best way to haul wood from woods??

[SolarAndWood]

Why would they cut all the cull out if they are not making money on the good wood? I will give them a call, or one of the forest rangers and see what they think. Thanks.

It all depends on how busy the guys are in your area. When prices are high, you may find that they have little interest in your relatively small stand while they are taking care of their big customers. Even if they don't have a lot of work right now, they still have a huge investment in equipment and people. You may find that you are actually better off doing it now. It depends on your local market conditions.

 

[kenny chaos]

I built a $300 quad and pull a 25 year old TSC trailer behind it.
The quad needs bigger front wheels and a shelf on the back
to eliminate the trailer. I use it to carry gear into the woods
in the muddy season for dropping and limbing.
When the grounds dry enough, the 90hp diesel with fel and dual
rear cable winches, goes in and pulls three to six trees at a time
up to the processing area.

 

[SolarAndWood]

When the grounds dry enough, the 90hp diesel with fel and dual
rear cable winches, goes in and pulls three to six trees at a time
up to the processing area.

Do you have a pic of that setup?

 

[kenny chaos]

When the grounds dry enough, the 90hp diesel with fel and dual
rear cable winches, goes in and pulls three to six trees at a time
up to the processing area.

Do you have a pic of that setup?

Here's the dual winch. It's off an old Holmes wrecker.
You can see I welded a pto shaft to the drive gear and
made it a 3-point hitch.
I have no available pics of tractor but I could take some.
On the FEL I have a super heavy manure fork.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Is the weight of the tractor enough to oppose the force of the tree(s) or is there something on the bottom of the frame that gets buried in the ground?

 

[kenny chaos]

Is the weight of the tractor enough to oppose the force of the tree(s) or is there something on the bottom of the frame that gets buried in the ground?

Real good question.
Ideally, the front forks could be pushed into the ground
but you can see that I utilize others junk so my FEL has no down pressure.
Here's some options I use:
- park tractor with back tires in slight depression, against a stump,
or even a tree
- let the winch pull the tractor to the tree
- parking brake (a last resort but works fine)
- often a combination of pulling tractor to tree
until it's backed against something that'll hold it

I pull them out one at a time and stage them.
I'll cut some trunks at 20' and these get scooped up on the front forks.
Then I back and hook to as many as I can grab, and go.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Cool thanks. I have my cheapo atv winch bolted to the bucket. Bury the bucket in the ground and it works pretty well as my tractor only weighs a couple ton. Once I get the tree out to the road, I then unhook, turn around, and use the 3 pt weight box from my old 2wd Kubota as a skid plate. Was ok with the setup until I used my buddy's Farmi and was poisoned. Just can't justify that much cash even for a used one.

 

[kenny chaos]

Just can't justify that much cash even for a used one.

Man I hear ya on that.
The winch cost me nothing but a couple of hours of time and a couple of welding rods.
It is, without a doubt, the most useful tool I've made.
The spools power in, power out, or free wheel.
Make one, you'll love it and find other uses for it to.
One of the cables was badly rusted so I cut it down to about twenty feet
which was still good.
If working along a path, I use the long one to pull them out, hook them
to the short one, and move up to the next one, allowing me to sometimes
pull several at a time out of the bush.
P.S.- The three point hitch will pick them up so only the back end of
the logs drag on the ground.

edit: DISCLAIMER
They can be very dangerous and are not for the clumsy.

 

[quads]

For those of you using trailers with your 4wheelers, you might want to check your owner's manual regarding the allowable hitch weight. For example, my Honda Foreman (432 cc) has the following trailer limitations:

tongue weight: 30 pounds!
tow weight limit (trailer and cargo): 850 pounds

Thirty pounds on the tongue isn't much. Now I know a lot of people exceed these limits, but when I look at how the hitch is mounted (on the rear end), it's certainly something that I don't want to crack! I try to keep my cart balanced with very little weight on the hitch.

Even the allowable hitch weight on my Kubota RTV utility vehicle is pretty light.

Ken

That's why I'm going to use a 4 wheel trailer to keep the weight off the hitch and prevent the front of the ATV from lifting...

I've thought about using a 4 wheel trailer, and I have access to small gravity box running gear etc., but the trouble with that in the woods is when you get into a tight spot and need to back up, you're in trouble.

Really, with a 2 wheel trailer that is balanced pretty good and loaded sensibly, there isn't too much to worry about. Especially if you're only hauling firewood and not lawyers who write owner's manuals.

 

[MofoG23]

I agree. When I saw the ratings on my old Yamaha, I was very surprised due to how solid the hitch was. I guess its rated that way so the front end does not get light. If it does get light, putting some weight on the front rack would help. If I only had a 2 wheeled cart, I'd still use it without much worry.

 

[djblech]

I have a Kioti 45hp 4wd tractor with a farmi winch. I can pull out to the landing 10-12 good sized birch trees in an afternoon. Their I block them up and load them into a 14' dump trailer. I can get 1.75 cords in the trailer if I stack up to the sides. Loading and unloading the trailer and stacking is a good day's work by myself. I have 120 acres of woodland 3 miles from home. More poplar, maple, and birch than I could ever burn

 

[sublime68charger]

For those of you using trailers with your 4wheelers, you might want to check your owner's manual regarding the allowable hitch weight. For example, my Honda Foreman (432 cc) has the following trailer limitations:

tongue weight: 30 pounds!
tow weight limit (trailer and cargo): 850 pounds

Thirty pounds on the tongue isn't much. Now I know a lot of people exceed these limits, but when I look at how the hitch is mounted (on the rear end), it's certainly something that I don't want to crack! I try to keep my cart balanced with very little weight on the hitch.

Even the allowable hitch weight on my Kubota RTV utility vehicle is pretty light.

Ken

heck My rear hitch on the honda Foreman has been through plenty of abuse.

form yanking on Logs to break them free of Frost to pulling heavy and overload trailer''s.

Heck I've tied off the back of the Quad to a tree and was then using my A2000 warn winch to pull logs out of a 5' ditch drop off stalled out the Winch but the rear hitch on the quad has held up to everything I've put it through so far.

thanks for the Information I had no Idea the rating was so little on the foreman hitch.

heck I've stood on the trailer tounge with it fully load for this or that and I go tip scales at 230 or so.
with only a 30 pound limit, you think it would just fall right off.



sublime out.

 

[Ken45]

I know plenty of people go way past the ratings like you do. Makes me wonder if the manufacturer's limits are way too low, but I can't imagine why they would do that. I don't think it's a case of causing a light front end since the rear rack is rated for a lot more weight.

Again, looking at what the hitch plate is attached to, I fear that the rear end casing might not hold up, although 30 pounds is practically nothing.

I also suspect there is some "the operator can't estimate weights, so we will make it ridiculously low so there is plenty of room for estimating error". But how much? LOL.

Ken

heck My rear hitch on the honda Foreman has been through plenty of abuse.

form yanking on Logs to break them free of Frost to pulling heavy and overload trailer''s.

Heck I've tied off the back of the Quad to a tree and was then using my A2000 warn winch to pull logs out of a 5' ditch drop off stalled out the Winch but the rear hitch on the quad has held up to everything I've put it through so far.

thanks for the Information I had no Idea the rating was so little on the foreman hitch.

heck I've stood on the trailer tounge with it fully load for this or that and I go tip scales at 230 or so.
with only a 30 pound limit, you think it would just fall right off.



sublime out.

 

[Valhalla]

Correct about the tongue and load limits. They
are easily exceeded.

Always pull safely, as injury or damage is
just not worth it.

Yes, a trailer is a must.

 

[mike1234]

The Kubota 900 is basically a tractor dressed up as a UTV, so I would think the only limit, within reason,would be keeping the front tires on the ground (this is not a knock on your UTV, I have a 500, these things are workhorses). In fact I think keeping the front tires on the ground might be a big reason for all of the tongue limits.

For those of you using trailers with your 4wheelers, you might want to check your owner's manual regarding the allowable hitch weight. For example, my Honda Foreman (432 cc) has the following trailer limitations:

tongue weight: 30 pounds!
tow weight limit (trailer and cargo): 850 pounds

Thirty pounds on the tongue isn't much. Now I know a lot of people exceed these limits, but when I look at how the hitch is mounted (on the rear end), it's certainly something that I don't want to crack! I try to keep my cart balanced with very little weight on the hitch.

Even the allowable hitch weight on my Kubota RTV utility vehicle is pretty light.

Ken

 

[Ken45]

The Kubota 900 is basically a tractor dressed up as a UTV, so I would think the only limit, within reason,would be keeping the front tires on the ground (this is not a knock on your UTV, I have a 500, these things are workhorses). In fact I think keeping the front tires on the ground might be a big reason for all of the tongue limits.

The hitch support system on the RTV900 is on the lightweight side. The RTV900 is a wonderful vehicle, but it doesn't compare in brute strength to any tractor I have.

The hitch receiver on the RTV900 is only a 1-1/4" receiver. A friend has a JD Gator and it has a regular 2" hitch receiver.

Ken

 

[mike1234]

The Kubota 900 is basically a tractor dressed up as a UTV, so I would think the only limit, within reason,would be keeping the front tires on the ground (this is not a knock on your UTV, I have a 500, these things are workhorses). In fact I think keeping the front tires on the ground might be a big reason for all of the tongue limits.

The hitch support system on the RTV900 is on the lightweight side. The RTV900 is a wonderful vehicle, but it doesn't compare in brute strength to any tractor I have.

The hitch receiver on the RTV900 is only a 1-1/4" receiver. A friend has a JD Gator and it has a regular 2" hitch receiver.

Ken

They now are 2", mine is, it's a 2009 model, and all of the 2009's I looked at had 2" hitches. It's not lightweight at all now - I think I'd ruin the suspension before I hurt the hitch, both of which I'd like to avoid. Not sure why they had smaller hitches on older models.

 

[Ken45]

They now are 2", mine is, it's a 2009 model, and all of the 2009's I looked at had 2" hitches. It's not lightweight at all now - I think I'd ruin the suspension before I hurt the hitch, both of which I'd like to avoid. Not sure why they had smaller hitches on older models.

Ah! I bought a year too early!

Did they just change the receiver size, or did they beef up the support? What does your manual say about the hitch weight limits?

Ken

 

[mike1234]

Ken, I think we are now officially hijackers. :red:
The RTV 500 is rated to handle 440 pounds, can tow to 1,100 lbs, didn't find tongue weight, but if I can put 440 lbs in the bed, then 440? Mine is a 500, I'm sure a 900 can handle more.

They now are 2", mine is, it's a 2009 model, and all of the 2009's I looked at had 2" hitches. It's not lightweight at all now - I think I'd ruin the suspension before I hurt the hitch, both of which I'd like to avoid. Not sure why they had smaller hitches on older models.

Ah! I bought a year too early!

Did they just change the receiver size, or did they beef up the support? What does your manual say about the hitch weight limits?

Ken

 

[awoodman]

Home made with golf cart tires on its second set of plywood parts but is 15 yrs old.
The low section in the center helps keeping the trailer from tipping over on uneven terrain through the woods. I also like the trailer to be no wider than the ATV for getting through narrow places.

 

[kenny chaos]

to be no wider than the ATV for getting through narrow places.

Good point and if the wheels are the same spread as the ATV, you only need to break one set of tracks in the snow.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

I don't have a picture of the M274 with a load of wood. But it can haul a lot 4x4 both axles posi locked. And it turns sharp with 4 wheel steering. But they are touchy to keep running good.

Its hard to see my trailer I use around the house behind the log splitter. I put big atv tires on it and it handles well in the mud.

But with your property I would say your best bet would be a 4x4 tractor with a FEL and get a grapple bucket for it. You won't belive how much you will use the FEL around the house. Its a big back saver.

In the woods I am using a B21 its really too small for to do much with but its what I have. I have to use another tractor to pull the running gear as the kubota has a backhoe on it. I really like the kubota's with shuttle shift. You put it in the gear you want and change from forwards Neutral Reverse by a lever where a turn signal is in a car. Giving you a revese gear for every forward gear. In most farm tractors you have a reverse in low range and one in high range. The first is too slow and the sencond is too fast.

Billy

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Bill Poor's grapple bucket on a JD

Billy

 

[NHFarmer]

This works for me

 

[topofthehil]

nhfarmer, do you have a close up of your rear attachment for skidding logs?
did you make yours?
ths, topo