haul logs in truck w/ ATV winch

[scram98400jm]

Not sure if you all already talked about this or did this or not but just thought I’d let you know what helped me out. I mounted a small Mile Marker 2500lbs ATV winch in the bed of my F250 that runs off a deep cycle battery & it works fantastic for pulling 7’ long, green, oak logs about 24” in dia into the bed of my truck w/o any problems. I take off the tail gate & use a heavy ramp I made. This way I don’t have to waste time cutting small logs in the field & don’t have to lift anything. Once at home I pile them up w/ my Case580CK backhoe until I need them. I think it’s the quickest way to haul the most amt of wood in the shortest time w/ the least effort. After my hernia operation I decided I’m not going through that again.
Jim

 

[frwinks]

sounds like you have a nice, smart set up... let the equipment do the work you don't have to :coolsmile:

 

[DiscoInferno]

After my hernia operation I decided I’m not going through that again.
Jim

I hear the sound of scroungers everywhere wincing...

 

[elkimmeg]

500c

 

[Jags]

Not sure if you all already talked about this or did this or not but just thought I’d let you know what helped me out. I mounted a small Mile Marker 2500lbs ATV winch in the bed of my F250 that runs off a deep cycle battery & it works fantastic for pulling 7’ long, green, oak logs about 24” in dia into the bed of my truck w/o any problems. I take off the tail gate & use a heavy ramp I made. This way I don’t have to waste time cutting small logs in the field & don’t have to lift anything. Once at home I pile them up w/ my Case580CK backhoe until I need them. I think it’s the quickest way to haul the most amt of wood in the shortest time w/ the least effort. After my hernia operation I decided I’m not going through that again.
Jim

I have a 580 CK backhoe also, it has been a great little worker for many, many years (1964 model). I fire it up to help me do as much as I can. I don't want no stinkin' hernia operation. Hopefully if we all use our heads a little more than our backs, we can minimize this problem.

 

[scram98400jm]

In the theme of trying to minimize the amount of handling that's involved, I counted how many times I handled the same log from when it's initially cut to when it's finally loaded in the fire & it's TOO MANY times. Anyway, for those who have a front loader, this old guy put forks on the front bucket to pick up pallets. He then built small roofed boxes w/ open sides of some sort (didn't get a good look it was too far away). Anyway, he dumps the split logs in these very large boxes & closes the lid & let's them dry. As he uses wood during the winter, he drives the tractor & replaces the empty box next to the house w/ a full one. The box has a side door I believe. I think it's a metal frame box from the steel mill he said. He had MANY boxes out in the open field. I spend too much time moving & neatly re-stacking logs. I think this is a great idea & I'll try it after taking a closer look at the farmers setup.

 

[SeanD]

I figure I move wood 8 times from start to finish:
1. Pick up and carry to truck
2. Unload truck
3. Put on splitter
4. Carry from splitter to main woodpile
5. Put in wagon to move close to house
6. Unload wagon near house
7. Carry into house, put next to stove
8. Put in stove.
A green cord weighs about 4,000#, dry about 2,000. At an average of 3,000# per cord I'm lifting/carrying/stacking 24,000# per year per cord. Burn about 5 cords means I handle 120,000# a year. This doesn't consider manhandling logs on the ground, lugging saws around or all the other things that go with burning wood.
My wife wants to join a gym. I told her I had a better idea.

 

[scram98400jm]

Right now I'm at 12 times to handle the same log. Last year was my 1st year w/ this & now realize I have to reduce the steps. By utilizing the box idea & not storing logs across the road from my split wood pile, I'll get it down to 6 steps or 1/2 the handling, that's if I can get the old Case started when it's 5 degrees out. Tonight I'm picking up a Huskee, 20 ton log splitter which should make things easier. Last year I only used a maul which is a real workout w/ 4 chords of wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Using a winch certainly will cut down on some work. Just beware that any time you drag a log you will get dirt in the bark. That will mean your chain will need sharpening sooner and also will wear out sooner. Still, dragging that short of a distance shouldn't be too bad.

One neighbor of ours has forks for his front end loader so he cuts most of his in log length, puts them on a wagon or truck and hauls them right where he wants to stack the wood before cutting. Saves a bit of work for sure, but you can't always get the tractor and truck where you want to cut either. But then he has a trailer the same as we use. Just do what is necessary.

 

[Gooserider]

Lets see how many times I handle stuff (all by hand or manually pushed cart) I'm somewhat constrained simply by the geography of the place, except for my splitting block, everything is pretty much in the most logical or only available place it could be. The splitting block is a tree stump, and grew where it is It's a bit of a nusiance location wise, but is so perfect in other ways that I don't really want to find a different setup for splitting.

1. My wood guy brings in the truck load of log length and stacks it in my cutting area, using the nice crane on his log truck. (Looks like fun, I'd love to try it....)
2. I cut it into rounds from the stack, may or may not have to move them around as I cut.
3. I move the rounds from the cutting area PAST the wood shed to the splitting area and dump them (real small stuff goes to the woodsheds w/o splitting, up to about 10" gets moved several rounds at a time with the wood cart, larger rounds get moved 1-2 at a time with a two wheel dolly)
4A. Manhandle them onto the splitting block
4B. W/ a monster maul or sledge & wedge, split them into burning size,
4C. Stack the splits on my wood cart.
5. Roll the full wood cart to the sheds and stack into the sheds
6. During burning season, load from the sheds into the wood cart and haul into the house (up about 8 steps, thank goodness the wood cart has bicycle style wheels)
7. Mostly feed the stove off the wood cart, but the tag ends of loads will get transfered to a log holder when I need to get another load, and go from the log holder to the stove.

So looks like I handle each peice about 7-8 times depending on how you want to count, and I've been burning about 5-6 cords / year.

Gooserider

 

[scram98400jm]

Just tried the new Huskee 22 ton log splitter yesterday. This is the 1st time I've ever used a log splitter. Oh my, this is the greatest thing I've ever bought by far. I can't belive how quick & easy it was to split an enormus amount of wood that would have taken me 4 times as long using my old maul w/ a lot less effort physically. I wish I only bought it sooner.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

scram, you just learned what many of us have learned in the past. That wood splitter will certainly be a blessing. We also wish we'd bought ours much sooner than we did, which was about 20 years ago. Sure makes things go much better. I my case, after a back injury I could no longer split by hand so had to get the splitter. Now even if I were able to split by hand, I wouldn't.

Enjoy!