Easy way of loading chunks into my trailer?

[ziggy2b]

Easy way

Crow bait,
The best and cheapest way I found is getting a two wheeled hand truck from harbor frieght with big tires.(and tire gaurds) so the wood does"nt rub on your tires when moving. I have a 12 foot landscape trailer with a ramp. With the ramp down I roll my 48"pieces on to the trailer. When I get home I put wood under ramps to be level with my splitter and roll them on to my splitter thuss no heavy lifting required...(REMEMBER YOU WORK THE WOOD D DON"T LET THE WOOD WORK YOU!!!!)
p.s. tsc has a hand tool for handling large logs, It'scalled a pieve and some other name I can"t think of right now but I would'nt go to the woods with out it...

 

[2FatGuys]

I couldn't agree with Brushwacker more. I have cut firewood for years and have tried every thing you can think of to handle big rounds, tractors, wood splitters, and a lot of wrestling. I have found the fastest way to deal with big rounds is cut them into managable sizes so they are easy to load, unload and split. The key I have found to this is use a big saw with a razor sharp chain. Here is an example.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LH08k5Kf4AI

We've been doing exactly this for years. Works great.

 

[msjanket]

Lifting big log chunks onto a trailer/splitter

If you don't want to go the added work and expense of a good log lifter, you might consider this.
I am having the same thoughts and will obtain a roller conveyor section either 8 or 10 feet long. Weld some legs on one end to raise it high enough. Then, you now have one of the 7 simple machines and you easily roll the log section up to the trailer or splitter. No hydraulics needed, either. Try to get a light enough conveyor section, too. Some steel ones can weight 230 pounds!!

Mike

 

[Lurch2]

You could also adapt something like this. Don't know what the cycle times are but most of us are more likely to build rather than buy 1 anyway so components could be sized accordingly.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_650281_650281

 

[avalancher]

One thing you might do is try what i use, a portable winch. I bought a warn 3700 portable winch, and a deep cycle battery. I hook it on the front of the trailer, and pull everything into the trailer. Often I throw a nylon towing strap around several big pieces, and drag them up a 4ft wide ramp. You can move the winch anywhere you want on the trailer, even pull stuff up over the sides.
When I get home, i reverse the process. I back up to a pole i have sunk into the ground with concrete with a big pulley on it. Run the cable out to the post and back to the trailer and pull all the big stuff back out of the trailer. I also have a 16 ft trailer, and can unload the entire trailer full of big chunks in about 30 minutes by myself, and with little effort. The winch will run you about 400 bucks but it has saved me a lot of work. And, if you get stuck out in the weeds, take that same winch and run it around to the front of your truck and pull yourself out. have done the same many times.
Want some pics? let me know and i wil post them.

 

[beerman6]

.
Want some pics? let me know and i wil post them.

:monkey: What kind of question is that?

POST EM'

 

[Zodiac45]

I like the handtruck/dolly idea. Faster than my hand crank winch. This one called big foot should do the deal http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37520

It's got 13" air tires and the little wheel fenders. I'll give it a go, be handy to have anyways

 

[Gensetsteve]

I've got plenty of sources for logs around me. Seems people are always having trees cut down near by. So, I head on over, chunk up the logs, load my trailer, and take 'er home. Then I split away.

What's killing me, tho, is the loading of the chunks into my trailer. I hate chainsawing the large chunks in half before I load them, too. There's gotta be an easier way.

If I had some kind of lift ramp on the back of my trailer, I could drag chunks to it. The lift gate would then raise, and I could drag them into the trailer. I'd only get one layer that way, but it beats lifting the heavy ones. It's a 16 foot long trailer, so even that way I'd get a nice load...and could top it off with the limbs.

I'm not against putting a winch on the front of my F150, if that would help power something some way.

Someone has to encountered this themselves, before me.
I'm not gonna buy a skid-steer, and have to transport that too.
I thought about some kinda of elevator...but then there's the issue of transporting that to, and from, the tree-site.

I could hire a "day worker" or two, but at $15/hr, my firewood starts to get expensive.

Ideas gang?

In the uk we have mini hiab cranes. They run off 12vdc and lift about 3/4 ton. The unit weighs about 1/4 ton. With an extra hyd service you can fit a clam shell type grab

 

[crowbait]

You could also adapt something like this. Don't know what the cycle times are but most of us are more likely to build rather than buy 1 anyway so components could be sized accordingly.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_650281_650281

I've been looking at those, and am thinking about mounting one on the back of my trailer. Anyone done that?

 

[crowbait]

One thing you might do is try what i use, a portable winch. I bought a warn 3700 portable winch, and a deep cycle battery. I hook it on the front of the trailer, and pull everything into the trailer. Often I throw a nylon towing strap around several big pieces, and drag them up a 4ft wide ramp. You can move the winch anywhere you want on the trailer, even pull stuff up over the sides.
When I get home, i reverse the process. I back up to a pole i have sunk into the ground with concrete with a big pulley on it. Run the cable out to the post and back to the trailer and pull all the big stuff back out of the trailer. I also have a 16 ft trailer, and can unload the entire trailer full of big chunks in about 30 minutes by myself, and with little effort. The winch will run you about 400 bucks but it has saved me a lot of work. And, if you get stuck out in the weeds, take that same winch and run it around to the front of your truck and pull yourself out. have done the same many times.
Want some pics? let me know and i wil post them.

I'd love to see those pics, pal! Show plenty!!

 

[Turner-N-Burner]

I've been looking at those, and am thinking about mounting one on the back of my trailer. Anyone done that?

Harbor freight was selling them a while back for ~$200. I got one for my pickup, but the power terminals wired to the battery corroded the first winter, and now it's more work to get it running when I need it than it is to use ramps. It's just taking up space in my garage....

If anyone in the boston area wants it (and cheap) let me know.

-Dan

 

[avalancher]

I'd love to see those pics, pal! Show plenty!!

Alrighty! Hopefully I will get some woodcutting done this weekend if it clears off, and will take some pics!

 

[olyman]

(Make some curly fries and save your back, wrestling those big rounds on the splitter is no fun and you get more on a load with smaller pieces.) quote

get a pickup box full of tree rounds--go home--split--and see how much will go back into the truck box--

 

[markbuilt]

hydraulic pumps

here s a question for all you builder types of fine machines . Iam building a small firewood processor and looking at types of pumps . I have 2 that are off John Deere bulldozers 1 being off a blade machine thinking its in the range of a 12gpm unit , the other is off an old 1010 John Deere loader had on a 11/2 yard bucket and also came with a log loading clamp . The pump on this machine is somewhat larger , have been told its either a 23 gpm or 30 gpm.
The other pump I have is off a dump truck run by a pto this is a hugh pump in size by looking at it the hoist was a 4 section telescopic unit 20 foot long box .
The question i have is that pump able to run for long derations of time or as on dump truck its simply up and down any help here guys thanks

 

[turnkey4099]

(Make some curly fries and save your back, wrestling those big rounds on the splitter is no fun and you get more on a load with smaller pieces.) quote

get a pickup box full of tree rounds--go home--split--and see how much will go back into the truck box--

He'll just think he didnt' stack carefully enough

Harry K