Log dolly, harbor freight dolly, motobarrow, log arch, arbor trolley?

[square1]

Not nearly as exciting as building your own Arbor Trolley next to a bucket of unspent fireworks, but I think two wheel tractor would be the cat's meow some days. Small, light, powerful (and sometimes) cheap!

http://lansing.craigslist.org/grd/5117501005.html

 

[blades]

I have the Motobarrow conversion saves my tail on a couple jobs but still tiring as you are picking up the rear of the barrow. If using a poly bucket be careful how you load it -do not toss into it it will bust out. That said a rear caster assembly would be a big boost on it so no lifting. Only problem with 2 wheel tractor is straddling load connecting bar less it is something you can sit on ( sulky with a load area behind) CapstanWinch & wagon just got to set pull points, but not cheap on the chain saw motor driven one , Electrics worth their cost are notcheap either- drain a battery fast unless you set up a genny to charge battery. The winches will draw too much amp for use just with genny.

 

[Carburetorless]

Wow...I guess I didn't catch that first picture was the after picture. That is quite the mess it made! Are your ears still ringing?

My garage looks like that most of the time. lol

 

[ATH]

Mine too....minus the insulation everywhere! But when I looked at the pictures, I didn't realize what that picture was showing compared to the others - wondering why they cleaned the garage just to weld...much easier to take it outside

 

[Carburetorless]

Mine too....minus the insulation everywhere! But when I looked at the pictures, I didn't realize what that picture was showing compared to the others - wondering why they cleaned the garage just to weld...much easier to take it outside

Yea, I'm not much into welding inside unless it's set up for welding. Fireworks = No go

 

[Magnum783]

Here is a pick of mine all done.

 

[imagineero]

Looks like a good build. You might find those wheels need upgrading to something a little beefier/flatter. I started with pneumatic wheels similar to yours and found they pretty much just sank in the ground by the time you have a half tonne on the trolley. They bearings also failed after a couple weeks. I went for Large flat solid/gel wheels with heavy duty bearings rated for a half tonne and have had no problems since, we've gone well past the half tonne a few times and have had about 1700lbs on it at one point. It's amazing what you can get onto it as long as the load is balanced and the ground is flat and solid.

You may also find you want to move the wheels close to the center of the cradle also. It's critical to get the load balanced over the centre of the wheels for the trolley to be easy to use. Unless you have the load hanging far out the back of the cradle I think you'll find there's too much weight on the handle.

 

[Magnum783]

Ok I agree totally on the wheels those were cheap and allowed me to experiment and find out how I would like it and how it would work for my operation. As far as centering the wheels I disagree they were placed there to allow it to be better used as a hand truck. I can stand it up wiggle in under a log and use the end to pick the log and quickly move it onto the wheels and out. You may be correct and at some point I may want to move the wheels forward. With the long handle you have ample leverage to pick it so that time has not set in.

 

[arborlicious]

... I went for Large flat solid/gel wheels with heavy duty bearings rated for a half tonne and have had no problems since, we've gone well past the half tonne a few times and have had about 1700lbs on it at one point...

Hey Shaun, where did you get those wheels from? Somewhere local or imported? I ended up importing the Stein Arbor Trolley - paid itself off after the first job (2 less groundies over 2 days.) I thought it would come with sealed precision ball bearings but actually has roller bearings (to suit the 1" axles.)

Snowed in today...

 

[Magnum783]

I second the wheel sourcing info request.

 

[ATH]

You could buy the Stein wheels at Tree Stuff.

 

[Magnum783]

You could buy the Stein wheels at Tree Stuff.

What is the axle size as in diameter.

 

[ATH]

1"

 

[Magnum783]

Really one inch well I could make that work with mine. Might just have to order me a set of those thanks for the info

 

[imagineero]

Hey Shaun, where did you get those wheels from? Somewhere local or imported? I ended up importing the Stein Arbor Trolley - paid itself off after the first job (2 less groundies over 2 days.) I thought it would come with sealed precision ball bearings but actually has roller bearings (to suit the 1" axles.)

Snowed in today...

From memory I think I got them from Masters hardware. Bunnings didn't have anything of that quality. They were $100 each, and came with 2 sets of bearings - 1" and 24mm so you can swap them out depending on your application. The bearings aren't top quality but the wheels themselves are very good, wide and a big space between the bearings which helps a lot. I used 1" shafts on mine. Those bearings are very common off the shelf components and can easily and cheaply replace them with good high quality sealed bearings from CBC, nachi etc for probably $5. I've had my trolley going for more than 6 months now and no issues. Prior to that we were wrecking a bunnings trolley every 2-3 weeks @$80 each.

Can't imagine the arbor trolley would be a huge benefit in the mountains, seems like every house up there the site slopes upwards to get to the road :-( We were rained out today and yesterday too and I was kind of thankful for it. Had a couple of weeks of doing 5'+ trees and my body is stuffed. Had cranes on most of them but still hard climbing/cutting with a 660 all day long.

 

[imagineero]

 

[imagineero]

Big stumps = big grindings

 

[blades]

I have some silver maple coming later- I expect by the time it is all bucked to size there will in excess of 2 cubic yards worth of saw chips and noodles.

 

[arborlicious]

Can't imagine the arbor trolley would be a huge benefit in the mountains, seems like every house up there the site slopes upwards to get to the road :-(

Yeah, you're right about the slope but I still reckon two people pushing a loaded arbor trolley can move more material than 3-4 dragging. Of course it looks easy when I'm in the tree and others are pushing the trolley :> It only comes out maybe once a month when there's a lot of material to move more than 150' and no hydraulic pressure options are available.

Nice work on the big tree.

 

[Wayne Wilkinson]

Finally almost done! need to drill a few holes in the axle for some keeper pins to keep the wheels in place, and a hole for the pin for the handle. Then it will be hitting it with a wire wheel and paint! I cant wait to put this thing to good use! It is pretty heavy, but im hoping that we will be able to abuse the poor thing and not worry too much about it.