I want to be able to stack my wood right from the splitter. Not lazy but cost effective as I have paid help as I sell firewood. Next door to me is a company that gets 12' x 32" pallets. I am going to cut them to 4' lengths add 2" x 4" up the sides and on top. Each pallet will hold approx. 26 cu. ft. 5 pallets to a cord (130 cu. ft., give them extra) My tractor is only a 30 horse so I am looking for a solution to be able to dump the pallets (have fork lifts that attach to my bucket) onto my dump trailer for delivery and save the pallet for reuse. Any ideas would help. Sometimes the answer is so simple that I over think.
Just so I understand this..... Your tractor can lift the loaded pallets OK ? And you want to dump the wood from the pallet into the the trailer for delivery? How about picking up the pallet with the tractor and securing the pallet to the forks/bucket with a short piece of chain. It will keep the pallet from sliding off the forks Racks kind of like this??? 2 sixteen inch rows on a pallet, stacked about 48 inches high, as wide as the pallet....
This is a three sided box I built for hauling firewood, usually rounds from the woods. Before I start loading wood I send a chain through and over so that it is secured to the forks. The when I get back to the processing area I can just dump it out and return for more.
That's what I am looking for but I want to be able to stack as I split and let the firewood cure and when I get an order lift the pallets and dump into dump trailer. Do you think an eye hook on the bottom of each pallet would hold the load while dumping, I could attach a short cable to the bucket? Never did it this way and am picking the brains of those who know what will happen and learn from their mistakes. Thanks and if you are ever in the Albany area message me and I'll buy you dinner.
Yes like those but want to be able to just dump as I wrote Gasifier I want to just pick the pallet up when the order comes in and dump them. I have already welded a 2" steel pipe across the top of my bucket with two pieces of steel in a semi circle welded to that. Hoping I could use some sort of cable that I could reuse on each pallet without having to run a chain under the pallet to secure it to the tractor. Maybe I am over thinking this. Can you tell I am sick of having the wood loaded by hand, delivered two cord this past Sunday and have to deliver another on Sat. We have about 10" of snow on the ground right now and they are calling for 10 to 12 by Monday night. The other problem I had was that the pallets would freeze to the ground. Solved that by figuring I would put 2 or 3 empty pallets under each of the loaded pallets.
The wood is pretty heavy green, as I'm sure you know. So if you did eye hooks I would see if there was something you could run a bolt through with nut on other end and with an eye on it to hook to. However you do it make it dam strong.
Mine are made using 30"x 48" brick skids on the bottom. 48" high and 48" wide. I also put scrap skids underneath them. Stack them around my owb, lay some 2x6's across the top and staple a tarp over it. This ones are filled with 24" long splits of poplar and some are 24" splits of ash. I made a bunch using spruce 2x4 and 2x6 also. I think I have maybe 30 made. To dump them I could just chain them to bucket and tip away. I use a Kubota L35 and it lifts these no problem. Wet wood split 16" and two layers deep is about the max though.
I use my pallets for dumping like Gasifier. Just strap the pallet to my forks so pallet doesn't slide off. I build them based on 40"x48" pallets. Use hogwire fencing on 3 sides.
Yes. I have not taken the backhoe off yet, That is quick disconnect but I am liking the weight on the rear when moving loads of firewood with loader. I paid my neighbor to convert front to quick attach as well. Awesome.
Thanks guys, I think I am going to go with the horse fence idea as the added weight of 3 more pallets for the 3 sided one would put more stress on my Gina, (my 30 horse power B7800 Kubota) I name all my toys. I also will put eye hooks bolted with larger washer on each side and 2 nuts creating a lock nut. You know what they ask somebody who knows and you will get the right answers as they went to the school of "Hard Knocks" even though it is free it costs you money to learn each and every lesson. Once again thanks and I will post pictures as soon as I get out back to start building them.
Just noticed the pogo stick by the door, exercise during your down time? NE Nebraska here, looks like you are near the river.
There many great ideas and pictures on here. My setup is very similar. 1/3 cord in each pallet. With a green load it's about max weight for my tractor.
