atv skidding

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stihlfanboy

stihlfanboy

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Well I did the firewood at my girlsfriends house this year and well there out of wood... so I used a 4x4 500cc fourwheeler and an off road quad trailer. And the ford 1700 tractor on the flat upper half of the 9 acurs they have. Problem is the area im cutting in is about half way down a good size hill that runs acfoss the land. Theres a good trail but with the trailer I cant makeit up cause of the mud and snow. Her stepdad always skidded it with a chain and the qaud. My qquestion is whats the best way to do that. Never done any form of skidding andnot sure where to hook up to the quad. Already beat on the poor thing. Dont want to brake aanything on it. Sorry for the long post. Just want some advice. 20140325_160945.jpg heres the hill. Its pritty step and and cuyahoga (river that cought fire) makes is alittle muddy down at the bottum.
 
If your using the quad I'd want to have a log arch...not going to drag too big of a log without it. Log is just going to dig in. Cheap alternative might be to use a car hood or something of the like...strap the end of the log onto it so the hood slides and doesn't dig in.
If the tractor is able to get around in the mud/hill you can use the three point hitch to get the end up off the ground...chain it very short and lift it up with the 3pt hitch.
 
Hook the tow chain/cable/strap to the trailer hitch of the quad. Cut a 8 inch dia. log about 10' to drag out. I add to the size oif the log by how the quad or tractor is handling it.

Try smaller loads in the trailer too.

:D Al
 
Not sure what you are interested in spending. But, I saw one of these Log Skidding Cones and decided to try something similar. I found a large wrap-around vinyl bumper laying alongside a road. They aren't hard to find, especially in the snowy winter around here. I cut out a large section of the corner and fed my choke chain through the fog light hole. Worked like a charm. Especially good on frozen ground, or with a little snow. I should have taken a picture of my free invention in action. I am building a log arch now, so I'll probably retire my bumper skid.
 
First ask the step dad how he did it. I've made a skidding cone from a plastic garbage can before. The narrow bottom kind with the 2 wheels on them. Take off the wheels and cut a hole in the bottom big enough to run the chain through. Hook the chain around the log and slide the open ended barrel over the end of the log just enough to start it under the butt. Once you start pulling, the log will slide the rest of the way into the barrel. Logs slide pretty easy laying on plastic. There are other ways to make a skidding cone as well. Or just buy one from Bailey's. They work slick.

RE: What Jere39 said for instance.
 
I did ask him but he wouldnt tell me. I ran a hay hook into my ankle a few days ago so he dosnt want me out there working. I might try the cone idea thougj looks easy. Just been loading up the racks with rounds for the past few days. Snows we got last nights gone already and its a muddy hell hole. Thanks fpr the replys.
 
1014101348a.jpg 0807121246a.jpg 1114101612a.jpg The least expensive thing might be to wait for things to dry out and use the trailer. A trailer works well for large and small size wood. A log arch, as suggested, is a great way to go if your wanting to bring logs in to buck them up. An arch is useless for small stuff, so you need the trailer any way. An arch keeps the log clean, and is obviously much more friendly to the woods than dragging. It is a specialty tool with a specific use and can be expensive to buy initially. Mine is seven or eight years old now, so the annual cost is down to about $200. plus a little. But mostly the arch sits waiting for blow downs. The trailer on the other hand gets used for everything all year round. The last photo shows nicely the minimum impact of both the trailer and arch.
 
bowtechmadman said:
What did your bumper skid come off of? I paint bumper skidders for the Focus, Dodge Nitro, Buick Verona.
Click to expand...

Can't say, I picked it up on the shoulder of a road I travel often. Kind of a good deed for the day turned into a useful tool.
It was quite large, and shiney black as opposed to the matte black some vehicles use.
 
Theres a good trail but with the trailer I cant makeit up cause of the mud and snow. Her stepdad always skidded it with a chain and the qaud. My qquestion is whats the best way to do that. Never done any form of skidding andnot sure where to hook up to the quad.



If the hill is that steep that you can't make it up with the trailer then how are you going to skid them out going up the same hill? Know your limits... Pulling up a steep hill could cause the front of the ATV to come over on you...

I shouldn’t say this because some say that the tank can explode so I don’t suggest trying this unless you are very careful. Before I start to drill or saw on the LP Tanks, I wash them out with soppy water and later put them in a small brush fire. I made two log skidder cones from the old style 20# LP tanks and they work great.

I don’t have them here at home or I’d take a picture of them. I took a small grinder and removed the guard around the shut off valve on top. Then I removed the valve.Next I drilled a hole in the lower side of the tank and cut around the lower sides with a jig saw. Because the top of the tank is round and the hole is in the center, I can put a strap or a choker cable through the top, run it around the log and hook this to my ATV…After I made the two from LP tanks, I started looking around at farm auctions and scrap yards for old well type pressure tanks or air compressor tanks with a round top so I could make a larger one.

When the snow is deep or the trail is muddy, we cut and stack our logs between two trees in the woods. By doing it this way, I can cut and buck when the woods are nasty and once things dry up we pull out the splitter and a trailer to the piles.We don’t skid out many logs with the ATV’s but when I do, I use one of the cones and then I only do it if the ground if frozen or real dry. I try not to get a lot of dirt on my logs.
 
Get yourself a snatch block and familiarize yourself on how to use it correctly. Set up the ATV on flat ground above the hill and let the snatch block double your pulling power, instead of driving the ATV uphill with the log on a short chain.
 
Jere39 said:
I found a large wrap-around vinyl bumper laying alongside a road. They aren't hard to find, especially in the snowy winter around here. quote]
Auto body shops will give probably them to you if you ask. Saves them the disposal fee.
Click to expand...
 
mainewoods said:
Get yourself a snatch block and familiarize yourself on how to use it correctly. Set up the ATV on flat ground above the hill and let the snatch block double your pulling power, instead of driving the ATV uphill with the log on a short chain.
Click to expand...

You'd need a double pulley set up for that to happen. A snatch block will only redirect the same force applied to a different direction.
 
To clarify, you could double your pulling power if you put a snatch block on your log, looped the cable down through that block and attached the end to the upper block, then pulled away with the atv on flat ground.

The reason a single snatch block works to double the force on a self recovery, is that the cable is looped back to the vehicle, and the vehicle is the load being moved, so one half of the force is applied to each side of the cable being passed around the pulley.
 
Make more trips carrying the rounds. if you can barely make it, you ain't gonna drag, skid, tow or arch anything out. Ain't gonna happen. Just load up rounds on the front and rear racks, back and forth to the top of the hill, dump them until you get a trailer load, THEN get it to the house with the trailer.
 
I agree with zogger. You can put a pretty good pile of wood on the racks of a quad. Throw a ratchet strap over to keep them in place and go. This is what I've done the last couple of weekends.
 
Jim Timber said:
To clarify, you could double your pulling power if you put a snatch block on your log, looped the cable down through that block and attached the end to the upper block, then pulled away with the atv on flat ground.

The reason a single snatch block works to double the force on a self recovery, is that the cable is looped back to the vehicle, and the vehicle is the load being moved, so one half of the force is applied to each side of the cable being passed around the pulley.
Click to expand...

Yes, I should have said "blocks". A single block works with a "double line pull" back to a vehicle with a winch attached to it. I didn't want to get too specific with someone who has never skidded logs before.
 
I always cut the trees into rounds and haul them out that way. Why drag them in the dirt? Their gonna get cut up anyway.
 

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