Volume per hitch for 32 hp tractor

[Rick Alger]

Looking at a softwood job where the skid is too far for my horses. I'm thinking of using my little 4x4 Ford with a winch to forward  wood that I would  pre-bunch by horse. (Wouldn't be chasing wood off the trails with the tractor) The trails are solid and fairly level.

For you guys who do tractor logging, would 300 feet per turn be realistic?

[thecfarm]

That would be about a 20 inch log,16 feet long,I think. Any small hills to go up? Won't take much to make the front end kinda light. Got the AG tires on it,the one with the deep cleats? The wife's tractor is a 30 hp NH. That has never seen the woods.

[Rick Alger]

In my case it would be 4 or 5 tree-length spruce and fir. The trail is all uphill but generally gradual. Yes on ag tires. No on cage or belly pan. This would be strictly  boulevard twitching. The lot is full of cradle knolls and sink holes.

I can weight the front, and I suppose I could try a tag axle.

[g_man]

I have a 30 hp with filled Ag tires, chains, and FEL. It weighs 5000 lbs. I figure I average about 150 to 175 bf per turn but don't try to pull at the max. You run out of traction fast on a small tractor.



 



 



  

[Rick Alger]

Nice pictures. You do a good job limbing. Do they pull harder top first?

[g_man]

Nice pictures. You do a good job limbing. Do they pull harder top first?

Yes they do. Also, you have less weight on the rear, bad for increased traction but good for steering. (BTW I use the steering brakes and diff lock a lot.) But they winch thru a lot of slash much easier top first. Almost float on the slash instead of trying to plow thru. So it is all a big trade off.

[BargeMonkey]

Nice pictures. You do a good job limbing. Do they pull harder top first?

X2  thats pretty sharp.

[chester_tree _farmah]

I have probably twitched one more fir of those size in those pics with my 1720 on good ground. With the loader on. Pulled them top first now and than too. :-)

[chester_tree _farmah]

Huh. Missed this post.  Yeah those are clean as a whistle. U haven't lived till u have bucked hairy fir trees all day. Gets to the point where u just lay the saw right up against the stem and crank up the revs and zip up it 3 ft at a time. When u go to put your saw down it is stuck to your gloves.

[Rick Alger]

Thanks for the input. My tractor is a Ford 1910. Doesn't sound like it will handle a steady diet of 4-5 softwoods.

As far as limbing softwoods, yeah, it's a lot of dubious labor.   The few cable guys left around here that I know drive over unlimbed trees, blade off branches, back hitches into thickets, and rub off remaining branches on bumper trees. Anything to avoid limbing.

Back in the day of two man crews, I worked with a guy who actually liked limbing. He could drop and limb an eight tree hitch in less than half an hour. He ran an 031 Stihl with a short bar, and he moved up the tree like a man in a hurry shearing a hedge. He'd come back down buzzing off the untrimmed bottom branches at a fast trot.
In the early summer when the pitch was really wet, his jeans and forearms were rubberized by noontime. (No PPE back then.) In the afternoons he'd cut the yard, tinker with his saw and nurse a few Miller High Lifes.

[chester_tree _farmah]

LOL nice!

If you can place the logs nicely along the roads with the horses and the roads are good, flat and hard u may come close to what u want for a load I am thinking.

Yes - I know folks who skidder delimb. It is best in the cold. They pop right off. :-)

[NHMike]

I will try to post some pics when I get home, but I have the same winch as Gordon, but on a smaller tractor.  You will be amazed at what they will pull.