I have a crew lined up to get as much wood as we can from 9am to 3pm tomorrow. A one ton pickup pulling a 12' long dump trailer and my long bed 3/4 ton pickup with sides. There are 12 oaks @ 18" and up that have already been dropped by the owner of the property. Two guys with saws and one guy strictly loading at first, then the second saw will eventually become a second loader while I finish cutting. I am hoping to get 5 or 6 cords in two trips. All the trees should be easy access. Hope this works out the way I'm planning and we all stay focused and safe. 8:00am we are meeting at Waffle House where I'm buying my helpers breakfast. I will take some pictures and post up on Monday. The owner has a skid steer so I don't think I will have to deal with cleaning up the small branches and maybe we can help load the dump with it too, not sure yet.
Ok, Saturday Wood haul update. Due to some unavoidable issues I decided to make just one trip. The dually pulling the dump trailer got stuck leaving with a full load and some dirt on the logs dulled my chain a few times slowing me down cutting, but all in all we did good for 1 load, 3-3.25 cords I estimate. We got this cut up and loaded in three hours. keep in mind it's 45 miles one way back to my house where I do most of the processing. I had an alternate location to dump the first load about 15 miles away from the wood lot where we were working. Luckily the owner of the property had a skid steer there and was able to pull the Dodge Dually far enough up the hill to get it moving. For never trying to get this much wood at one time I think we did very well and I will be better prepared the next time we go there. There looks to be 3 more full loads for all of us still there waiting to be picked up. The property owner likes to drop the trees to have them ready for us to buck up. That works out nicely and speeds things up. He skidded them into a pile which got some of the trees full of dirt and made them a bit tough to get a good footing. His main concern is getting them off his property as fast as possible. After discussing future loads he understands now that stacking and skidding slow us down. I think the next time we go there we will be able to make two trips in one day and get 6 cords. We shall see. I wasn't too impressed with the Dodge 1 Ton's towing ability. I may pull the dump trailer with my 3/4 Ton truck. Here are some pictures, coordinating my guys and cutting I didn't take many pictures onsite. We had perfect weather and everyone stayed safe, so it was still a great day. The last picture is my truck just for a reference load I forgot to take pictures of it with a full. It can carry a cord+ when packed in there. My new MS290 was a pleasure to cut with on the first time out. There is Red Oak, White Oak and some silver maple in there. I will have more sharp chains ready to go next time.
Awesome job getting all that wood!! I mean no offense but I am scratching my head on how the white chevy out pulls the cummins? I regularly pull 10,000-12,000 pounds with my cummins bone stock and it hardly even knows it is there. What kind of gear ratio do you have in the rear end?
Not my truck so I am not sure. The white truck didn't out pull the Dodge, the Chevy was just loaded with my normal load up to the top of the sides. The Dodge was loaded in the bed and pulling the 6x12 dump trailer. I think if he hits the hill with a little more momentum he will be ok next time. The Chevy is a standard shift with granny low, it ran right up the hill not problem.
Nice trailer. Is that dodge just 2 wheel drive? I got stuck on a hill just like that with a trailer full of rounds. As soon as you break traction you're usually done. Dropped it in 4 wheel drive and eventually made it up.
Yes two wheel drive, it never broke traction it just wouldn't spin or move. Tranny must be weak I suppose. As soon as it starting getting pulled and moving it went fine.
Interesting I never noticed it was 2 wheel drive. A lot of times the two wheel drive duallys are geared pretty high 3:55's or higher. Anyhow that's a lot of weight to get moving on what looks like a substantial grade. I have never had an issue with mine but I did double my transmission pressure, replace the valve body, and solenoids for total cost of ~$500 almost as soon as I got my truck since it is a known issue with them. I also added a lockup switch so I can lock my torque converter in and lock the truck in a gear essentially making it a standard tranny which you have to shift manually and since I have done that it has always hooked up hard and pulled great.
Down South here there are a whole lot of two wheel drive vehicles. Trucks, SUVs many two wheel drive. I never even knew you could get them until I moved South. People around here always tell me how you don't really need it, but I always feel like it would be so much better to have four wheel drive. We get snow too sometimes and the two wheel drives are useless, even for a couple times a year when you need it, I feel it is well worth the extra money you pay for a vehicle that has 4 wheel drive.
Went For Some More, White Oak This Time.....it was huge...still got some of the trunk left on the ground.
Yes the 290 has been getting a workout for sure. I'm looking for something a little bigger to give it a break on the really big stuff.
