ATV Skidding?

[HickoryNick]

Hello all. I've dug around with the search function, but couldn't quite come up with what I was looking for.

I have a Honda 500 Foreman 4x4. So far I've done a little bit of skidding with it, pulling some 18" diameter 6 and 8 ft long longs by just chaining them to to the hitch and pulling them (downhill luckily). Of course, this isn't quite the best way and puts alot of strain on the four wheeler.

Has anyone devised any skidding rigs for a standard ATV hitch or ball hitch?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[clearance]

If you can get the butt up off the ground you are laughing, search on the internet for "logging arch". I think some are made for atv machines. They used these behind cats back before they had skidders. Basically it is a little trailer that puts no wieght on the machine but has an arch with some kind of fairlead with a winch on the machine.

 

[John Ellison]

Here is a modified propane tank trailer.

 

[Pcoz88]

An atv pulled that propane trailer with that big log on it?WoW!!

 

[John Ellison]

ATM. A team of mules. I just put that on to show something similar to what Nick could buy or make. It has a ball hitch but it probably weighs around 1000 lbs. I can also use it behind my pickup.
There are at least a couple of companies on the net that sell arches specifically for atvs. Some build them theirselves. I recently seen one made from a roll bar from something small, maybe gocart?

 

[MotorSeven]

Find an old jet ski/wave runner trailer. They are light weight, narrow, CHEAP, have a long tongue and have a winch ready to go. With a few bed mods it would make a great skid trailer, and they can be found CHEAP. This is what i decided to do after doing a little research. Did i mention that they are CHEAP

RD

 

[KMB]

This is something that Bailey's sells. Not cheap though.

http://store.baileys-online.com/cgi-bin/baileys/1654?mv_session_id=aYdxLSnq&product_sku=2001RT

Kevin

 

[Finnbear]

Norwood has a small ATV skidder. They will send you a DVD which shows it in action if you ask. I'm in the process of building a larger skidding arch right now to replace the American Bandsaw unit I currently use.
Finnbear

 

[musher]

Check out Future Forestry's logging arches. I don't own one (but I sure would like to!).

 

[Finnbear]

I've seen their arches up close and personal at a Paul Bunyan show a couple years ago. They are definitely the best in the industry but they are the most expensive too. Too much $$$ for my tool budget.
Finnbear

 

[HickoryNick]

Thanks everyone. You all have given me some great ideas. The arches on some of these websites are up there in price. Kinda defeats the purpose of getting firewood to save money on power bills I know a good welder or two that can probably whip me something together after looking at some of these pictures.

I had never heard of a timber arch before. My great grandfathers, (yup both of em) and my grandfather used to be lumberjacks and used horse teams to pull logs out of the woods. I can't remember what they called the type of skidder they used, but it had a seat on it, a couple of wheels, and a chain hoist to pull the log up off the ground. I just couldn't remember what the called it. Horse Team Skidder? That's another question I guess

Anyways, thanks again. You all have put me on the right track!

Thanks,
Nick

 

[Finnbear]

I have an American Bandsaw 36-16 with brakes. It works well but I'd do without the brakes if I had it to do over again. http://www.americanbandsawcompany.com/Log Arch.htm

 

[wmthrower]

Hickory, what you described sounds like an arch. Some call it a log cart. They are still made commercially and privately today. The seat just gives the teamster a place to ride on. The log is usually held up off the ground behind and under the driver.

 

[HickoryNick]

Hickory, what you described sounds like an arch. Some call it a log cart. They are still made commercially and privately today. The seat just gives the teamster a place to ride on. The log is usually held up off the ground behind and under the driver.

It's been a long weekend, sorry for the late reply. Log cart is the name that rings a bell with me around here. WM Ritter logged my entire area back in the 1920s and 30s. A few miles down the road they had a huge horse barn with big team horses whose sole purpose was pulling log carts. They also had small guage rail running everywhere.

Its funny. This area was absolutely industrialized as a huge lumber community back in those days. Rail was laid everywhere, there was a HUGE lumber mill in another part of the county where they floated logs on the river to it. Now the only evidence I know of that Ritter was here is a concrete splash dam. After Ritter pretty much raped the timber back (no such thing as selective cutting just "THERE A TREE!!!! CUT IT DOWN!!!!"), coal hit and everyone strip mined and sunk holes in the ground. Now it's natural gas and there's straws in the ground every dang where to go along with all the mines. Funniest thing is, many a man has been made a millionaire and even billionaire in this county from it's resources, but low and behold most of the population is poor as dirt. County doesn't even have enough money to pay it's school teachers or buy paper for them to print worksheets.

Oh, sorry, looks like I got on my soapbox again.

Thanks for the info WMThrower

HickoryNick

 

[HickoryNick]

Found an Economical Skidder

I was just goofing around and popped in ATV Skidder on google and pulled up a skidder from MontanaJacks.com.

http://www.montanajacks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=247


It's pretty much just a 1/4" peice of steel plate that looks like 2ft wide by 3ft long. It looks like the first ft of it he length has been bent to a decent curve. Anyways, more or less it's a skid plate that sort of lifts the logs up when you pull on it. They want $479 for it, but I figure I can get the metal from a local supplier for less than $50, throw a few good licks to it with a 16lb sledge while it's laying on a couple of logs, cut a couple holes for chains, throw in a little bit of welding for good measure, and voila! I'd like to get a log arch, or a cart, but paying as much as they want for one kinda defeats the purpose of getting in firewood to save money LOL

Thanks for all the suggestions though! I was being pretty ignorant. I figured I was one of the few people trying to pull logs with an ATV and never thought to do a google search. My apologies everyone.