firewood tractors

[dancan]

Willy , I made mine in the winter and the shop was at 15c , I used a come-a-long and a spare pair of hands lol.
I run tire chains on my tractors that see snow and woods duty , they never come off , the Scandi studded chains last the longest and give the best traction , it is important to size the stud for your tractor , bigger studs are not better if your tractor isn't heavy enough .

 

[dancan]

And , my hat's off to Dave on his winch build !

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I've been winching firewood logs out,

They are about 120' back in,

and then I have to skid it about 300' to a landing,

It won't be long, and I'll have the spot I'm in, all cleaned out and everything to the landing,

We are almost to a couple nice White Pines that have to come out, but that story is for another time.

SR

 

[Circle B MN]

After years of faithful service, today I finally retired my Jackson wheelbarrow, and upgraded to this...


Been a long time and a lot of loads to get here.

1990, 2380 hours.

 

[Willy Firewood]

MN - Wow, that is fantastic. You skipped a few increments moving up from a wheelbarrow! It looks very clean, well maintained, and must have been stored inside. Less than 100 hours average of use per year. Great find!

What are you going to do about the slicks? Mud tires? Can you put tracks over the tires or replace the wheels with rollers and tracks? Can you effectively mount a winch anywhere to pull yourself out of a bad situation?

By the way, my wife wants one of those really really badly.

Best wishes.

 

[dave_dj1]

USMC nice score! I want to add one of these to my toy box. I just want it with forks around the house...lol

 

[Circle B MN]

MN - Wow, that is fantastic. You skipped a few increments moving up from a wheelbarrow! It looks very clean, well maintained, and must have been stored inside. Less than 100 hours average of use per year. Great find!

What are you going to do about the slicks? Mud tires? Can you put tracks over the tires or replace the wheels with rollers and tracks? Can you effectively mount a winch anywhere to pull yourself out of a bad situation?

By the way, my wife wants one of those really really badly.

Best wishes.

It is a pretty clean machine for sure. I've had my eye on it for some time.

It's wearing LT265/75R16 truck tires at the moment, which is not uncommon around here for snow removal machines. This unit was owned by a local auto auction for that purpose. They will get me by for now as I am just moving material around my yard, but some new shoes are on my shopping list.

 

[CaseyForrest]

An 1845C was the first skid I ever ran... We used it for landscaping duties.

I can remember having to hang 400 pounds off the back strung on a steel cable to unload pallets of bagged mulch.

Solid machines.

 

[Willy Firewood]

MN - please accept my apology for possibly raining on your parade by saying that you need mud tires or tracks, when you don’t for your purpose. I do not want to ruin the happiness of the excitement of getting the new machine. It is a real creampuff and must be infinitely useful. With the use history, you know it has not been stressed and strained beyond its potential on construction jobs. Even better than a great find! Best wishes!

 

[Ryan'smilling]

By the way, my wife wants one of those really really badly.

Sounds like a smart gal. You should oblige her.

 

[Circle B MN]

MN - please accept my apology for possibly raining on your parade by saying that you need mud tires or tracks, when you don’t for your purpose. I do not want to ruin the happiness of the excitement of getting the new machine. It is a real creampuff and must be infinitely useful. With the use history, you know it has not been stressed and strained beyond its potential on construction jobs. Even better than a great find! Best wishes!

No offense taken, we all big people here. I aired the LT's up to 70# today and they are real easy on the gravel and back lot. May be starting or longer than expected

 

[Willy Firewood]

Ryan - Good idea, except not sure what we would do with it and where we would store it. Maybe she could just rent one now and then to enjoy some use.

To everyone:
I am seeking opinions about a Grapple bucket for my New Holland Workmaster 70 Tractor. Here are relevant specs. It is 4wd with a front end loader with front hydraulics and a third function control feature. The front and rear tires on my tractor are set so that the outside width is 74”. The loader bucket is 84” wide. Lifting weight is 3,500 pounds to full height.

I am interested in buying a grapple bucket for use in cleaning up cut limbs, brush, and smaller trees, as well as loading sawlogs onto a trailer to take to the sawmill. I have quite a bit of old orchard to remove, along with scrub woods and weed trees to take out. I am definitely interested in a grapple with two lids each having its own cylinder.

For my uses, what size would you recommend? I have selected a supplier of a quality grapple. The supplier offers the 72” in medium duty with the tines made of 3/8” steel for $1,850 and a weight of 650 pounds. The 78” is heavy duty with the tines made of 1/2” steel for $2,350 and a weight of 850 pounds. The 84” is heavy duty with the tines made of 1/2” steel for $2,450 and a weight of 875 pounds.

I am concerned about price for obvious reasons. I am concerned about weight for reduction in useful load lifting ability. Also, for overall balalnce, although I can mount an implement as weight to the rear end for ballast - although that can be clumsy in tight spaces.

Thanks for your suggestions! Best wishes.

 

[dave_dj1]

I was wanting a grapple bucket as well and talked to a buddy of mine who has two tractors and a grapple bucket. I asked him how wide of one I should get and he said 4'. I asked him why and that I thought his was wider. He said it was but he cut it down. If I were you I would go with the 72" one.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I work in the woods a lot and I haven't found anything better for log/brush handling than adjustable pallet forks with a matching grapple.

It will handle more brush than a dedicated grapple as you can slide the forks on the ground and pick up large amounts to pile or move.

As for log handling, I haven't found anything better, whether it's sorting/loading them,

or holding them to be sawn into firewood lengths,

Then on top of that, there's a LOT of OTHER uses that a dedicated grapple won't even do, that my pallet forks handle nicely...

SR

 

[Willy Firewood]

Dave - did your buddy say why he cut down his grapple?

SR - that is very interesting. Do you experience any twisting? Could you pick up cut barn stone? Can you use the forks without the grapple? Have you tried a grapple bucket?

Thanks for the info!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

SR - that is very interesting. Do you experience any twisting? Could you pick up cut barn stone? Can you use the forks without the grapple? Have you tried a grapple bucket?
Thanks for the info!

I've had NO twisting no matter what kind of stone I've picked up, (or anything else I've picked) from small stone,

to big boulders,

Slide them where you need them and lift away...

I don't see any advantage to having a grapple on a bucket...

SR

 

[Willy Firewood]

SR - thanks for the specific report! I have a project planned with barn stone and I would rather not move them by hand. Next week I will go look at the forks with the thumb option.

Best wishes.

 

[dave_dj1]

Dave - did your buddy say why he cut down his grapple?

SR - that is very interesting. Do you experience any twisting? Could you pick up cut barn stone? Can you use the forks without the grapple? Have you tried a grapple bucket?

Thanks for the info!

I didn't ask specifically but maybe because he only has a 45 and a 50 hp tractors? It may have been just too big to begin with. He has talked many times about doing a grapple with the forks like Sawyer Rob has. (that tractor looks bad azz) I don't have quick attach yet. I'll be doing that soon though.

 

[Willy Firewood]

Dave - that makes sense with that hp.

Since I work alone, I want to be able to clean up small limbs and everything possible with the grapple. That is why the tines combing the brush would hopefully work well. I need to improve efficiency and reduce time for cleanup after I cut out an area. The result needs to look good too. The landowner is very fussy.

 

[Circle B MN]

I've had NO twisting no matter what kind of stone I've picked up, (or anything else I've picked) from small stone,

to big boulders,

Slide them where you need them and lift away...

I don't see any advantage to having a grapple on a bucket...

SR

I see some skid steer forks setup like that with a single hydraulic grapple. I believe you are on the right track with this setup, and look forward to getting one myself.