ATV Wood hauling Trailer

[Henz]

hello all, jsut purchased my Avalon rainer. I have 50 acres of timber but its alot of uphill with decent trails. I have a Honda 450 Foreman ATV and I plan on hauling bucked up pieces in the 16-20" range down to my landing where I will split it up wit hthe splitter. Anyone have any good atv techniques or tips that they could share with my as far as trailers and hauling firewood with them behind a ATV?

 

[Willhound]

If you don't plan on ever using the trailer in wet or swampy areas, then low is the way to go. Find something with low sides and a lower undercarriage so that there is less chance of the trailer trying to tip over. Also makes it easier to load and unload. If you do need to go higher, as is often the case with store bought ATV trailers, then try and find one that has a tilt or dump box. Makes unloading easier too. Your 450 Honda will have absolutely no problem hauling in lower gears. I also assume that like most Honda's it is a mechanical gearbox versus a belt drive. This can be handy when going down hill as you can take advantage of the engine braking effect. Most bigger belt drives have a mechanical lock-up feature now too, but my older Polaris 400 doesn't, so free-wheeling down hills with a load on can be "exciting" sometimes.

Willhound

 

[MALogger]

Greetings,

Here is a good site for ATV trailers and tools for harvesting wood with ATVs plus how to tips and videos showing how to use each item.

http://www.novajack.com/en/0102.htm

It is an interesting site!

Craig

 

[snowfreak]

Having a trailer that tracks behind your ATV is a nice plus if there are some obstacles you need to get around. I prefer a trailer that has tandem wheels, it supports the load better and keeps the tongue weight down. The problem with too much tongue weight, the bike tends to squat at the rear and raises the front, if you encounter a need to use 4x4 the front wheels have less traction. When using my single axle trailer I center the load over and behind the axle to minimize tongue weight. Its better to make several lighter loads rather than one large one because if you do encounter some soft ground or a large stone its a real pain unloading and loading again. I agree about pulling in low range it puts a whole lot less stress on the bike and acts as a brake going down grade.

 

[elkimmeg]

I have another approach 9000 acres of state forest across the street from me and permission to take any dead wood. All oak and hardwood. What I do is drive in my John Deere backhoe and fill the 1.5 yd fronf bucket anything in the way I knock it down trees I pick up with the hoe bucket off the ground for easy cutting waist high. . There is enough dead oak on the ground there the forum
members would never have to purchase wood from mo's wood man. I admit I wish I had an ATV and trailer to get at the downed wood at more remote locations. What I use is my 1969 tractor with a utility dump trailer and transfere the load to one of my pickup trucks. Good luck to all I have been scrounging wood for 30 years. The 15 cords in my back yard is proof of my efforts And still adding to it

 

[Henz]

thanks for the great tips and the link..I agree, my 450 Honda is a great workhorse and that low range is awesome.

 

[Henz]

elkimmeg, you must not be in NYS. we have 12.1 million acres of parkland and cant touch the wood!

 

[Henz]

downeast, great reply..grew up with a woodshed that wasent huge but would hold the next years burn, about 5 cords. Good idea for my own house now..Currently I plan on rowing it in the sun with metal over it..I have a back screen in porch right off the house where I can hold 4 full cords for once the snow flies..