Too far, too heavy. Started doing a little cleaning on some old trails that grew over and trees fell across. Neighbor/sawyer wants some 16’ + logs for a carport he’s building. I offer free wood in exchange for saw time. Pulled a few sticks out. Then got to a nice sized oak. Decided I’d cut it long enough for him at 17’ Had to extend the log arch for that much length and weight. I knew I was playing with fire. Push everything to its limits has always been my style. Log calculates at 1800 lbs. made it to the yard anyway
Bummer about your log arch. At least the welds held up better than the parent material. Having seen some of your work, I know you'll come up with some kind of crafty fix that'll have that thing hauling stronger than ever. I'm sure the bargain barn at Logan Steel has a screaming deal on the perfect piece
You gotta give that arch credit for hanging on as long as it did, no? There's a lot of stress and twisting on it bouncing around the terrain like that it's whole life.
I would never suggest tresspassing, but if you knew someone in a railyard, particularly on maintainence of way, they have sticks of rail just thrown everywhere. Do you have a business tie in who has a siding? They also probably have rail pieces kicking around their property. Stuff gets ripped up and just left, joint bars, tie plates, ties, sections of rail etc. Sca
almost all the welds are someone else’s. I just bought the thing No doubt it was built a little lighter than I would have done. It was designed to only use a hand crank winch. I repaired it once. Quick down and dirty. Knew the day would come when I had to do it again. Yep, heading to the bargain barn this afternoon (soon) edit. Hit the truck, punched in the map and it said (closing soon). I think the barn shortened their day by half an hour. Tomorrow will have to do.
Biggest issue is when the arch tires come up to a rock. The power required to pull them over any obstruction goes right to that offset top piece. The new low profile tires don’t help. Larger diameter than the old but generally tun at higher pressures offering less give over obstructions. And they were hard. Had pumped them solid when I installed them to see if they had leaks. First time in the woods (rocks) I was even going to drive this log onto the tar and reduce pressures visually. Didn’t make it. Big balloony tires with sidewall would be better for the woods.
Yep, I agree. Low profile rubber isn't ideal. Tall sidewall with lower pressure would help swallow up rocks and other similar obstacles. Would help prevent lifting of the weight too as the tire flexes.
Well put. Maybe the day will,come I’ll swap the rubber. I’ll see how soft I can make them before popping a bead lol
I the piece that broke was 2 high, like it is in the front and back, I bet it would hold up fine...could probably get away with welding it back together and just adding a "spine" of something like 1/2" plate on the top and bottom (like a 2" wide strip, attached on its edge...if that makes sense) Or maybe a couple pieces of heavy angle iron laid so it makes a triangle on the top and bottom. Larger tires would have a higher load capacity too...and at a lower pressure, which might allow the tire to "absorb" bumps from small rocks and logs. (Edit: just like in the above pic) My 2 ¢
There are some internal splines I put in there when I did a quick fix to it. They don’t extend far enough past the sliding joint to have helped today. The design is made tube inside tube so you can stretch the length of the rig. With 17’ logs of that weight I knew I needed a little extra length. For firewood it doesn’t matter, cut em whatever I want. Saw logs I extended it 16” today and went past the splines. It broke right at the old bolt hole which was now exposed, very weak spot. I’m thinking now I’ll buy the steel 2 1/2” x 2” tube if I can find it. Hopefully a heavier gauge steel. Stuffs pretty thin. But along your lines of thinking. I can clean up the break and just slide what’s left in there. It’ll be even a few inches shorter than I normally use it. This way if I decide in the future I need more tire sidewall for flex I can rebuild it at the correct height. I’ve already been changing the original height to make it low at the tongue. Allows me to lift the log higher in the back to make higher clearance. Think crooked logs that want to drop down in back. I’ve changed the height about 4-5” already. Like to keep it in that range.
Ahh, so for now I just cut the bad end off and slid it back in. Drill a new hole for the shorter version and it’s good to go. Almost, there’s a reason it’s extendable lol. ATV is a floatin. Won’t be delivering this log down the road with this unit. Already jackknifed in the yard not thinkin. I’ll bring them down with the trailer. Sorta enjoy driving them down with the atv tho. Kids don’t get to see much crazy stuff in this state anymore
