Good friends and heavy trucks: How to move six cords of firewood at once!

[Badfish740]

After about two years of gathering, bucking, and splitting on and off at my parents' place, 40 miles from my house, I was faced with a dilemma-how to move five to six cords of firewood in an efficient way. My current wood hauler is a shortbed Toyota 4x4-good for pulling wood out of tight spots in the woods, but not for moving large volumes. Luckily my good friend from childhood still maintains his CDL from the days when we both used to work for his father-in-law's excavating company. He let us borrow a roll-off tri-axle and a 30 yard can and told me I could use it for the day as long as I topped off the tank when I was done. It took us all day (we had the day off anyway), but we were able to load the whole can in about two hours, haul it up to my house, dump, and bring the truck back to the farm all in one shot:

Half loaded can on the on the ground around 10:00 a.m.

Time to dump-my daughter got a kick out of this moment:

Now the real work starts! At least I can still fit the cars in the driveway:

In the end it only cost me a hard day's work and about $200-Fuel (thank goodness it's come down so much lately), breakfast, and dinner for me and my buddy-the least I could do to thank him. Plus it was good just to hang out with him for the day and BS during the hour and a half rides in the old Mack. Since I'm fairly well stocked now, I figure this should last me through winter 2016 and 2017. The load is mostly ash, oak, and walnut from some really large trees that a neighbor of my parents had taken down, plus some stuff my dad had scrounged after Sandy. I feel like I've got a million bucks in the bank!

 

[Stubborn Dutchman]

Boy do I envy you! What a fantastic solution. Last winter I moved 200 miles north of the family farm and brought my F600 with me, leaving about four cord of seasoned oak and cherry behind. Every time I go back home, I bring back more household stuff in my small trailer, so the wood gets left behind. Luckily, I found some slightly seasoned ash at a decent price to get me thru this winter. This summer I hope to get some of my wood moved but the fuel cost prohibits making a trip downstate just for firewood. If only I had friends like you do!

 

[Badfish740]

Boy do I envy you! What a fantastic solution. Last winter I moved 200 miles north of the family farm and brought my F600 with me, leaving about four cord of seasoned oak and cherry behind. Every time I go back home, I bring back more household stuff in my small trailer, so the wood gets left behind. Luckily, I found some slightly seasoned ash at a decent price to get me thru this winter. This summer I hope to get some of my wood moved but the fuel cost prohibits making a trip downstate just for firewood. If only I had friends like you do!

200 miles is a toughie even at today's fuel prices. This was a 140 mile round trip. As for friends like this guy, we went to kindergarten together, were in each other's weddings, went to college together, and became fathers in the same year. He's like a brother to me and I'd do the same for him in a heartbeat.

 

[CenterTree]

Now the real work starts! At least I can still fit the cars in the driveway:

Can't you just drive up and over?


You got a lot of work to do, but THAT is the kind of "Work" that is fun.

 

[ADK_XJ]

That is a serious load to bring home - nicely done. My folks and my in-laws are each 35 miles away in the opposite direction, so anytime I get a score from my FIL or my dad I'm burning gas to move the haul home in stints with my Jeep and tow behind. Would love to do an annual haul like you, in fact you got me thinking now...

I also commiserate with the guy who left 4 cords of seasoned oak behind in a move. We moved from Western NC to Upstate NY this summer and I had to leave my carefully cultivated pile of 3 year old red oak behind. At least it went straight into my neighbor's woodshed after he helped me load the moving truck!

 

[osagebow]

I think I remember your thread on this a while back - glad to see ya got it sorted and had a good day to boot. Great timing on gassing that sucker up!

 

[Dix]

That's awesome !!

 

[lindnova]

Great deal! I love those old Macks.

 

[ewlsey]

Looks like it might be an R model. Does it have two sticks for the transmission? I drove one like that once. You could go through 4 gears in reverse if you wanted to. If you put both boxes in low and let out the clutch, you could go inside and make a sandwich before it made it across the parking lot.

 

[Badfish740]

Looks like it might be an R model. Does it have two sticks for the transmission? I drove one like that once. You could go through 4 gears in reverse if you wanted to. If you put both boxes in low and let out the clutch, you could go inside and make a sandwich before it made it across the parking lot.

Yup-two sticks and you can go through all the gears forward and reverse if you want to. If only I could get that kind of reduction in my pickup for climbing hills!

I think I remember your thread on this a while back - glad to see ya got it sorted and had a good day to boot. Great timing on gassing that sucker up!

Just goes to show that networking is everything. Normally my buddy's FIL gets $150 an hour for the truck and the driver's labor-it took us a full eight hours to get it done so the lower fuel prices were the icing on the cake!

 

[lindnova]

Yup-two sticks and you can go through all the gears forward and reverse if you want to. If only I could get that kind of reduction in my pickup for climbing hills!

I drove a 5+2 once on an old water truck and only used direct+over for the final gear, pretty simple other than a really loose worn out gearbox. I would like to try a 5+4 sometime, but I have enough fun occasionally driving the 9 speed on our RD dump truck every now and then. About the time I get to where I am floating the gears without grinding, I am done and don't drive it again for months. The newer trucks are easier to drive, but don't have the character those old Macks do.

 

[firefighterjake]

200 miles is a toughie even at today's fuel prices. This was a 140 mile round trip. As for friends like this guy, we went to kindergarten together, were in each other's weddings, went to college together, and became fathers in the same year. He's like a brother to me and I'd do the same for him in a heartbeat.

I have a friend like that . . . in fact he is the one who bailed me out this past weekend by driving 104 miles one-way to help me and my car get back home. Friends like this are worth their weight in gold . . . which he has since told me is currently running at $1,200 per ounce so he figures he is worth about $3.2 million.