New Toy - Need Tips on Skidding

[maplemeister]

I have been pulling mine out with a JD 1020 and hooking on to a heavy duty
triangular bracket that was built to fit right on the three point arms and top link. The bracket was built with a receiver hitch so I use that with a heavy duty Grab hook to catch the choker chain for the log. Lifts the log about a foot to a foot and a half depending on how short you hitch it up on the butt end. I used this setup today for the first time on mostly bare ground wood road and it worked fine. By next winter I am thinking I might fabricate a weight box with a hook attached to the back bottom end so I can get the extra weight I need when plowing and also pull logs on the frozen roads. Don't know how rugged your box is but might be something you could do as well.

Maplemeister:

 

[darren_nh]

Maplemeister,

That is a great idea! The box is sturdy and I could always reinforce it for that purpose. I might give that a try. Thanks.

 

[itn]

here's mine.
I made a lift for my 3 point and use skidding tongs.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Lots of good advice so far, agree with using the 3PT with a drawbar on it for pulling.

2 things to keep in mind with the loader: the front axle pivots, and if you get the back end light, it can get very tippy very fast.

Also, try to avoid overloading the front end. That axle housing covers a bunch of shiny, very expensive parts that have a tendency to break when you least want them to if abused.

Be warned though, that this could be just the beginning of your problems. Besides CAD and FAD, you are now at risk for AMAD (Agricultural Machinery Acquiring Disorder). Mine was not caught in time, and now I have 3 tractors and a fenceline full of stuff to pull with them. There is no cure, the only known treatment is moving into an apartment on the 20th floor in your nearest major city. I have decided the treatments would only be worthwhile if the other occupant of said apartment was rich, smart, extremely hot...and wanted ME...4 things I have yet to find in the same woman!:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[rmihalek]

I seem to recall reading of some fatalities where logs were being skidded with a farm tractor and the log hung up on a stump. The tractor wheels kept going which then resulted in the tractors flipping over backwards and crushing the operator.

There were no pictures provided with these stories, so I can't verify that it was this type of tractor.

Anyway, if I was skidding with this type of tractor, I'd make sure to lift the front of the log up high so that it wouldn't get hung up on stumps. I guess you could even get some type of trailer set-up, load the logs on the trailer with the FEL then drive around, hook up the hitch, and wheel your logs to the "landing" keeping them dirt-free.

 

[Soilarch]

That's a good point. Do not attach anything that can "pull" above the drawbar. You screw with the physics of things and suddenly something that isn't possible (like the tractor flipping itself backwards) is very possible.

Drawbars are below the axles for a reason
Keep the "pull" below the axle and the worst you'll do is think your tractor transformed into a bronco when/if you snag on something.

(Can these little guys power-hop? They're lighter and shorter but their tire sidewalls probably have a lot more stiffnessower ratio.)

I run the big tractors, only small one I've ran was an old JD 2630...I miss that thing. Wish we had kept it, I'm sure the uncle didn't get squat for the trade-in.

 

[fishercat]

try something like this

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200335943_200335943

three point is the best,easiest,and safest way to skid with a tractor.

the best investment you could make is a front grapple.

 

[Steve NW WI]

That's a good point. Do not attach anything that can "pull" above the drawbar. You screw with the physics of things and suddenly something that isn't possible (like the tractor flipping itself backwards) is very possible.

Drawbars are below the axles for a reason
Keep the "pull" below the axle and the worst you'll do is think your tractor transformed into a bronco when/if you snag on something.

(Can these little guys power-hop? They're lighter and shorter but their tire sidewalls probably have a lot more stiffnessower ratio.)

I run the big tractors, only small one I've ran was an old JD 2630...I miss that thing. Wish we had kept it, I'm sure the uncle didn't get squat for the trade-in.

I wouldn't be worried about pulling off of a 3PT drawbar, as long as the hooking is done in line with the lower links, but the critter fishercat gave a link to pulls off the top link:

I think this would be a very good way to get a small tractor tipped over. A couple years ago, I was using a 4650 Deere (big 2wd tractor - about 180 HP) to move an old storage semitrailer. In order to lift the front of the trailer, I hooked chains to the top of the quick hitch. As soon as I got to a hard pull, the nose came up FAST (and this is on an 18,000lb tractor). I had time to drop the hitch, but someone unfamiliar with the controls, or not expecting it, could have been in more serious trouble.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

All good tractors and ideers!

 

[skidsteer.ca]

I would refrain from jerking on any part of a tractor though. They are not a skidder. The drawbar is the toughest pull point on most. But is too low to lift the log so it does not catch on a stump or....
The 3 point with some sort of attachment to spread the tug of the chain over all 3 points, again don't jerk on it.
The weight of a tree can be very decieving and it often take alot more force then you might think to get them to slide. If your doing this in the winter some tire chains would be a big help.
I have skidded wood the a c5 tree farmer and a 440a JD cable skidders and also a 648d grapple and it often surprises you that the tree or skid you just hooked to won't come.
Sad part is the way the logging is up here the last 2 years you could buy a skidder for what that tractors worth. We had one 648d and a year ago we were down in Thunder Bay at a Ritchie Bros auction, at first they could not get a 5k bid on one like ours there, picked it up for 6200 cdn n the end.
Tires on it are worth more then that. It runs and I drove it on the float, can't see much wrong with it. Lots of hours, but some parts must have been rebuilt. If it had a job it could go to work.
Ken