS8000, Echo 346,  two Homely-ite 27AVs, Peterson 10" Swingblade Winch Production Frame, 36" and 54"Alaskan mills, and a sore back.

amberwood

Phil..looks good, in fact looks great, already priced them and it is a killer. I can buy a 2/H skidder or forwarder locally for the same money excluding the international freight. It has to be shipped across the world.
I guess i was hoping for a magic bullet.

DTR
MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

pineywoods

amberwood   it looks like you may be sitting on a gold mine of a niche operation. You will probably find that some sort of skidder will be a necessity, and the all-terrain forklift will sure make life easier. would it be practical to set the mill up as close as possible and the skid the logs to the mill??  If not a good sized farm tractor with a winch and a heavy-duty flatbed trailer can move an amazing amout of logs, and the tractor can be used for other things, such as a skidder or forklift. See my gallery for some more pictures of my operation. 
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

metalspinner

Pineywoods,
Here is what I learned from the folks here...



A view from the other side of the trailer...




The ramps are much larger now - two 2x6's bolted together.  And I use a winch for parbuckling now instead of unhitching to use the truck. 

Here is the largest I've snatched thus far.  It was 36" on each end and 9' long... 8) 8)


 
There are plenty of more pics in my gallery.
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

amberwood

thanks for the input..lots of thinking music being played. Another options is this fitted with log bunks working with the all terrain forks..and it can be road registered for other jobs. Long term would be very useful fitted with a crane and grapple.

Government auction next week. Might be bidding online.



DTR


MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

sawguy21

Interesting question. Just thinking out loud here, a two axle truck would be too light for a crane and grapple, especially if you intend to licence it, and parbuckling that number of logs onto a trailer would be slow and labor intensive. That is a lot of wood. Can you skid them out and cut to length at the loading site? A tandem truck and trailer outfitted with bunks could haul them to the mill but you would still need a second loader to unload and feed the mill. Trouble is, now I'm talking a fairly large crew.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Ironwood

Sawguy21,


Look at the axles and hubs on that baby.I have an F-550 wit ha 3200 lb Venturo crane and it does just fine. My trucjk is way lighter than the one in the picture. The other option would be to get a trailer with a crane on it to load both the truck and the trailer. The options are endless given some resourcefulness. I sure would be shipping anything internationally unless it were a single component, say the grapple.  My unit is propably one 3rd the capacity of the truck /unit in the picture. Reid





There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

sawguy21

Reid, I agree, that is one stout truck. I would like to have one of those. It would be great for hauling fire fighting equipment or a water tank. However there are probably legal axle limits on aussie roads same as here. While in logging, I ran into the weight issue. We had a single axle International with a picker but it was too close to the maximum gvw to carry any more than a few drums of fuel on the deck and it had rear duallies. Limited it's usefulness.


old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

amberwood

Guys..
It rated at 2.5mt..legally..althought they are commonly fitted with water tanks that weigh well in excess of that. there is also a big brother version with tandem axles that is 5mt rated but they are alot scarcer..mostly converted into drill rig platforms etc.. It also becomes just a bit too big. The guys at Blue ox are requoting a truck mount so we shall see. maybe a truck/trailer combo with forks and two guys is the simple option..

DTR
MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

Ed_K

 Amberwood, if your going to do a clear cut, your best choice would be to lease a grapple skidder. Drop the trees and grab as many as the grapple will hold and skid to the mill site, buck to best lengths and use forklift the stack on bunks next to the mill.
Ed K

Robert R

You can move logs awful economically with a team of horses, especially with a logging arch like Future Forestry offers--wish I had one because you could move along quickly (as far as horses go) and keep them clean.  I didn't see how far you had to move them but that is actually a real idea to consider, especially if there are folks in your area already doing it.  I'd love to find someone to just skid and/or haul for and not have to mess with the felling as I'm in this game just to use my horses.  Bring them out to a central area,parbuckle them onto a stout set of running gears and head off.
chaplain robert
little farm/BIG GOD

amberwood

Therin lies the catch..it is a very short run, only 1KM at the most. Estimate is less then a week to have a skidder/forwarder to come in and do the job for us..if A.the owner will allow a clearfell and B. that will leave is 3500 logs to run thru the mill before any degrade etc. It has been considered and may yet be the only viable option.

thanks again

DTR
MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

Robert R

I wish you were on my half of the planet, that is just the kind of thing I'd like to hire into.  There are quite a few teamsters in Australia.  I don't know if it is considered bad manners or not to pitch another website but if you are interested, I could give you some links that might help you locate someone close, at least much closer than Missouri.
chaplain robert
little farm/BIG GOD

Ed_K

 If the landowner doesn't have a quick time frame, you should take Robert up on that link. I have seen forwarder trailers made for pulling with horses. Light on the land too.
Ed K

rvrdivr

Heres a link to a past thread. It may not be real fast but it does work well when you don't have heavy equipment around.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=7439.0

amberwood

Morning all.

Just back from one of the those "adventure" road trips.
I won a truck on ebay..ex army ex fire truck ex water tanker on a farm. The farm is 800km from home. Yoeval to Healesville. Max speed was 80kmh when they are new. This one was new in 1964.  My father volunteers as the lucky one to fly up and drive it back. Fingers crossed. Fires up as advertised and out the gate with 2 days to go. 3 hours later the fatefull call. Fuel pump has imploded, on a Sat evening in country NSW..of a long weekend. Jump in car at 8pm with electric fuel pump toolboxes, etc etc 5 hours up,,a few hours sleep and the truck is running after 10 min work. 12 hours later after fighting blocking fuel filters dirty fuel  and all of the other minor annoying probs on a old vehicle we are there.




New to me 1964 International ACCO 4X4. 4th owner 45 thousand miles on it. Just need to remove the fire equipment, give it a quick coat of paint a few minor repairs and we are set.

One log truck..rated at 3500kg GVM off road. right up to 10500kg inc trailer on road.

DTR

MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

LedlieLogs

Really cool Amberwood. Looks great! Please take lots of pics as you go through her. Good Luck. 8)
Wildlife Action, GA. A great place for kids. No lights, no phone, no motorcars, not a single luxury. Just the GREAT OUTDOORS and the reason I am learning to mill and build small log cabins.

amberwood

camera is ready to go. just writing out the job list this morning..lots of minor but time consuming tasks.  One thing i dont have to work on is the brakes..air/hydraulics rated to stop 10 tonnes....almost put you through the windcreen.

Anyone have a brilliant idea on cleaning 100 litres of "dirty" petrol. Not sure what the contaminant is as yet but the engine surely does not like to run off that very full tank! Dirt is Ok, that can be filtered out mechanically..but water?

DTR
MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

Mooseherder

Purty close to Woodmizer Orange ain't it. :D
Call it da Woodmizer Truck. ;D
or da Bibby Truck.

farmerdoug

Drygas will absorb the free water and allow it to burn with the gas.  It is either 100% methanol or ethanol.   Works great for drying up the moisture in the fuel system.  They make it for gas and diesel.  Not sure which you mean by 'petro'.

Farmerdoug
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

amberwood

yep its orange at the moment.....small pile of 2 pack epoxy in white is being delivered this week....have to love supplier "samples". The paint looks alot better in the photo than in reality! Needs a good rub down, a few of the larger dings knocked out and a really good coat of high fill primer, then the epoxy. I will be using marine grade polysiloxane. Not quite the gloss of auto paint but MUCH harder finish and it is free!

"petro" typo for petrol...lots of it. averaged 8mpg yesterday..WOT flat out at 75-80 kph that is 30L/100km for those of us who think in metric. fingers crossed that improves some for normal use puddling around holding up traffic.

I have had  a simliar suggestion here at work of just adding one litre of methylated spirits per 100L of petrol to allow the water to burn..might be a good start. I have never seen Drygas...maybe it is just metho? If that fixes it there is $112 less the dollar for the metho back in my pocket!

DTR
MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

theorm


"I have had  a simliar suggestion here at work of just adding one litre of methylated spirits per 100L of petrol to allow the water to burn..might be a good start."

Amberwood,
Another trick is to strain the gas through a chamois skin. The gas goes through, but the water stays behind. Something I picked up from bush pilots. Because sometimes you are hundreds of miles from the nearest gas station and all you have is water in your gas.... A chamois cloth is small and handy to have in your tool box. They can be found in car care catalogs.

Theo
The essence of loyalty is reciprocity.

amberwood

Theo..great idea! and I have one on the shelf! Def a try on that idea. So simple.

DTR

MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

scsmith42

Amberwood, siphon off the diesel, filter it, and allow it to sit for a day in a 55 gallong drum.  Then, pump the top 50 gallons or so out of the drum.  Be careful not to stir up the fuel when you're pumping it back out.

The water will settle to the bottom of the drum - no need to add anything.  Just don't stir things up when you're pumping it back.

Scott
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Tom

What I do is siphon the bottom couple of gallons off of the bottom of the drum first, putting it in another container where I can see the water.  You can even tilt the drum to get the water to run to a "corner".   That's a wierd thought.  Corner of a 55 gal drum. :D

The rest of the fuel that was on top is clear. 

The fuel in the smaller container can "skimmed" again, after it has sat awhile.

amberwood

The final process..

1.siphon off the "lower" 5litres of fuel/water, observe for settleing of water.
2.mechanically filter the remaining fuel through a inline filter, then through a chamois/funnel filter into jerry cans..all using the retofitted high flow electric pump
3.add a litre of metho to the tank, along with the 95 litres of filtered fuel

Good to go

thanks all

DTR
MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

amberwood

OK here is the first lot of photos. Strip down to minimum..then replacing the rear toolboxes as they were full of rust and doors dont shut..fitted a couple of late model buckets off ebay $30! and a pair of new seatbelts $$$$ not ebay but better than faceplanting the steering wheel. Four new tyres to pass roadworthy..WHICH we have done hooray! Off to get the new rego @9AM Monday. Currently in primer with a little white..refer to paint gun incident. Out with the brush tomorrow.

OH and once we removed and sold on the firetank (ebay thanks very much) we discovered most of the decking was rotted out. Replacement timber should not be a problem!







more in the gallery

DTR




MS460 Magnum
MS250
DAF CF85-430
ASV RC-85 track loader

Coon

Looks like you're doing a great job on your unit.  Hope you get it finished soon so you can start hauling logs with it. 

You might want to get a razorblade paint scraper for when you take the newspaper off of the windows.  It is amazing how overspray and leaching of the paint will occur with newspaper.  What you should have used is meat wrapping paper as it has a glossy side to it that won't let any seapage through.

Norwood Lumbermate 2000 w/Kohler,
Husqvarna, Stihl and, Jonsereds Saws

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