Jonsered Iron Horse

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Ironhorse on hilly terrain

Don't agree with the admonition against using it for hardwood and/or hilly terrain. I've used mine for skidding hardwood logs of considerable size up slopes that are difficult to walk up. Mine has only the 5.5 hp Honda engine, but I've never encountered issues with power, even on steep slopes. If I need to go down a steep slope when carrying a load in the cargo box rather than skidding a log I'll sometimes back it down rather than depend on the brake when walking down the slope in front of it. Truly impressive the places this thing can go.
Wish the optional accessories weren't so expensive, I'd love to have one of their trailers for it. One option which I wish were available would be to have a heated handle for winter use, as I've got on a couple of my chainsaws. I've built accessories for carrying tools on the home-built rack.
I use one all the time in the winter for pine stand management. For pulp trees its great. For hardwood loads and logs on any terrain that is hilly, forget about it.

A great tool for the landowner harvesting firewood. But at the cost of the machine you could buy enough firewood for a friggin' lifetime.

I use a Kubota RTV for forestry work until the snow won't allow. Then the Iron Horse. Don't get me wrong. Its quite a rig. But it can also be quite a contraption, sometimes more of a hassle than its worth.

Be great for moose and caribou outfitters in the north. Handles wet, boggy, terrain well, and with the log bunk trailer it will hold quite a load of hind quarters. It will go anywhere you can walk basically. Can winch it up and down hills. And pull trees (pine mostly) down to the ground with it when they hang up.



Pretty simple design, but needs some refined engineering in my opinion.
 
Don't agree with the admonition against using it for hardwood and/or hilly terrain. I've used mine for skidding hardwood logs of considerable size up slopes that are difficult to walk up. Mine has only the 5.5 hp Honda engine, but I've never encountered issues with power, even on steep slopes. If I need to go down a steep slope when carrying a load in the cargo box rather than skidding a log I'll sometimes back it down rather than depend on the brake when walking down the slope in front of it. Truly impressive the places this thing can go.
Wish the optional accessories weren't so expensive, I'd love to have one of their trailers for it. One option which I wish were available would be to have a heated handle for winter use, as I've got on a couple of my chainsaws. I've built accessories for carrying tools on the home-built rack.

You best be postin' some pics of that rig !
 
You best be postin' some pics of that rig !


The birch log shown on the Jonsered is about 15" in diameter at the base and close to 20 feet long. To get it out of the woods had to maneuver between some fairly close together (five feet?)trees, over fallen branches, and up a snow-covered grade.
I've found that items such as plastic felling wedges and small chain binders can hide in the snow very easily when dropped or if they fall off the Jonsered. To make them a lot easier to locate, I've added about 30" of yellow poly 1/4" rope to such items.
 
What's the heaviest log you have pulled with it? I pulled a 20" 16' Oak log with a lewis winch a couple of days ago. It was heavy.
 
Those Iron Horses are cool, but I have a couple questions. How does it steer? When you turn the handle does it just apply a brake to one track, aka skidsteer? What kind of drive system does it have? Hydraulic? belt drive? Does it have reverse?
 
steering/reverse

Those Iron Horses are cool, but I have a couple questions. How does it steer? When you turn the handle does it just apply a brake to one track, aka skidsteer? What kind of drive system does it have? Hydraulic? belt drive? Does it have reverse?

The steering is accomplished first by releasing the drive to one track and then if the handle is moved further by applying the brake to that side. The drive is basically that of a snowmobile, with variable-diameter pulleys on the engine and transmission. It's essentially a two-speed variable drive, rather than continuously variable. When the engine reaches a high enough rpm the engine pulley will bring its two halves closer together, thereby shifting into "high gear" and it will remain in that position until the engine speed drops considerably. If the engine starts to labor under a load, I'll simply release pressure on the throttle paddle to drop the engine speed down to idle, the pulley will drop down to "low gear", and then continue. The transmission is a forward-neutral-reverse gearbox. If one encounters a situation where one track tends to spin (loose soil or debris such as branches on the surface or going up a steep grade, a locking yoke can be dropped in place which will lock the handle in the center position and drive both tracks together, rather like posi-traction. This locking yoke needs to be raised before the unit may be steered. Overall a very simple drive train, but it's quite effective.
 
Ive still got to get up to Tony's and take some pics of his to share on here. I'll try and do that this week if at all possible......
 
large log skidded with Iron Horse

What's the heaviest log you have pulled with it? I pulled a 20" 16' Oak log with a lewis winch a couple of days ago. It was heavy.

Probably the largest I've hauled with it is this 24" X 16' log maple log which had to be hauled up a couple of grades to get to the yard. Don't think I'd want to try anything larger.
 
233702d1334498662-101_5812-small-jpg


Plenty big for a little machine !
 
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