Had to leave what I cut! Ugh!

[Gasifier]

Took the tractor out into the woods to ct some wood in all this snow. Plowed a path on the way in, including going down a hill. Was very happy with four wheel drive and ability of tractor. Even continued down old road without plowing through about 15" of snow. Turned around and felled a nice size Ash. Cut it up and loaded up the loader to bring it home. Had to leave all wood there! Ugh! Could not get back up that hill. Even in four wheel with rear locker locked. Had to plow a large area out at bottom of hill and get a running start and finally made it out. Need rear tire chains but don't have the dough right now. Oh well. I will think of something to get that wood out. I will try to post some pics I took with phone. Last one is of rounds being left there.

 

[Gasifier]

Nothing like posting pics from a phone! Hey mods. Got any tricks up your sleeve to rotate those images right side up? I wonder if there would be a way to do this? Have an option when you edit to rotate images if posted wrong way/angle? I must have had the phone oriented the right way on one picture I took. The opposite way when I took the others? Dammit!

 

[bogydave]

Pack the trail, mix in some saw dust, wood chips, wood ashes (sand) where the tires need traction.
Smaller loads in the bucket to keep more weight on the rear tires.
Gotta go, standing on my head, getting a head ache LOL

 

[wishlist]

Try viewing this with a phone! Rotate phone and pics are still upside down. Lol.....
Nice job anyways gasifier. Would a dray help?

Least you didn't wait for scotty and the copter like we did the other day.

 

[BobUrban]

is it on your property? I have piles of logs all through the woods during procurement season(winter) amd in the spring I go back and trailer them to the splitting deck. Just stack those rounds and keep going - get em in the spring

 

[WellSeasoned]

I had a bit of an issue today too, only once the snow was packed down it turned to ice. +1 on the saw dust, it helps. Nice work today.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is one of the problems with the front end loader. Did you try raising the load? Sometimes that will transfer enough weight to the rear wheels to help. Yet, on a hill with that much snow it has to be tough. Sand is the best to my notion. That usually will give enough traction unless the rear is just super light. Yes, chains would help a lot.

When I worked in the woods we used to make a lot of corduroys. That is, we took slab wood from the mill and laid them down in wet spots and on the uphill sections so the trucks could come in and go out without burying themselves. After laying down the slabs, we then would dump sawdust on the top.

 

[Wood Duck]

After you make a trail through the snow, the snow will set up and you will probably have a much easier time on the trail. I am assuming you are slipping in loose snow. Try again tomorrow and the snow should be set. Any exposed ground should freeze by tomorow so snow and mud should both be better in the morning.

 

[Flamestead]

1+ to coming back in after the cold has firmed up where you've been. Coming uphill backward with 4wd and a load in the bucket sometimes works, but is more a one-off solution than a long-term plan due to wear on the front end. Before I got my modern tractor I was looking at mounting a firewood box on the 3pt hitch to keep the weight back where it does some good, and adding a hydraulic piston for the top link so I could dump it.

Nothing beats a real set of chains, but they are pricey. I have some more of Dennis' corduroy work ahead of me for tomorrow. Fixed a couple of places today, but stopped skidding by mid-afternoon because it was getting too messy. Kept felling because no snow in the forecast, and the tops will go into the wet areas.

 

[Gasifier]

is it on your property? I have piles of logs all through the woods during procurement season(winter) amd in the spring I go back and trailer them to the splitting deck. Just stack those rounds and keep going - get em in the spring

It is on the family's property. So I could leave it there if I need to. But I have a feeling I am going to do some work on the side so I can buy a set of tire chains for the tractor. I used them on a military vehicle I had one time and they makee a huge difference. I do some slipping and sliding when I am moving snow and it would make a big difference with that job as well. But, if I do not buy them, I could always leave the wood until the snow is gone.

 

[TimJ]

Gasifier, that is alot of ash you cut. Temporary set back is all. You are still further ahead than you were the day before.

 

[Gasifier]

I like the ideas you guys have come up with. The ground was already frozen under the snow. The snow was just the right condition, from temperature I guess, to be really slippery. I tried everything with lowering and raising the load in the front, have to be carefull with load being up higher as you know. That wood is pretty heavy. Tried to back up the hill, tried using the loader to scrap the ground down. Only problem was it was too slippery to scrap it down on the steeper part while trying to do it from below. Should have scraped it down to the ground on the way down I guess. But I will tell you this, even the scraped down ground was kinda slick and I was doing a little spinning there. I do not have enough sawdust to spread out over that much of an area on the hill. I think the snow will be set up better today, the weather got warmer then they said it was going to be. It is about 20 degrees now though. But I am not going to take the chance of going down that hill again until I have chains on. I think I will walk in and get some more cutting done and leave rounds wherever I drop the trees. Then go in and get them after I have put chains on or when conditions are better for traction. I have read over on the tractorbynet forum about siping tires, and/or grooving tires like the R4 industrial tires like I have. One guy took a hot knife of some kind and put extra grooves in his tires with it. Said it made a big difference in traction. Basically adding twice or more edges for gripping and when snow gets packed into them then that causes snow to stick and get better traction as well. Looked like this.




But I am thinking this will make an even bigger difference.

I wonder if I could make my own and save some money. Probably not worth the time spent and not sure if end result would be as good. They have been making them a long time and know how to do it so they hold up well.

 

[Gasifier]

Gasifier, that is alot of ash you cut. Temporary set back is all. You are still further ahead than you were the day before.

Thanks. That is true. That load in the loader was only about 1/3 of that tree that I dropped. It was a decent size Ash. I am heading into the woods around 10 am and will drop a few more trees and get them bucked up. Then I will bring them out when I can get to them.

 

[JP11]

I've got one of those tire groovers. They say it makes a huge difference on snow performance. lots of people swear by it on tractorbynet.com

I just havent gotten round to it to do mine yet.

JP

 

[ScotO]

Tire chains aren't all that hard to make, Gas......I've made several sets of them for lawn tractors before. Just some basic measurements, and some bulk chain from the surplus store, and a couple bungee cords and you're off to the races. When I make the crossover chains, I use a 4" grinder with a cutoff wheel and open up the end links so they slip over the outer chain link. Then I use a mig welder to weld that link shut. You can really get creative with homemade chains, adding extra crossover chains or even making an "x" shaped pattern to them. Then use the bungees to tighten everything up....

 

[thewoodlands]

Took the tractor out into the woods to ct some wood in all this snow. Plowed a path on the way in, including going down a hill. Was very happy with four wheel drive and ability of tractor. Even continued down old road without plowing through about 15" of snow. Turned around and felled a nice size Ash. Cut it up and loaded up the loader to bring it home. Had to leave all wood there! Ugh! Could not get back up that hill. Even in four wheel with rear locker locked. Had to plow a large area out at bottom of hill and get a running start and finally made it out. Need rear tire chains but don't have the dough right now. Oh well. I will think of something to get that wood out. I will try to post some pics I took with phone. Last one is of rounds being left there.

Nice looking Ash tree. With the Rhino once the snow gets deep enough the chains won't matter on a hill, not sure if the chains will make the difference on that hill, maybe Loon can chime in.
zap

 

[Boog]

I know how you feel Gasifier, I went out and cut a little too this morning and could not get mine in either with my little JD mower with chains on it. Will have to head back out later with my Highlander and big trailer and bring it in. I'm between tractors now and my Highlander is the only pulling machine I have.

As stated above I would give it another try in the early am tomorrow when the ground should be froze up solid.

 

[billb3]

chains should be night and day difference.


could be worse, you could have slid down the hill and had to walk back to get a tarp and rope to cover the tractor where it ended up.


I finally got a 4wd tractor just to go places 2wd constantly got stuck in.


You have rear weights ?
I don't take my BH off. (still use it too often)

 

[WhitePine]

Somebody mentioned raising the bucket to transfer more of the load to the rears. While that may actually gain you some traction back there, it is a very dangerous practice to have a high load on a slope, particularly a slippery one.

 

[Gasifier]

chains should be night and day difference.
could be worse, you could have slid down the hill and had to walk back to get a tarp and rope to cover the tractor where it ended up.
I finally got a 4wd tractor just to go places 2wd constantly got stuck in.
You have rear weights ? I don't take my BH off. (still use it too often)

billb3,
I had to walk out and go to the store to get more diesel for the tractor. Luckily it is not to far. About 3 city blocks.
My tractor is 4wd, a 37 hp Kubota with loader and backhoe. The backhoe is on the back. I have not taken it off since I bought it about a year ago. That puts some weight on the back of the tractor.
The chains on the rear wheels with the weight of the backhoe back there should make a big difference. But, budget say it will be a while.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Somebody mentioned raising the bucket to transfer more of the load to the rears. While that may actually gain you some traction back there, it is a very dangerous practice to have a high load on a slope, particularly a slippery one.

Indeed, one always has to use caution.

 

[bogydave]

With a bucket on the front & a hoe on the back, you are never really stuck
You can crab you way out of trouble spots.
Not haul much wood that way though.

+1, don't raise the bucket, especially a full one, it raises the CG & increases the chance of roll over.

Maybe you need an ATV for freeze up & break up ( shoulder season)

I guess my little ATV has some advantages over you tractor & hydraulic guys LOL
Cheap chains, light weight & more maneuverable.

One of each would be nice.

 

[Gasifier]

With a bucket on the front & a hoe on the back, you are never really stuck
You can crab you way out of trouble spots. Not haul much wood that way though.

This is true. I was never really stuck. I just could not get up that hill with slippery snow on it.

+1, don't raise the bucket, especially a full one, it raises the CG & increases the chance of roll over. Yup.

Maybe you need an ATV for freeze up & break up ( shoulder season)

That would be nice. I will let wife know that you have approved that I borrow the money for it and she can call you anytime she wants to complain that the budget is too tight. Sounds good.

I guess my little ATV has some advantages over you tractor & hydraulic guys LOL
Cheap chains, light weight & more maneuverable.

This is true. But. When was the last time you dug a ditch? Installed a culvert under a road? Dug out a stump? Moved snow, rocks, dirt, gravel, and anything really heavy and placed it right where you want it?

One of each would be nice.

This would be the best! I agree with you here.

 

[Gasifier]

Oh, if you look back up at #12 I got that picture to work with the tires that the guy burned new grooves into them with a hot knife type thingy.

 

[rottiman]

Hang about 300 lbs. on the rear of that tractor, and with chains, it'll about go anywhere. If you've got a heavy load in the bucket and no weight on the rear your lucky if you can move on flat ground. I built a steel frame weight box and put in 4 -24x24 concrete patio blocks. Amazing where I can go now.