Did some work in the woods today

I finally got out on the woods with my quad for wood for future seasons today. It took me a bit to get the whole deal figured out, and I've got some improvements to do to make it easier.


I borrowed my buddy's sled to haul the rounds.

Here's the snow bank the town made for me.

That was nice of them. I had to use my boots to kick the left side of the bank down. It was all solid as it was from our 9" of wet heavy snow we got the other week.

Here's the rig. She isn't pretty, but she's a hard worker.



I think I'll need to get a newer pair of front tires for her. They are pretty bald. The backs are better.

Here's the first load. Those rounds are pretty heavy. All beech today. A lot more of that too.

Here's proof of the lack of traction with a full load.


I had to unload about half the rounds and throw them over the snow bank after I got stuck.

It got easier as I got the path worn in after a couple of trips.

Here's a down hill mess up. Oops.


The rope allows the sled to get moving.

Here's my result of cutting and hauling.

Should be a half cord. There's plenty more for me to cut and haul that's already down that I felled last winter.

Judging by this trailer load I took today. The beech above that are already down will be another cord.

But wait. There's more...

 

Nice work Horkn , you grabbed some Beech, what was the other wood?

 

Here's some of the trees I'll be cutting between winter and spring this year.

The beech in the center of this pic is dead.

2 smaller ironwood



Another dead beech


This dead tree, either a sugar maple or an ironwood. I didn't look too closely, but I think it's ironwood.


There's plenty to do. I need a sharper chain I can tell you that.

 

All that I took today was beech. But there's a couple medium shagbark, a couple smaller elm, and sugar maple I downed last winter that I need to get hauled in and split.

Any trees standing that I cut this year will be for 2 winters or now or later. Well, maybe a couple basswood and box elder will get burnt next year since those dry fast.

 

Yeah, the one headlight was gone when I bought it, and the other is broken, but it has power in both. LEDs will be replacing those lights, but I have to check out the stator and regulator. Those are about the only known issues on these quads. I can get both aftermarket for under $100, if I have to.

My buddy has a set of v bar chains that will fit the rear tires of the bayou. That should fix the traction issue.

I also need to make a wood box to hold a saw, fuel, oil and stuff for the front rack. That cardboard box worked today, but it's a short term solution.

 

Nice work. Nothing like a little outdoor work.

 

Looks like fun minus the few mishaps. You'll work out the links. Those sleds work great with a nice snow base.

 

The mishaps made it funny. As much as I tried, that downhill stuff was hard to control. If there was more snow, the sled would probably want to stay in the tracks.

Less snow, and I'll probably just use the trailer I haul the quad on for woods hauling.

 

Yeah, I didn't even need to wear long johns today. It was only 30 out.

I also need to remember to bring 2 pair of gloves. They get wet in the snow.

 

Looks like an adventurous day collecting a load of future BTU's. Good job.

 

I was going to suggest chains, but I see that you're getting them. They made a world of difference when I had a 2wd ATV.

 

At least this is a 4wd, but the front tires are pretty worn in the centers. The sides of the fronts are helping somewhat, but a solid center rib, or at least higher lugs would get it to steer better in the snow.

My buddy uses my quad too. I got it it last fall and we've been working on it to improve it ever since.

 

Dad has a bigger version of that sled you have there, but it has a two armed drawbar (for lack of better description) that attaches front left/right of sled, and pulls behind the snowmobile. You need something like that to keep her from going squirrely on the down hill.

Nice haul btw. I would have laid the rounds down end to end, and got another row up top down the middle. I also would have had to unload way more when I got stuck haha.

 

Yeah, that was my first load. It proved to be too much with loose snow, bald fronts, and no chains. I think after the snow sets up from my work yesterday will make it better. But just putting those chains on will really make a difference.

I know exactly what you are talking about for the draw/tow bar. That would be ideal. I have been thinking of making a steel tube bar to make a rigid connection. Maybe an old trailer tounge?

The trip from the street to the woods isn't that far, probably 1/4 mile each way by the trail mileage, but it's a lot of work by foot. Just walking to this same beech grove last winter with the saw and gear was a pita.


I'll be out again next weekend. Maybe both days since there's not going to be any football on during the day.

 

A little creativity and you'd be off to the races. I'd have to look and see how his attaches, but I know where it hooks to the sled, the bar can pivot up/down. Where it hooks to the snowmobile, is not a hitch, just a small metal spade ( I think?)with a hole. A bolt with a pin is all it requires. So the sled part handles the up/down, and the tow bar handles the side to side stress.

 

If you zoom in on the front of the sled, when on the trailer, you can see it's got bosses where the ropes are tied. I could put a rod through and then that would pivot for the sled, and the hitch coupler would pivot on the atv side.

 

Ha! Just spoke with my buddy. He has a hitch/ yoke kit for the sled!

He just never put it on. . Then again, he didn't have a quad to use until this fall. It's a hitch pin type, so he'll fab up a hitch piece from flat stock at work and sandwich it in between the tow ball and the axle.


Here's the tow yoke. Shiny, huh?

 

Looks great man! That's a lot of future btu's!!