First time hauling out with a quad

[mywaynow]

Spent a few hours hauling blow downs that I cut up today. The quad is a 650 4x4 and had great strength. Only 2 lengths that I had to cut shorter to make the trip out to the staging area. All Ash, maybe 2 1/2 cords. It was 3-4 trees that blew down 1 1/2 years ago in a storm. Tomorrow it's cut and haul, split and pile day.

 

[amateur cutter]

Nice!

 

[thewoodlands]

Spent a few hours hauling blow downs that I cut up today. The quad is a 650 4x4 and had great strength. Only 2 lengths that I had to cut shorter to make the trip out to the staging area. All Ash, maybe 2 1/2 cords. It was 3-4 trees that blew down 1 1/2 years ago in a storm. Tomorrow it's cut and haul, split and pile day.

Looks like some nice firewood, nice job.

zap

 

[Woody Stover]

What make and model is the quad? I'm assuming you dragged the logs out. I've got a 420 Rancher and it seems to have plenty of power, but I've been bucking the trees where they're felled and hauling the rounds up in a trailer. The Rancher lacks a granny low gear, which would be nice. I'm lovin' the quad, though. With the wheelbarrow/tow strap method we were using, we wouldn't be able to get to a third of the wood we can now reach...or we would have died of heat stroke trying.
Being blown down, I'm guessing the wood was not in contact with the ground for the most part. It should be in good shape.
If you can buck, split and stack 2-1/2 cords tomorrow, you need to post in the "How many cords in a day" thread. :bug:

 

[raybonz]

Spent a few hours hauling blow downs that I cut up today. The quad is a 650 4x4 and had great strength. Only 2 lengths that I had to cut shorter to make the trip out to the staging area. All Ash, maybe 2 1/2 cords. It was 3-4 trees that blew down 1 1/2 years ago in a storm. Tomorrow it's cut and haul, split and pile day.

Nice pile of logs and definitely worth the effort! Where are you located?

Ray

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Spent a few hours hauling blow downs that I cut up today. The quad is a 650 4x4 and had great strength. Only 2 lengths that I had to cut shorter to make the trip out to the staging area. All Ash, maybe 2 1/2 cords. It was 3-4 trees that blew down 1 1/2 years ago in a storm. Tomorrow it's cut and haul, split and pile day.

Some nice ash there. With that size quad it should be very easy work. Do you just drag the logs? If so, you may have to either clean some dirt where you are going to cut or plan on sharpening the chain really often. Here is a dray I built last winter to haul out some logs. It really makes quick and easy work and the logs stay clean.

 

[mywaynow]

Well the day is done and I made some progress. Had some allergy issues in the morning and couldn't get the ball rolling early. Started late in the afternoon and got one load cut/split, and a second load cut and loaded in the trailer. It is sitting at my pile waiting to be split. Have another 1/2 trailer load cut. Trailer load is usually 5/8 cord. Backwoods, your dead on with the dirt issue. Found out real quickly that I needed to adust the approach to deal with that. Found that leaving the dirty side down, and cutting 80% from the top, rolling the log a half turn, inserting the bar into the cut and cutting upwards was a major improvement. I could stop the blade from coming through the bark most of the time, completely avoiding the dirt. This area has a nice sandy dirt. Great for vegetables, but not so nice for blades. Managed to find a section of chicken wire at the base of one of these trees too. Could not figure out what was causing the sparks! The wire looked like weeds.

Quad is a Bombadier 650. Has low gear range for pulling.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ya, the high/low is nice. Our atv is a 700 Yamah Grizzly and pulling out those logs I found that I never had to use low range but I do use the low range at times pulling the trailer over some rough ground or sometimes up a slight grade especially if I had to stop before going up. Also, with the dray, I found that I didn't even have to use 4 wheel drive, even when the snow got deep.

 

[mywaynow]

Your pic in the bottom of the post, with the 2 logs; did you get both on the sled? What wieght rating does the Grizzly carry?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, both those logs went on the dray. I'd have added another log on top if I had taken some boards with me. Even though I had some very uneven ground to go through, when I got out of the woods it suddenly hit me that I never used low range and even forgot to put it into 4 wheel drive. The atv didn't even seem to work.

I don't know offhand what the rating is on the Grizzly. Would have to look that up.

 

[firefighterjake]

I do like the looks of your Grizzly Dennis . . . my next ATV will most likely either be a Honda Rincon or Yamaha Grizzly . . . but without the "old man" windshield. . . . around here it seems as though only the old guys have the windshields on the ATV.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jake, we thought strong about the Honda as they are a great machine but what leaned me to the Yamaha was the softer ride. That is the original reason we got the new machine was for the softer ride which is easier on my body. It is the wife's fault that we got such a big one...

 

[firefighterjake]

Jake, we thought strong about the Honda as they are a great machine but what leaned me to the Yamaha was the softer ride. That is the original reason we got the new machine was for the softer ride which is easier on my body. It is the wife's fault that we got such a big one...

Hehheh . . . usually it's us men that think everything is better when it is bigger.

 

[raybonz]

I do like the looks of your Grizzly Dennis . . . my next ATV will most likely either be a Honda Rincon or Yamaha Grizzly . . . but without the "old man" windshield. . . . around here it seems as though only the old guys have the windshields on the ATV.

Yeah and they probably sit on milk crates too lol..

Ray

 

[Woody Stover]

What wieght rating does the Grizzly carry?

Not sure, but I'd think that the towing capacity rating would apply to a trailer. Dragging the dray would probably produce more resistance to pulling...
My 420 Rancher is 850 lbs. towing capacity.

 

[mywaynow]

The Bombadier is rated at 1100 lbs towing, only 30 lbs tongue wieght. There is a bracket off the axle that is relatively light guage. Looks like it is designed to bend before causing damage to the axle.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

What wieght rating does the Grizzly carry?

Not sure, but I'd think that the towing capacity rating would apply to a trailer. Dragging the dray would probably produce more resistance to pulling...
My 420 Rancher is 850 lbs. towing capacity.

The dray produces very little resistance and the idea is to get the logs off the ground and thereby less resistance and it keeps the dirt out of the bark.

I do not know how much weight we've pulled with the Yamaha but would bet it would be well beyond 1000 pounds. Don't forget that towing capacity also has much to do with stopping capacity. For example, I can pull a full load of hay (say 80-100 bales @ 50+ lbs per bale) with no problem so long as I allow for the extra distance for stopping. I can also haul a lot on that dray and then not even use the brakes. Well, as far as that goes, I can pull my car quite easily and that weighs well over 1,000 lbs too.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jake, as for that old man windshield, it is well worth the dollars when the air turns cold and we are hauling wood. I'll no doubt have it back on come late October.

 

[mywaynow]

Just read something I was unaware of. A gas powered pressure washer will draw water from a tank/pool. My staging area is near a creek, so if I haul more out, I will bring the p/w down and wash the dirt out of the bark before bucking. Or at least try.

 

[firefighterjake]

Jake, as for that old man windshield, it is well worth the dollars when the air turns cold and we are hauling wood. I'll no doubt have it back on come late October.

Just giving you a hard time Dennis . . .

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You wouldn't do that now, would you Jake?

 

[raybonz]

You wouldn't do that now, would you Jake?

You know that I would never do that Dennis!

:zip:

Ray

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I still like my windshield. ;-)

 

[Cascade Failure]

I still like my windshield. ;-)

A vertical splitter would...

An earlier poster mentioned stopping time and I just wanted to say I use our Suzuki KingQuad 450 to haul 99% of our wood. The only complaint I have is on a long downhill. Make sure you have enough brakes and if not, have good brakes on your trailer.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Or a fast atv to stay ahead of the load....