trailers and lifting/loading methods!

[Bandmill Bandit]

I have searched the forum and the internet hi and low and have found little info for a direct mount crane type loader with a winch option and a manual jack system. I have found cranes that have one or the other but not both and the better designs tend to be shop typ cranes not designed to mount to a trailer.

I am thinking a 12 or 16  foot tandem axel trailer that I could mount a crane to when/if I find one.

I am not afraid to build one BUT I need some design input from an engineer type OR some one that has done something similar.

So my quest with this thread is to get the forum members to post what you have for transporting logs, loading and unloading logs.

Please post your methods and IDEAS regardless of the mechanization or manual nature of your system with a description of how you use your system and how you would improve it.

And of course we need PICTURES.

Combining all of this info into one thread should be a benefit to many of the members besides me.

My goal here is to build a resource type thread similar to the useful sawmill mods thread where we can all go to find out how the transportation and handling issues of moving the logs and material are being dealt with at all levels of sawyers from the week end hobby sawyer to the full time productions sawyers and every thing in between.

Thanks in advance for your contributions!

Jeff I hope I put this in the right place. If I isn't  please move it to the correct location.
   

[red]

Yellowhammer did a very nice job of putting a mechanics crane on the front of a Dump trailer

[DDW_OR]

i think Red is referring to this
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,69218.msg1038582.html#msg1038582

[John Mc]

There are several threads on the DanG-Deadheader Log-Lifter. Here is one of them:
DanG-DeadHeader Log Lifter

Here's a post with a photo sequence of one in use

[Kbeitz]

My lifts has both winch option and a manual jack system.



 



 



 

[Bandmill Bandit]

I like that rig Kbietz.

Do you have a stabilizing out rigger that goes on the back conner under the crane?
Would you recommend a full with roller on the back edge of the trailer?

Thanks for the response so far. From what I am seeing so far this is going to be a design build project and the ideas I am seeing are great. Keep it coming.

Note to self; need a joint of 3" drill stem an some sucker rod.

[YellowHammer]

When I built my crane dump log trailer, I put a decent amount off thought and effort into making a rig that I could load and move logs with, fast. The way I figured it, I wasn't making money retriveng logs, I only made money when I was sawing them.  As the earlier post showed, I welded a simple tripod to my dump trailer tongue and bolted a standard hydraulic service crane to it. The crane was powered off the dump trailer battery which was charged by the truck. The crane had hydraulic extend and raise and lower out to 15 feet and also a very strong winch. I welded two gooseneck style drop jack stands to each corner of the dump bed frame for quick drop stabilizers. The dump trailer had a three way tailgate, swing from the top, swing from the side and swing down like a loading ramp.

Since the crane was hydraulic and very fast, if I could park beside the logs I could drop the crane boom, choke up several logs at once and just lift them over the side and put them in the bed. If the logs were a ways away, I could use the winch to drag them to the trailer and then load them in. If the logs were monsters, I would drop the tailgate and drag them up the loading ramp like it was a dead fish.  Another trick is that winches are slow, so I would drop the 15 foot boom and point it at the log, attach the winch cable and then just pull the boom up to vertical to very quickly drag the log up to the trailer, then shorten the boom and just drop it in.

The big advantage I had is that I didn't have to park on the grass, I generally could stay on the road or driveway and just fish the logs to me without tearing anything up.I also saved a lot of time not having to reposition the truck and trailer for every log. That's where a crane comes into its sweet spot.

The last thing I wanted to do after loading a trailer with logs was to expend even more time and effort unloading them. So unloading a dump trailer was easy, flop open the tailgate, hit the dump button, and turn and burn to go get another load.  The nice thing about a dump trailer with sides is that as long as the logs are contained fully in the bed and don't extend over the top, there's no need to bind them with tie downs, which also saves time both loading and unloading. I had my side height set so that when the logs were at the gunnel, the trailer was at capacity (14,000 lbs).

I sold the rig a couple years ago but it worked very effectively. I remember I had a guy call me up to pick up 3 logs at his house, and I followed him home from work, never got off his driveway and had the logs loaded and done before he came back out of his house changed from his office clothes.
These truck cranes are pretty common, they are the ones you see mounted in the sides of service trucks driving around town.  Some have electric winches but I'd recommend the ones with hydraulic winches.

[Sixacresand]

I plan to put a dead header log loader on my trailer.  I am satisfied it works.  My concerns are retrieving the chain after the log is loaded to use on the next log.  A log laying on a chain does not pull out easily. I'm thinking of using skidding tongs in the process, at least at the point to finish dragging the log onto the trailer.  Also, does anyone block the back of trailer to take the upward pressure off the tongue and hitch? 

[Kbeitz]

I like that rig Kbietz.

Do you have a stabilizing out rigger that goes on the back conner under the crane?
Would you recommend a full with roller on the back edge of the trailer?

Thanks for the response so far. From what I am seeing so far this is going to be a design build project and the ideas I am seeing are great. Keep it coming.

Note to self; need a joint of 3" drill stem an some sucker rod.

Here is a picture of it in use. I have two wheels that can bolt in to the two log back stops if needed.
If you look close you can see that I have the unit braced off the mill.



 

[pineywoods]

Six, please rig some kind of support for the back end of the trailer. If you don't, sooner or later one of 2 things happen.
1 The hitch pops off the ball on your truck, jumps upward and forward, punchin a big hole in the tailgate of your truck
2 worse yet, the trailer lifts the rear wheels of your truck off the ground, the brakes or park pawl no longer is effective, and truck and trailer roll off down the hill. We lost an early FF member from this. He tried to stop the run-away and was run over...
Nix on the chain, use a good set of log grabs...

[lewis]

to load logs on my goose neck I put a 25 ton tulsa winch on the goose neck with a hydraulic unit on it, I added a swiveling a frame, when you reach the back of the trailer with the log the a frame picks it up and rocks fwd and sets the log on the end of the trailer, you then take the wire out of the a frame block and winch the log the rest of the way on the trailer, you can also parbuckle over the side using ramps and a block

[Sixacresand]

Thanks Pineywoods.   I saw #2 years ago when a guy was unloading a small dozer.

[Sixacresand]

At my Step son's place, where there is decent DSL.  I uploaded this video I took recently of a guy loading logs with a backhoe.  I thought I would share it.  There were some logs better than this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTmCU1dPkp4&feature=youtu.be

[redprospector]

I got this off of Willie Steele a few years ago.  ;D It works great.



 

[Magicman]

I know that you have fond memories of our late Friend and FF member Willie Steele.  I too have those thoughts every time I see your loader. 

[redprospector]

I know that you have fond memories of our late Friend and FF member Willie Steele.  I too have those thoughts every time I see your loader. 

Yeah, I'm really not very sentimental...well, usually...but sometimes.  ;)