Firewood...The Most Important Piece of Equipment

[U&A]

Well this thread is tanked,

Lets get it back on track.


My most important piece of equipment for getting wood from the woods to my stove is.......well, its very hard to pick. All of them can be replaced and all of them are equally important. So ill just pic the most expensive one to replace.

Truck.


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[crowbuster]

Yip. Been several years now. He must have stopped doing the 1500, hadn't seen them there before I stopped going 4-5 yrs ago. Sorry bout derailing the thread. Im dun now. Oh, truck is number 1 for me. tractor number 2

 

[rwoods]

I would have to say my gas can as I can't get much done without it.

Can't let UNC's nice truck go to his head - my hauler is bigger than his though its bed is only 7' wall to wall inside. It only has two pedals. Also got more kids (not really). Ron

 

[sb47]

Ah! It's a "my truck is bigger" contest!

Meet my 1-ton, 4-door, 4WD dually, 8 ft. bed (length AND width) dump truck.

View attachment 674945

From what I've seen here so far, I win.

(Yes, the pic shows a parking lot repair. Starter replacement.)

Can't I disagree without getting the third degree? Let it go.

 

[unclemoustache]

I would have to say my gas can as I can't get much done without it.

Can't let UNC's nice truck go to his head - my hauler is bigger than his though its bed is only 7' wall to wall inside. It only has two pedals. Also got more kids (not really). Ron

View attachment 674951

Ok, you win!

But only 2 pedals? I take it the tranny is not original.

 

[rwoods]

It is a M35A3 which is basically a 1997 rebuild from select M35A2s but updated for the generation that doesn't know how to drive a manual - out went the multi-fuel engine and 5 speed for a CAT diesel and an Allison 4 speed auto. Air assist steering and air ride driver's seat. Tire inflate/deflate system. Big singles with run flats. Winch went from pto driven to hydraulic (IMO the best upgrade made). I understand they were built for National Guards when military spending was going down. Found to be under-powered and overloaded when armored during the first Gulf conflict. Cutting season is about to start here but I would trade it for some strong well-behaved kids. Ron

 

[shamusturbo]

Hands down: Skidsteer! It can do it all. I had a CAT 287B rubber track loader that was just short of a bulldozer. I owned it for 8 years and this past winter, it gave me grief. I had to replace the main ECU for the 3rd time. Well, CAT did and they murdered me on price and wouldn't help me out on price on the second replacement. It was getting close to needed major undercarriage work so I sold it the same day I posted it. I ended up renting a Kubota SS65 for a month, liked the speed and comfort and was willing to give up quite a bit of capacity and ending up buying it. 0% financing was nice and factory heat, AC, radio, and quick attach are flipping awesome. Ohh, two speed it pretty nice too in some situations.....

 

[shamusturbo]

 

[shamusturbo]

Old skidsteer.....

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Shamusturbo:
You like the rubber tire over tracks? I know a guy that has a tracked Cat for work and he too says maintenance is high.
I deliver with a 12' flatbed using pallets and I unload by hand. A guy spoiled me this week unloading the pallets with a rubber tire skid steer. Was nice, but really tore up his gravel driveway doing it. So I was thinking a tracked machine would be better on driveways and yards, but another person said not really. All my pallets are staged on gravel. He thought a tracked machine would tear it up. I guess I need a bigger truck to haul the piggyback forklift. A skid steer however would be more multi-purpose, especially in the winter.

 

[homemade]

If your smart about it, you can greatly reduce the damage caused by wheels on a skid steer. Trying to make wider 3 or 4 point turns instead of spot turns helps a heap. Although tracks distribute the weight better and won’t rut as bad when driving in a straight line. And tracks I feel have better front end stability because the front idler is a touch farther forward then a traditional tire is.

 

[unclemoustache]

It is a M35A3 which is basically a 1997 rebuild from select M35A2s but updated for the generation that doesn't know how to drive a manual - out went the multi-fuel engine and 5 speed for a CAT diesel and an Allison 4 speed auto. Air assist steering and air ride driver's seat. Tire inflate/deflate system. Big singles with run flats. Winch went from pto driven to hydraulic (IMO the best upgrade made). I understand they were built for National Guards when military spending was going down. Found to be under-powered and overloaded when armored during the first Gulf conflict. Cutting season is about to start here but I would trade it for some strong well-behaved kids. Ron

Wow- lots of changes from the old Deuces. Air assist steering is an improvement, though!

 

[rancher2]

I wouldn't want to be with out my skid steer for firewood making. We I bought my current one in 2011 new I was going to get tracks until they told me it would be another $10,000 for tracks on the same size machine. If you watch how you turn with tires you min the damage of the ground.

 

[svk]

My back, arms, and legs are my most important tools.

Until I finally removed all of the geriatric trees from my wood lot at home, we only burned wood on our property for the first 40 years the family owned the property. Almost all of which was carried or wheel barrowed into the yard.

At my cabin I could carry in wood or use a wheelbarrow to get enough wood down to the pile for the rest of my life

But I sure like my truck too

 

[Erik B]

The obvious thing that is most important to me is the wood stove. Without that, what would be the purpose of having saws, spliters, trucks, trailers and all of the other equipment needed to process firewood. This applies to those who burn wood for heating their home.

 

[cantoo]

Erik B, which came first the chicken or the egg?

 

[homemade]

My most important piece of equipment is my wood cutting partner. We’ve been cutting for 10 years together and he’s got the equipment. Loader tractor, dump trailer, dump truck, cutting spots and so on. I have the saws. But with out him, I’m a guy with a saw and a truck looking for wood.

 

[shamusturbo]

If your smart about it, you can greatly reduce the damage caused by wheels on a skid steer. Trying to make wider 3 or 4 point turns instead of spot turns helps a heap. Although tracks distribute the weight better and won’t rut as bad when driving in a straight line. And tracks I feel have better front end stability because the front idler is a touch farther forward then a traditional tire is.

Homemade hit the nail on the head. The "learning curve" on any piece of equipment is key. My very good friend is a union operator and he can run my skidsteers much better than I can. I am 29 years old and probably have a minimum of 100 hours a year in a skidsteer since I was 12 or so. It's painful to let someone with little or no experience try to be productive with one.

Sandhill Crane -
I LOVE the power and stability of the tracks. The machine does very well when its wet and can power through anything. Keeping the tracks clean was a chore and long term maintenance is expensive, to say the least. But, yes, it did much less damage, especially in tight quarters. Usually just peeled the surface up, grass, gravel or other. The tires definitely dig, especially when the surface is loose gravel or dirt. People in general look at me strange when I back up 30' to make a 90 degree turn. The tires are definitely better in snow and ice but are horrible off-road when it is wet. It is also much faster from a loading standpoint. The machine is quite a bit lighter but can change direction and accelerate much faster than the track machine. Like was stated above, tracks are another $12-15k for comparable machines. I loved the CAT but they didn't help me when the ECM failed for the second time in less than a year. So I shopped around and Kubota was extremely easy to work with and offered 0% financing which is nice too.

 

[lindnova]

My Little 4x8 trailer is most important to me to get in tight spots in the woods where I get most of my wood. I can always tow with tractor or atv, but only have one small trailer.

 

[ohio hunter]

1989 Dodge diesel



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