Home brew log winch/grapple build

I really liked all of the action pictures!

 

It was fun & rewarding, but it really makes splitting & stacking suck! Not near as much fun
Thanks for the kind words bro.

 

…..although I've been thinking about attempting a processor for years now
Either that or a bandmill.

 

Heck if the grapple project was so much fun than attempt both the mill and processor projects!

 

Nice build !
Details on the grapple/rotator and cost ?

 

Very nice job Fuelrod, you should be proud of that machine!

 

Great job! Looks awesome!

 

First fuelrod thanks for sharing! what a craftsman! so glad you decided to post..... this thing is awesome!

I think you should start your next projects! with daily posts and updates! do we need to bring you some of your favorite beverages? twist your arm some more great pics!

 

That looks great.
Excellent write up, and awesome pictures.
Man it sure does get expensive saving a couple grand on heating .

This is a very key point.
I have a Kubota l3800 and I always say it's got more guts than butt lol.
I have a skidding winch on the 3-point unless I have the brush hog on that acts as some ballast as well as loaded rears tires.
One of the nice things is I don't have to worry about over working the FEL as the tail gets light to fast for that .

 

Welcome chipper1 .. let see that tractor!

 

IIRC they were about/around $3k and complicated the hydraulic side of things, but it has it's own "talents" different from the winch. It's hard to beat a winch for snagging 3-4-5 logs per "hitch", where the grapple requires you to manipulate 2 logs close together to be able to grab both. One use that I find handy is holding a log at waist height to buck into firewood length when processing.
Thanks for the compliments!

 

Thank for the welcome sir.
Wouldn't want to post up a bunch of pics in this thread unless the OP wanted that, great thread here .

 

Go for it chipper!
and a big welcome to you also

 

Thank you.
I have a few pictures left, I lost over 2k this summer, not all of the tractor lol. But she's always striking a new pose .
This one is somewhat fitting as you can see the skidding winch and how I use it to unload logs off the trailer(I get most of my firewood off of my property). I simply park right next to the trailer so I don't have to walk to far to hook/unhook the chains. Double back off a tree directly behind the trailer and pull with the winch.
I will also use my chains and hooks that I welded on the top of the bucket. I will mention that you should be very cautious lifting logs and other items that could slid/roll down the forks much higher than I am in the picture as they could easily kill you.
Then other times I will pull them off the back far enough to get to the center of balance of the logs and then get them with screw on forks. I'd really like a nice set of pallet forks so I don't loose so much lifting capacity, but we make what we have work till we get something better . This log is a perfect example why I could use the pallet forks as the only way I could lift this was cheating it up, and I believe it would have lifted it right up if it was a bit closer to the pins and didn't have the full weight of the bucket.

 

Now that is neat!

 

Need to get to stacking that pile of wood and get it covered; looks like it would take a few days.

 

Thanks for posting your build pics fuelrod ... nice job on your winch/grapple... ayuh... Mainahs... .........

 

Thanks, and thanks Eric. That was a while ago.

I have no intentions of stacking it except to sell a bit here and there.
I have a portion of it covered with a large round pool tarp, but it's not even able to cover the small end. The small end is basically what you see in that picture . I'm nope worried about covering it as that pile is my dead standing pile.
Ya gotta have many piles right .

 

Rain water will be constantly soaking into that wood, piled like that means air flow does not dry it out and wood at the bottom will start to decay. One of the big lessons taught here is that you need to split and stack and top cover.