Keepin the family happy (pics)

[Steve NW WI]

My brother bought a house last fall, 10 wooded acres. TOO wooded for his taste, at least in the yard. There are about 10 trees that are in range of the house, or will be with a few years growth, along with some storm damaged ones, and a couple dead standing.

Guess who gets the call to do some tree removal? Would you call a pro when you have a firewood monger of a brother that will do it for little more than brats and a couple cold ones? I thought so.

Anyway, Saturday I headed over there, despite being cold, wet, windy and otherwise just a miserable day. He wants to get some lawn going soon, so it's cut when I can vs when I want to.

The first pic is my firewood toolbox. It holds everything I need for cutting except my cant hook (too long). 1 guy can carry it if needed, but it's easier with two. Contents: Rope bag with clevises, rope, throwline, and pulley; Tool bag with all my maintenance stuff (files, stump vise, spare chains etc), safety gear (chaps, helmet, gloves), splitting axe, 8# maul, and 420 and 7300 Dolmar saws. The 7300 is wearing a 20", plenty big for this job. 24" is in the box for backup, but the saw doesn't fit in the box with it on. I think I'll leave the gas and oil cans out of the box, but there's room for them if I change my mind.

Here's a general view of the area, you can see the deck of the house off to the right:

After pics from Saturday, after a couple hours I was wet and cold enough to call it a day. I got 5 trees on the ground and blocked up.

That's all from Saturday, today I had to take a day off work for an appointment, so I went back tonight to clean up what's on the ground. I've mentioned before about using good grade chain, on the back of the wheeler is good ole 3/8" G70 - perfect size for dragging brush

More to come shortly!

 

[Steve NW WI]

Here's a shot of the brushpile after I cleaned up what was on the ground. I assume later this summer there will be a nice bonfire!

I got the trailer loaded, and had time to get one back leaner on the ground while I had help (Me and Bro are on different shifts right now). It had a chance to hit the house if I screwed it up, so it was a good chance to test out the Amsteel blue rope and CMI pulley I got last fall. So far I give it an A+. It's almost fun to work with compared to my old 1" 2 strand rope! I got the rope up in the tree as far as I could, the pulley anchored to an oak snag, and the other end hooked to Bro's Dodge, and let the chips fly. I made the face cut a bit to the left of the line of pull, and it followed the face cut down perfectly.

Next 3 pics show the setup and the outcome:

Lastly, here's the load I left with. The tree above still needs to be blocked, but I can do that later this week by myself, along with about 3 other trees that this piece of the jigsaw puzzle opened up.

Sadly, this is the final picture you'll see of the trailer tire on this side holding air. It blew out about 3 miles down the road. I got it parked off the road and have to go find a replacement tire tomorrow. Anyone got 1 or 2 9.00 x 20s in decent shape they want to get rid of?

Be back with more pics as progress continues, hope to get done this weekend, but Ma Nature might not cooperate.

As always, questions or comments are welcomed.

 

[needwood]

Sucks bout the tire man" At least your gettin some wood. Good luck and be safe!!!

 

[Circle B MN]

Looks like some nice easy cutting, other than that darn rain. I was in it as well Saturday...ick...

Where did you find your Amsteel Blue..? Found a bunch of Amstel Light, but no Blue... I've been using some cheap rope of an unknown origin lately. It holds, but there is a coating of some type on it that "welds" itself together when you cinch it tight, and it's a real bear to untie even a simple hitch.

I can't say I have seen 20" tire come through my place for a long long time. Any chance of swapping the rims over to 16" so you can find tires easier...? Had you left the old deck boards on it, that tire would have lasted forever. Anytime you make a repair or spiff up a vehicle, equipment, etc...it breaks...

 

[Steve NW WI]

Looks like some nice easy cutting, other than that darn rain. I was in it as well Saturday...ick...

Where did you find your Amsteel Blue..? Found a bunch of Amstel Light, but no Blue... I've been using some cheap rope of an unknown origin lately. It holds, but there is a coating of some type on it that "welds" itself together when you cinch it tight, and it's a real bear to untie even a simple hitch.

I can't say I have seen 20" tire come through my place for a long long time. Any chance of swapping the rims over to 16" so you can find tires easier...? Had you left the old deck boards on it, that tire would have lasted forever. Anytime you make a repair or spiff up a vehicle, equipment, etc...it breaks...

I hear ya on the fix it till it breaks deal. Must be one of Murphy's corollaries. Local farm/truck tire center has some used tires. Gonna find out the cost shortly.

I got the AB (and the bag and pulley) from Sherrilltree. It wasn't cheap, but I think it's gonna be well worth it so far. Here's the link to what I got, I had em splice an eye in each end for me since I about can't tie shoelaces :

Amsteel Blue : SherrillTree Tree Care Equipment

 

[GM_DaddyMac]

Steve,

Nice rig box, pics and fine work you have done so far. Bummer about the trailer tire. Hope you're mobile quickly and bringing home some more fuel.

BTW -- I bacon too. I am convinced it is a food group in and of itself.

Greg

 

[corrupt]

I hope your wood is still in the trailer when you get around to picking it up.

 

[MN Ripper]

Steve you take good care of your brother. :msp_thumbsup:

 

[Steve NW WI]

Thanks guys!

Bacon is G O O O O D stuff!

I'm not worried much about the wood, it's not split yet. Too much work for lazy ass thieves to split it to make money on!

I got a tire located, and a call in to my buddy to borrow his service truck for a little bit tomorrow or Saturday, them lug nuts haven't been off in God knows how long, and I'm thinkin the impact wrench will come in real handy!

 

[Iska3]

Looks good! Stacking all the brush ends up being a lot of work. Guns is right about the tire. Seems like when you do any update something else goes wrong. Looks like a nice hauler tho..

 

[olyman]

Thanks guys!

Bacon is G O O O O D stuff!

I'm not worried much about the wood, it's not split yet. Too much work for lazy ass thieves to split it to make money on!

I got a tire located, and a call in to my buddy to borrow his service truck for a little bit tomorrow or Saturday, them lug nuts haven't been off in God knows how long, and I'm thinkin the impact wrench will come in real handy!

and antisieze on the threads after off,,is your friend!!!

 

[roostersgt]

Get back to "whackin' and stackin". Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Rooster, S&S will happen when it gets home. For those of you worried about timber theft, 1 it's a felony in WI, and 2, green unsplit poplar birch and maple is near worthless, no crackheads want it. I went to the tavern tonight (just to check on the trailer...)

=olyman;2962632]and antisieze on the threads after off,,is your friend!!!

Why? My kids are gonna need the same kind of adventure I have right now. The tires on it are 30+ years old, hope to get the same life outta the next set...

 

[Intheswamp]

Get some blocks under that trailer once you have it jacked up on level ground. Be *very, very* careful with those old lock-rings...Lightly soap the tube, check and double-check lock-ring seating...tap, tap, tap..., air the wheel assembly up just enough to stretch the tube, check lock-ring, deflate to let the tube position itself. Bolt wheel assembly to hub, inflate to operating pressure while keeping body parts away from side of tire. Best wishes.

Ed

 

[Steve NW WI]

Thanks Ed!

This ain't my first go-round with split rims. I don't know how many hundreds of tires I changed in the Army. I have enough respect for em that I asked the tire shop that's gonna change it if they even still worked on em. I don't have a cage and ain't chancing it. I have a cousin that's partially disabled from one that blew on him.

Trailer will for sure be blocked, don't want to come back and find out some cornhole stole my jack!

 

[alleyyooper]

Why are the stumps spo tall?

Al

 

[Steve NW WI]

Bro is yet undecided if the stumps will be excavated out or ground, so we left em high enough to leave either option open right now.

Got a couple tire pics on the camera, but I'll hold off on them till I get it back together and put em all up at once. I will say that it's good to have friends sometimes!

 

[Steve NW WI]

The wood wagon is back on its own two "feet" and back in the yard, thanks greatly to a couple of good friends.

Saturday, I was up trying to get the lug nuts off, without much success, with a breaker bar. I was about ready to go fetch an air compressor and all the extension cords I own (service truck was tied up elsewhere), when a friend with a shop a short ways up the road pulled in. He pretty much insisted I drag the trailer up there and use the conveniences of his shop to fix her up. I hate arguing, so hitched up and went up the road at 5 MPH, flop flop flop and getting a case of whiplash all the way.

We got it jacked up and the tires off, only breaking two studs in the process, still got 9 on one and 8 on the other (one was already gone), plenty for a farm trailer.

The trailer spent Sunday and Monday like this, waiting for new shoes: (Yeah, the jackstand looks way forward, but trust me, there's enough tongue weight there to keep it balanced!)

Today, I got up there and got em back on, with just a little trouble. When I redecked the trailer, it wasn't exactly square, so I picked a spot to be square to and built from there. The axle wasn't it unfortunately. I had clearance issues on the right side with new tires one size larger than the old ones:

With a little careful sawzall work, we've got clearance.

After putting the fender back on, it was an uneventful trip home.

Remember me saying it helps to have great friends? Besides the one with the shop, another does a little side work there at night, and works at the truck tire shop during the day. He saved me two trips to town by bringing them in and back for me. Another friend that was there for the festivities of removing rusted wheels heard me say I was looking for a spring loaded farm hitch for my new to me woodhauler I'm working on getting running, and told me where I might be able to get one for a great price. I'll be checking on it later this week (it's been in the barn for years, I don't think it'll go anywhere real soon).

Hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend and I'll get these guys some good food on the grill and a couple cold ones to say thanks.

BTW, new tires aren't exactly shiny new radials, but they're in better shape than the old ones, and just a bit under $100 for the pair mounted with new tubes.