My new wood hauler...not a pickup...or a trailer...pics inside>

[brenndatomu]

I posted this over on that other forum but I figured I better share with y'all too!
So I've been mulling over a way to handle my firewood less. My system has evolved over time to this. I cut to length (usually) right where I drop the tree, load on the truck, then split right of the truck and stack immediately from the splitter onto my stacks at the back of the property. In the past I built 8' long racks that allow me to load up 1/2 cord at a time right out of my main stacks, then I would carry them to the woodshed (using my dads A/C forklift). This work great, but, then I gotta hump wood in the house every day all winter long. I thought about carrying a rack at a time into the attached garage, but that means borrowing the forklift each time I wanna move a rack, and the racks would take up too much room in the garage anyways.

So I started looking for a small 4x4 loader tractor...too expensive, went looking for a small forklift...all the affordable stuff was junk. Wait a minute! I know the perfect machine! Dad has a Prime Mover L-812 mini forklift that he had plans for many moons ago (never happened though). A lot of you guys would recognize this machine as a "stander" with a concrete dumper on the front, this is the less popular (rare) forklift model and has been modified to be a "Sitter". The ole girl has just been sitting in the back of the machinery shed sinking into the ground for going on 25-30 years now. Dad said I was welcome to have it if I could use it. I went and dug it out, the Honda motor that was on it had long been scrounged for a log splitter project but I had a replacement layin around, so no biggie. I got 'er running in short order and after some quick measurements I realized this was gonna be perfect! I built a dozen new racks that hold roughly a 1/3 of a cord (4' wide x 5.5' tall x 22" deep) and a heavy duty wheeled cart to set the racks on so that I can wheel a rack full of wood right into my furnace room!

I will still load the racks out of the stacks then store them in the woodshed nice and dry for the winter, but now I only have to fetch wood every couple weeks using my new toy!
Now for those pics... The new racks The new cart I had to fab up some dual wheel adapters to keep from sinking into oblivion when running across the yardA rack full of Oak is about all the ole girl wants! In the garage (almost home) Rolling into the basement Home......right next to the Mighty Mighty Yukon!
I'll probably give the lil forklift a good polish and paint next summer once I'm sure any bugs are worked out

Now I just need to figure out how to build a firewood processor on the cheap

 

[Jim Post]

That is AWESOME!

 

[smokedragon]

sweet

 

[Mag Craft]

That is pretty cool having the wood rack set on castors.

 

[brenndatomu]

Thanks guys, yeah so far it is working out pretty well. I worked on building things on/off all summer, but just actually hauled the racks into the woodshed and a couple into the house last week. Just in time, we have 5-6" of snow this AM

 

[DTrain]

Ho-leeee crap that's cool!

 

[Soundchasm]

Tooth to tail brilliance. I can't imagine a person not being jealous, and it's perfectly fine in this case!

 

[jeffesonm]

Awesome.