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I've looked into doing something along those lines, but I can't make the #s work. I was looking at a Moffit style forklift though.

There was a guy around here delivering in FIBCs or big cardboard boxes (like 4x4x5ft) and would use a skid steer to offload. It required 2 trucks, one hauling the wood, and another with the skid steer.
 
It goes back to what we were saying the other day. This isn’t for the guy who wants to sell hundreds of cords at fairly cheap prices, it’s for the guy who wants to offer a unique product in lesser amounts for more money per cord. Like guys selling kiln dried wood, or wood in bags. Not everyone will buy it, because it’s more money. Some people will though, and selling less quantity for more money is the key. I think it’s a cool idea. No stacking for the customer, no mess, no guessing how much wood was delivered, better seasoning capability, consistent lengths, etc
 
I use a Navigator 6500 for moving logs to the log deck/cutting bench, and to unload and stage pallets from the Posch PackFix. Also to load pallets on a flatbed for delivery.
The Navigator weighs about 6,300 pounds, and would need a tandem axle flatbed to haul it, which I do not have. Each piece of equipment is a piece of the puzzle. The issue becomes cash flow when selling firewood on a small scale.
The pluses of the piggyback lift is that I have the future option to get a bigger truck for deliveries. A huge plus is the height and visibility of the operator. I feel safe getting in a log pile seven or eight feet high where as I would not in a skid steer. When pulling out of a pile, logs sometimes skid crooked and endwise toward the machine/operator. Backing out slow pretty much avoids this, but not always. Another plus over a tractor is the turning radius and maneuverability with much heavier loads. Visibility moving pallets 5' high keeps me from wanting a skid steer. Even backing seems of questionable visibility for unloading at customers.
There is a huge down side to a piggyback as well. It is a lifting machine, and not suited for much else. The fork carriage cylinders that extend the forks into a pallet are long, with a rod diameter of an inch or inch and a quarter. You can not push with the forks, as often customers who bring a dump trailer would like, as in loading a pallet and pushing it forward with a second pallet from the rear. I've never tried, and don't plan to. If I can take part of the load off by lifting with the fork tips and then sliding, that works for a single pallet, but it is not a skid steer or tractor. The wheel motor hydraulics are also not set up for pushing.
The few times customers have unloaded pallets with their equipment, usually a tractor or tele handler, the pallets get smashed up and 50% return. The return rate is if I do two trips, then I get the first pallets back but seldom the second set. That adds up pretty quickly. Last time I bought pallets it was $800./100 thin cheap pine crap. Bought used hardwood pallets up till then at $4.00 ea. but hard to find 48"x48". That's been my experience with a piggyback and pallets.
 
I use a Navigator 6500 for moving logs to the log deck/cutting bench, and to unload and stage pallets from the Posch PackFix. Also to load pallets on a flatbed for delivery.
The Navigator weighs about 6,300 pounds, and would need a tandem axle flatbed to haul it, which I do not have. Each piece of equipment is a piece of the puzzle. The issue becomes cash flow when selling firewood on a small scale.
The pluses of the piggyback lift is that I have the future option to get a bigger truck for deliveries. A huge plus is the height and visibility of the operator. I feel safe getting in a log pile seven or eight feet high where as I would not in a skid steer. When pulling out of a pile, logs sometimes skid crooked and endwise toward the machine/operator. Backing out slow pretty much avoids this, but not always. Another plus over a tractor is the turning radius and maneuverability with much heavier loads. Visibility moving pallets 5' high keeps me from wanting a skid steer. Even backing seems of questionable visibility for unloading at customers.
There is a huge down side to a piggyback as well. It is a lifting machine, and not suited for much else. The fork carriage cylinders that extend the forks into a pallet are long, with a rod diameter of an inch or inch and a quarter. You can not push with the forks, as often customers who bring a dump trailer would like, as in loading a pallet and pushing it forward with a second pallet from the rear. I've never tried, and don't plan to. If I can take part of the load off by lifting with the fork tips and then sliding, that works for a single pallet, but it is not a skid steer or tractor. The wheel motor hydraulics are also not set up for pushing.
The few times customers have unloaded pallets with their equipment, usually a tractor or tele handler, the pallets get smashed up and 50% return. The return rate is if I do two trips, then I get the first pallets back but seldom the second set. That adds up pretty quickly. Last time I bought pallets it was $800./100 thin cheap pine crap. Bought used hardwood pallets up till then at $4.00 ea. but hard to find 48"x48". That's been my experience with a piggyback and pallets.


I've seen the Moffett lifts used to move a stuck semi by lifting the trailer and pushing it. Wouldn't imagine pushing a pallet in a trailer would be an issue?


We stack logs 20-25ft tall and I pull the logs with the skid steer. Have one on tracks and one on tires, both in the 9,000lb area. Also have a 5k and 12k forklift, they are a PITA to use to move logs though.

I wouldn't want to offload at a customer's with a skid steer, it'd take some real careful moving to not tear up the driveway or yard.
 
Choppy, you need to add a 12 volt hydraulic pump on one of the forklifts and rig up a grapple arm ( like sawyer Robs) on it for loading logs.
View attachment 743398

The 12k is plumbed for one, but the skid steers are WAY better. Much more maneuverable, and better traction.

I've moved several thousand cords with the grapple I have.
 
Perhaps our situation is different if you stock pile long length logs of 16'-25' or something, which seems would be less likely to jump in the cab with you. The pile I pull from are 100" logs, and often they come down criss cross and butt end first rolling/sliding 90º to the pile. I also do not have a grapple, just forks, which means always pulling from the bottom of a pile. The backing out slow allows tumbling logs to ram the load on the forks and straighten out, or realign, before backing all the way out of the pile. Sometimes it looks like scattered pick up sticks if there is one log in the stock pile that is already crooked and the top logs skid over it every which way. It's not a perfect world...

Using pallets, as the thread shows, is not as quick as you might think. After staging pallets for a year to season the pallets need the leaves swept off the tops and in-between. The bottom of the pallets need embedded gravel, or dirt globs, swept clear. The firewood needs to be covered for transport and strapped once loaded. After a few miles the straps need retightened due to settling. Nothing difficult, just takes time.IMG_9857.jpg IMG_9854.jpg
 
That video stuck out to me when I watched it the first time, slick operation.

I was planning something similar using a mini skid and less volume per pallet. I'm only partially set up for it, it adds more materials, and firewood just doesn't sell for enough around here.

For the little bit I sell, I hand stack, most customers help anyway, and I move on. I have involved the mini skid a few times just as a powered wheel barrow and it was enough to sell me on using equipment if I ever was big into firewood, but that''ll never happen.
 
With a good delivery system and wood packaged up nice and neat prices go crazy. I got a truck load of wood that was $700 for over 8 cord, still working on it so no final amount yet. It's not pretty stuff but it works fine for me. He sells kiln dried debarked skidded wood out Boston way for $600 per cord. People with money who use a fireplace for a party and holidays I imagine.

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If guys can get mega bucks for delivered firewood (and aren't shorting their loads) more power to them. It definitely takes a healthy bottom line to support the type of iron that those (and some of you) guys have.

Outside of bundles and premium birch firewood, MN does not support good prices. Minneapolis has a glut of wilt killed oak so the prices are way down from what they were. Up here in the smaller markets, a few big producers gobble up the most with beer money guys undercutting everyone else.
 
Now and then I need to be reminded why you guys farther East use small saws. Choppy showed some logs that look like sticks that we would cull out for latter burning or scrounging. I can see why any one could buzz through smaller logs fast. I was showing some one the largest logs that I would want to cut with my limbing saw in the picture. 14'' to 18'' seem like the perfect size for handling. Thanks
 

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Now and then I need to be reminded why you guys farther East use small saws. Choppy showed some logs that look like sticks that we would cull out for latter burning or scrounging. I can see why any one could buzz through smaller logs fast. I was showing some one the largest logs that I would want to cut with my limbing saw in the picture. 14'' to 18'' seem like the perfect size for handling. Thanks


How is Alaska farther East? Its as far West as one can go in the USA

LOL

I live in New England, which is the East, and the logs aren't tiny. My 21 acres has a lot of trees in the 24"-36" range, with several upwards of 48". All hardwoods. Oak, Hickory, Maple, Beech, etc.

A man isn't defined by the length of his bar......

However......If we must...….

My biggest saw is a Dolmar 7900---79cc/6.3 hp. Have 20", 24", and 32" bars. Also have a Stihl 460, 77cc/6hp. My brother has a 92cc/7hp---Stihl 660
 

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