Runnin' Loads

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View attachment 955313Alright, which one of you is this?
(Not my picture, it was posted on Reddit about 2h ago)


Darn near could be me! Hauled this monster this morning- My app tells me it’s around 6,000 pounds. This one is going to my sawmill. Just over 10’ long, 36” diameter, pin oak.

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I don’t know what the trailer is rated for, but I’ve hauled 7k with it. Won’t load it like that again, but it does fine with 6k.


And here’s what’s on it right now:


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Yes, the truck is undersized for the loads, but I have a couple other larger trucks if I need to haul a load any distance.
 
I'd prefer that engine. Cheaper and simpler to maintain/repair compared to the Cats.
yeah but cats have more power ! it has plenty for a 6 wheeler. I hauled my Cat 262 (8500 lbs) and a load of fill dirt up to the top of the bed and it really didnt feel any different than empty - just a hair slower. I happy with it
 
Took my tractor over to my friends lot yesterday morning, I only brought home a small load by the time I leapfrogged the truck and tractor up the mountain I was whooped! It was some downed Maple and Ash. Today was more productive, I went up with the truck and dragged out a huge Red Oak that had been cut last year along with some Ash. I can't imagine not having the winch or the grapple when getting wood. Today's haul:
 

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I brought home the last 2 logs of a big pin oak I cut down for a friend last summer. 3 dump trialer loads FULL (last summer), then these 2.

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One was just too straight to cut into firewood. So I squared it off tonight and will slab it out over the weekend. For pin oak, it's some good looking lumber.

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^Looks like it bent the bed.
It did. Rear axle fell into a washout on the way out with that load, and when it hit bottom the bed let go. I got it kind of patched together, but no big loads on the truck now. I'll probably build a flatbed for this truck before wood season next year.

Normally I haul with the trailer anyway.

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Got any pics of the huge oak? I only see the medium size one.
well huge to me, I know it's all relative! LOL
On another note, I started "testing" a newly designed grapple that I have been working on, so far I am very pleased with it!
 

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My grandson has been doing the steering on my GT sitting on my knee, while I manage the pedals and provide plenty of weight to control the safety switches for a couple years now. Well, this week I made an assessment for 2023 and discovered he is growing like a bean stalk, so I shoved the seat forward as far as it would go. I hitched a small, but tall pole tree to the back and gave him the go to pull it to our stacks where we would use it as a rail for stacking firewood on.



You can't really see the smile on his face, or the pride he is showing. With his weight, he can't really push the forward pedal too far or he unloads his butt weight on the seat - probably a good thing, but he knows we work safely.
 
I try to haul at least one load and cut one load. The skidding, loading, hauling and unload is the most time consuming; cutting is usually the easiest part. I usually forget to take pictures unless there is a McCulloch chainsaw involved. Here are a few recent running loads:

Yesterday, this load plus a dump trailer load. Two largest logs are dead poplar; the rest is dead ash. Trailer was a mixture of dead hardwood and green beech. Frost and frozen ground.
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Previous week. this load plus a dump trailer load. Dead ash on truck. Mixture of hardwoods on trailer, mostly dead with some green beech. Muddy soup.
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Week before above. Rain.
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Gap in weekly pictures. Back in November, things got a little rough. Leaving the woods with a load of dead ash and green beech.
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Two miles down the highway.
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Top log rolled off when I gave the last loosened strap a tug. Could have killed me. Thus the bunks in the previous pictures.

Sometimes cutting a load is easy. Large heavy storm downed red oak 55' to the first limb. Loading it on soft ground with my tractor was difficult and precarious. I forgot to take a picture of the load. The log and the D7H we used to skid it. A shame it was a great saw log that now has already been processed into firewood.
24" on the small end.
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Meeting my cutting goal yesterday was easy - several good size dead ash and this nice oak with a dead top.IMG_7484.JPG
Yes, I ditched the saw and ran. And yes, it would have made a lot of good lumber or whiskey barrels. Stem was straight as an arrow and IIRC about 35' feet to the first limb.

Be safe,
Ron
 
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