I have this big Sugar Maple

[logbutcher]

Nice job there: snow in Iowa !!!!! ( near bare ground Downeast with crunchy wet holes ).

You are one ingenious boy using a hacked lawnmower con chains . We are impressed.

However one caveat: sharpen chain without six (6) beers.uttahere2:

 

[Whitespider]

Awwww….. Yes……. My “hacked lawnmower.”

More there than meets the eye… and it hasn’t worn a mower deck in over 20 years. She has a 3-speed transmission, with a 2-speed axle… giving her 6 forward and 2 reverse gears to choose from. Drop that axle into low range, using the low gear, and there ain’t much it won’t pull… as long as it can find traction. To help with traction I not only added chains and weights; I also filled those rear tires with calcium chloride solution. The next problem was keeping the front wheels on the ground with heavy trailer tongue weight, so I built that hitch bar which runs under the “lawnmower” and attaches up front. And, I needed it to start during the coldest times of the year… hence the 875 CCA battery mounted on the rear to get her cranking. No problem getting it running at -20[sup]o[/sup], but it does take a little bit to get the 80w90 gear lube in the transaxle loosened up at those temps.

It makes a perfect firewood machine in my woodlot because it can maneuver in the tightest of places, pulling a full load, even up hill. I added a winch to the front, just in case I do get stuck… but more often I use it to pull down leaners and such… I need to chain the rear to a tree or the winch will skid the tractor instead of the log. Here are some more pics (I've posted before) of it, before I added the front winch.

 

[Somesawguy]

It looks like you "beefed" up the frame a bit on that. Any tips?

Awwww….. Yes……. My “hacked lawnmower.”

More there than meets the eye… and it hasn’t worn a mower deck in over 20 years. She has a 3-speed transmission, with a 2-speed axle… giving her 6 forward and 2 reverse gears to choose from. Drop that axle into low range, using the low gear, and there ain’t much it won’t pull… as long as it can find traction. To help with traction I not only added chains and weights; I also filled those rear tires with calcium chloride solution. The next problem was keeping the front wheels on the ground with heavy trailer tongue weight, so I built that hitch bar which runs under the “lawnmower” and attaches up front. And, I needed it to start during the coldest times of the year… hence the 875 CCA battery mounted on the rear to get her cranking. No problem getting it running at -20[sup]o[/sup], but it does take a little bit to get the 80w90 gear lube in the transaxle loosened up at those temps.

It makes a perfect firewood machine in my woodlot because it can maneuver in the tightest of places, pulling a full load, even up hill. I added a winch to the front, just in case I do get stuck… but more often I use it to pull down leaners and such… I need to chain the rear to a tree or the winch will skid the tractor instead of the log. Here are some more pics (I've posted before) of it, before I added the front winch.

 

[haveawoody]

Whitespider,

Guess I'm not the only one that finds uses for old mowers.
Your tow machine looks much prettier than mine tend to.
Mine tend to blow up towing logs around or other jobs it was never meant to do. LOL
I tow the busted ones away with the next candidate and have a small viking funeral for the fallen mower.

One of the funniest experience i had was with an old rusty mower.
i had a big dead elm in my back yard and was in lazy mode and decided i would tow it up the hill to chop it up.
Put on a real thick tow chain around the back frame on the rust beast and secured it to the elm on the ground.
To my shock rusty could move the tree so i gunned it to go up the hill, the frame on rusty broke in two with the back 1/2 and me staying with the tree, the front 1/2 of rusty made it up the hill.
I sat in my 1/2 a rusty laughing for a good 15 minutes.

 

[Whitespider]

I guess I shouldn’t have been braggin’-up my little tractor this morning ‘cause when I went out to the shop it wouldn’t start… wouldn’t crank. After a bit of messin’ around I determined the battery must’a crapped-out when I hit the starter button this morning. It won’t crank the engine and it won’t take a charge… complete crap! Anyway, I had another battery out in the shop so it didn’t take long and I was headed out to cut some more of that maple.

Another beautiful day, sunshine and temps made it into the 40’s; I worked until I ran out of saw mix. I believe I may have miscalculated a bit… the more snow and brush I clear away the more tree I find. Thinkin’ it might go closer to 3-cord than the original estimate of 2-cord. I’ve got quite a bit piled up and there’s a lot of tree still to be bucked.

When I get that maple finished I need to get started on this ash that broke off during a blizzard last winter. Still haven’t figured out in my mind how I’m gonna’ get it on the ground without putting me in undue danger. I keep hoping it will just fall on its own… but no luck. As you can see it’s all bound-up in spring-poles… which are just a bit scary. I might have to walk around it a couple dozen times with beer in hand while I formulate a plan.

And when I get the ash done I’ve three Bur Oak picked out for felling (two are pretty big, as big or bigger than the maple). I should have somewhere between 10 and 12 cord put up by May or June. That will put my supply at around 22-24 cord or a bit more… enough ahead to relax a bit until fall when I’ll started filling the basement with standing-dead elm again. Life is good in Iowa…

 

[rwoods]

You've got to admire a man who has a winch and snatch block mounted on his garden tractor. Rep for the brake rotor wheel weights. Ron

 

[logbutcher]

Now wait a minute: here we have an ingenious hack on a lawnmower with weights and tires filled with calcium chloride ( Whiskey Tango ! ).
Then these sniper eyes spy two ( "2" ) soccer mom shiny vehicles in the yard !! :eek2:

Explain. Now. We are indeed disappointed.

You're correct to worry about those spring poles: dangerous and storing a lot of energy if freed too quickly. Think about taking as much weight off the poles as you can first.

In one of the pro training programs, a whole morning was spent on the techniques of "freeing" spring poles. There are many sites with info and diagrams for this. They can kill or maim very fast. The look-over is at least a 2 beer investigation.

 

[Whitespider]

Explain? The “soccer mom” vehicles in the yard?

Well heck, that’s easy… The real man’s ride, my pickup, gets the place of honor in the garage!

 

[haveawoody]

Whitespider,

From the look of the sugar maple piles you have now i bet your right 3 or a bit more.

That ash just looks nasty, lots of hurt you bad possibilities cutting that thing.
Think for me it would be pole saw on that thing until it was on the ground, to many unpredictable springs everywhere.

 

[Jmaffei]

Those are some awesome pics, I wish we'd get some snow down here. How many acres of land do you have and how many of them are wooded?

 

[Whitespider]

My place sits on about 12 acres, all wooded except the yard surrounding the building site.

 

[kodiak]

Regarding that hung up ash, that's one of the reasons I bought a pole saw. Imagine being able to cut those spring poles from 12' feet away.

Maybe someone needs to come up with a track drive, self-propelled, remote controlled chain saw for those danger situations!! Didn't I see something similar on the History Channel but with circular saw blades??:

 

[branchbuzzer]

About the ash,

Those windthrows that are snapped in half but still hanging are tricky and dangerous. The spring poles are one problem but you've also got the main trunk sitting back on the break point. That looks like it's going to sit like that for a while.

If it was me I'd take whatever I could take from the top of the tree that was free standing to reduce the weight as much you safely can, free the spring poles, and then maybe try to pull the trunk either forward or to the side with a machine to get the break to snap off. Have to be careful in stuff like that because the break can snap unexpectedly from a weight shift and then bounce or roll the trunk. I'd be interested in any other techniques to do it.

I usually just let those be myself.