100 cord by Christmas (?)

[CaseyForrest]

Very cool. I just welded a tube on the foot of the stand and welded on a 2" coupler till I get the gumption to do something with mine.

Ballast can be a number of things. In your situation in would recommend windshield washer fluid. You can also have them foam filled. But the washer fluid is cheaper and you can do it.

sent from a field

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I do not know if it will need ballast. If so only the wedge tires because the front axle pivots. I have a slight slope of the edge of the drive to the wood lot. Straight on it should not be an issue. A traverse across the slope when turning I'm sure it would lay over, and rather quickly. And then what? Perhaps it needs a roll cage and reese tubing stubs on the sides to put a cheater bar into to right it. It has not made it out of the garage yet, but I love it.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Not sure ballast is going to help. The axle is relatively short compared to the height. That coupled with the fact you'd only be able to get a gallon or two in each wheel and at right around 8 pounds per gallon.....

Maybe try lead....

 

[Sandhill Crane]

In a previous post I mentioned working one side of my body more than the other with the log deck on one side of the splitter. It shows up on the splitter actuating support as well. I have mounted an hour meter this fall, but the total hours and cords would be a guess. Ball park, 150 cord in three years between firewood sales and personal use. That actuating rod probably dances in the support whether or not it is engaged, and depending on what side I'm working from there is additional wear. The rod also floats in the handle with play between the top nut and handle when at rest.

Is the nut just sacrificial and cut off and replaced when necessary, or should this be zerked and greased? The rod looks good.

 

[jrider]

Speaking of Piles, I mentioned a while back I was doing a little testing between pileing and stacking. My thoughts where if I kept the piles turned using the FEL that they would dry as fast or faster than the wood in stacks. I am sad to report I was wrong. All the wood tested was cut, split and piled or stack at the same time and mostly whiteoak. Harvested 1 year ago this week, bucked and split during the early spring, Half stacked late May, rest I left in one big pile. I turned the piled wood about once a month June to Oct. I noticed the wood on top of the pile seemed to be drying very well, of course it was hot and we where in extreme drought most of fall. I also noticed the wood in the middle of the pile dried very little. I finally gave up and stacked the pile under a shed right before Thanksgiving. The stacked wood has dried very well, all the way down thru the stacks, altho I havent checked the bottom layers. Not really ready to burn but I have been throwing on a few of the top sticks on my wagon as I load my dry wood for the stove. Anyways, I have satisfied myself as to how well the wood dries in stacks as compared to being stacked on pallets with no cover. I dont really see a change in how I process my wood, I cut when I can, buck and split when I can and stack when I get around to it, but If I can stay a couple years ahead, I dont see a problem with leaving the wood in piles for a while, it just wont dry as fast as the stacked wood does.

What kind of sun and wind exposure did the wood get? Also, how big was the pile?

 

[cantoo]

Is there any way you can make some kind of hook low on the front end and just hang weight lifting weights or heavy steel bars on it? Better than loading the tires I think.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Truthfuly, the idea of this came from someone on AS that bought an SS and mounted the wheels under the table and posted a picture of his new machine. I'm pretty sure it was a mistake on his part because the heaviest end, with the engine and flywheels, would need to be lifted to move it. But it got me thinking...What if... Whoever you are, thank you very much. (At least until I tip it over.)

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I would have liked to just put a Kory 3000 running gear under the SS but that would have cost a great deal, around $1,100, and been way over kill. So I copied them, even used some of their parts. That too added a bit to the cost but I like that it looks pretty clean. The guys left the center steering spindle long and I pinned it with a bolt. That meant leaving a bit of play to tighten the nut on the keeper bolt. Didn't like it. Today I drilled and tapped the 1 1/4 stock. It doesn't show here, but in the second photo the steering plate sits on a piece of 2" square stock about three inches long, to flush up with the angle iron axle. The square stock was drilled 1 1/4" dia. through hole (both sides) and the round stock was placed in it and welded which keeps it straight/square when welded in position. I thought that was slick. It was repurposed material and stainless steel stock, which made it a bit harder to work. Now I need a piece of round stock like the Kory design, a type of big fender washer to cap it. Kory used larger round stock with a shoulder for the steering plate. I

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Kory 3000 is what?

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Kory 3000 is the model number of a compact size farm wagon, or nursery wagon, with a 3,000 pound rating. It is made by Kory Farms or Premier Fabrication in Illinois.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Oh.

How about using a 1000lb rated cart? Lowe's has them for around $150. I use one for my welder and plasma cutter. I got tired of the welder cart with like 4" wheels. Was a real butch to drag it around outside.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I use two sizes of two wheel hand trucks, and at times a pallet jack as well. Using the proper tool always makes it easier. Used a small hand truck to do this busted concrete fire pit, filling the inside as I brought it up, to wheel the pieces in and scoot them in place. The circular wall is about six foot on the back side where there are egress windows below, the rest is terraced more gradual. It was covered in ivy, as was the retaining wall in the background.
Edit: The big piece to the left I could not move, so I broke it in half to place it. About wore that poor two wheel cart out. This was a sand slope covered in weeds and someone gave my daughter a trampoline. I was looking out the window at it, and thought that is just the right size for a fire pit, 18' or something like that. We had replaced the concrete apron in front of the garage and had the old material piled up. Took a good part of a summer. I thought it came out nice for not really having a plan.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Pulled the SS out for a spin with it's new skins and it works really great. I love it. Tried backing into garage. Not going to happen. It is simply way to short of wheel base. So I pushed it in and used the tongue to steer.

The rub is: there is really only one thing to push on, and that is the engines muffler or the carburetor. I think it needs a push bar of some sort, especially in the wood lot where it is uneven terrain, bark, chips, what have you. Just something simple. Maybe flat stock off the engine mount and a vertical tube with a T-handle. The idea being bolt-on mods, as is the entire steer axle, so that the SS can be returned to its original self if need be. Emailed Paul with pictures suggesting the steer axle as a bolt-on option. Replied if he did that it would require brakes. Interesting.

 

[muddstopper]

What kind of sun and wind exposure did the wood get? Also, how big was the pile?

My splitting area in on top of a hill in full sun. It gets plenty of wind. I started with around 5 cord, stacked about half and left the rest in one big pile, so roughly about 2 1/2 cords. Wood was about 80-90% whiteoak, with a little popular mixed in. We where also in a severe drought all fall until just recently. I replanted my lawn the first week of Sept and it didnt see a 1/4in of rain until about 2 weeks ago. let me look and see if I took a pic of the wood before I stacked the pile in the shed. First pic is what I left in a pile, the second pic is before stacking about half of it.

 

[cantoo]

muddstopper, I also piled my 16" splits just off the conveyor. It's on a bit of a hill and gets full sun. I pushed my piles up with my loader tractor and all that seemed to do was get grass and mud mixed in with the splits. It's ash so it doesn't take much to dry it anyway. I used to drop it off the conveyor onto skids but that area was too close to my barn and too sheltered so I did away with the skids and just dropped it on the grass. We have pretty gravelly soil here so water is not an issue. The wood was only split for a couple of months and appears quite dry.

 

[muddstopper]

Its hard not to get grass and dirt in the pile when you use a fel to push the wood. The soil under my piles is waste dirt hauled in when they where building the highway you can see in the pic. Its about 90ft deep and just groundup slate rock. It doesnt drain very well. I used to have a rock bucket I had made back when I was doing hydroseeding and lawn prep work. I think that bucket would have worked well for pileing as I could have scooped the wood and gave it a little shake and sifted out any trash before dumping in a pile. I dont have much experience with ash, we just dont have a lot of it around here. Whiteoak is a very wet wood and heavy as heck. Even once split and stacked, it can take a couple of summers to get it really dry. I am mixing some of it with my dry wood as I burn now. The wood that I stacked as soon as it was split is drying pretty good on the top layers, I havent worked down to the bottom of the stacks yet to see how dry that wood actually is, but its graying well and making big cracks. Everything is stacked on pallets so its getting some air flow under it and not touching the ground.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Oh.

How about using a 1000lb rated cart? Lowe's has them for around $150. I use one for my welder and plasma cutter. I got tired of the welder cart with like 4" wheels. Was a real butch to drag it around outside.

Ive toyed with this.... The problem with those carts is the axle assemblies, especially the steering axle, are not very robust. The tires are small and they are relatively narrow. The SS itself is already top heavy and narrow.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

How about using a 1000lb rated cart? Lowe's has them for around $150. I use one for my welder and plasma cutter. I got tired of the welder cart with like 4" wheels. Was a real butch to drag it around outside.

I completely miss understood, and was thinking you meant the two wheeled hand trucks.
I looked at lots of different nursery carts and such. Northern Tool has a Farm Tuff wagon running gear for $285. that I almost tried, with a 2,200 pound capacity. It is pretty much what I ended up with, no wheel bearings and all. Pretty light duty but sufficient.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Its hard not to get grass and dirt in the pile when you use a fel to push the wood. The soil under my piles is waste dirt hauled in when they where building the highway you can see in the pic. Its about 90ft deep and just groundup slate rock. It doesnt drain very well. I used to have a rock bucket I had made back when I was doing hydroseeding and lawn prep work. I think that bucket would have worked well for pileing as I could have scooped the wood and gave it a little shake and sifted out any trash before dumping in a pile. I dont have much experience with ash, we just dont have a lot of it around here. Whiteoak is a very wet wood and heavy as heck. Even once split and stacked, it can take a couple of summers to get it really dry. I am mixing some of it with my dry wood as I burn now. The wood that I stacked as soon as it was split is drying pretty good on the top layers, I havent worked down to the bottom of the stacks yet to see how dry that wood actually is, but its graying well and making big cracks. Everything is stacked on pallets so its getting some air flow under it and not touching the ground.

Another blogger asked me about which grapple to get for his skid steer. I did not have a clue, as I've never used one. He said the one he had wasn't working well, as he too was getting dirt mixed in when loading out firewood for a customer. So to me that is two problems to solve: seasoning and loading.

I loaded out 1 1/4 cord of green wood two weeks ago using the conveyor into a customers one ton flatbed dump with sides. I wish I had timed it. Guessing I say 30-45 minutes to cut open the five pallets netting and hand load the conveyor. I did find the Oak is beginning to season that was dated Oct. 2 of this year, now that I've cleared a spot and it is getting sun and wind. Not fast loading, but no dirt and seasoning issues. No turning piles either.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Aside from adding a push bar for reverse, the SS mod is done and it is officially being used as a coat rack in the garage after snow blowing. Some pictures of the wood lot. And the VC.