Cranes hoists firewood lifters

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Gavman

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What are you guys using for getting the heavier rounds into your trucks or trailers...
I have access to a wood dump and bring a load home here and there but there are some quality rounds that I wish I could lift but at 100 pound plus....
I have a 96 ford f250 with 350 running gear and overload springs so can carry three thou easily...

Dont want to run the saw there to make em smaller, would rather take em home for cutting splitting ect...

Thanks
 
My partner has an Eagle lift on the back of his F250. My F250 4X4 does not. When I get to heavy rounds, I noodle them, roll them up my leg or use other rounds to build stairs to the truck so I can roll the round up and in.
 
I built this in the back of my truck, made some tongs to go with it. works slick as all get out.
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two things

A heavy duty plank, and a cheap comealong should do the trick. Just put something on the end of the plank so it won't slip or move from the tailgate area, throw a chain around the round, and scoot it up and in with the comealong or like a cheap boat winch. I * think* you can get a 1,000 lb little boat winch around the same price as for a small comealong, around 20 bucks or so. You might have to use a laminated plank or some other sort of construct so it doesn't bend easy. Loading ramps have those traction ridges, you want nice and smooth though. Then you just need an anchor point at the front of the bed somehow.

I use a heavy plank to get real big ones up on the chopping block here, but it isn't as high as a pickup bed, but I have rolled three hundred lbers before.

And I know they weighed that much because I knew the species and looked up weights and did the math for cubic volume on the rounds I had, big fat cut too big hickory rounds. 250 to 350...that just sucked, but man it is nice now they are in the stacks...

Ain't doing that again, will cut that stuff a scosh shorter....just tipping them things to roll up was an effort and half, tell ya whut...my powerlifting days were like 40 years ago....

If you don't want to build anything or don't want to cut there at the dump, just split them right there, then load what size chunks you can manage, and finish splitting at home? That might work. Busting them in quarters seems not that bad, you are gonna bust them up anyway....or bust some splits off the outside, go around once, load the splits and the heartwood chunk, finish that one at home. I find that is easier than trying to whack big rounds in half.
 
Hmmm...

Thinking about Zogger's idea of the boat winch but mount it on a trailer? That way you don't have to pull logs up to tailgate height, just the much lower trailer height. Need to weld up a nice, braced attachment point at the front of the trailer...maybe 3 or 4' high so the line will clear logs as you put them on the trailer. Of course once you get that done then you replace the boat winch with an electric ATV winch and wonder how this woodburning business is supposed to save money :biggrin:

Just a bit of brainstorming. Glad I don't have to deal with this issue, and if it's a log I can't lift in my woodlot I just noodle.
 
How I Load and Unload Them

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Here is how I handle the larger ones. These aren't really some of the bigger ones I sometimes get but is an example.

These are homemade tongs and a Harbor Freight 1,000 lb. crane which works very well.

Nosmo
 
I use a hoist that hooks into the hitch. Designed for loading deer and such picked it up on ebay for a hundred bucks.
 
attachment.php
Here is how I handle the larger ones. These aren't really some of the bigger ones I sometimes get but is an example.

These are homemade tongs and a Harbor Freight 1,000 lb. crane which works very well.

Nosmo


I have something similar mounted to the front of my little trailer,only I added a 12 volt winch.It will load/unload the trailer and the truck.

It works out great when I can leave them loaded until I have time to split,swing the rounds right over to the splitter.
 
Oshkosh 977 will lift 2500 lbs at 20ft and 4500lbs at 10ft. Also has a 20,000lb winch on the frame if you need to skid some really huge chunks.

This piece of Oak is around 50" the root ball in the picture was around 9ft if that gives a little scale.

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image.jpeg
 
Oshkosh 977 will lift 2500 lbs at 20ft and 4500lbs at 10ft. Also has a 20,000lb winch on the frame if you need to skid some really huge chunks.

This piece of Oak is around 50" the root ball in the picture was around 9ft if that gives a little scale.

View attachment 499784
View attachment 499785

Cheatin, cheatin! Serious biggazz offroad pickin em up mega cheatin!
 
I was responding to the OP though I just realized someone resurfaced an old thread.

The Oshgosh is neat. Is it road width or needs a permit?
 
I simple ramp works good in most cases and is a lot quicker then a manual hoist.The ramp can be a store bought one or a board.Just roll the rounds on.I am sure most have done this,but many times I just set a round by the tailgate(cut 16 t0 18 inches or what ever length works best for you.Some pretty big rounds can be picked up and set on top of the round you placed by the tailgate,because you are only lifting 16 inches or so.Then just lean the top edge of the round you are loading over the edge of the tailgate and push or roll it on. Either method may not be as refined as a hoist,but both work and are the economy route until you can get a hoist.
 
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