Yup, I am talking about Backwoods Savage Dennis has posted many pics of his dray and I asked a number of questions about his dray. I finally decided to build one. This is the material list: 2--6 foot 4x4 2--6 foot 2x8 (all wood pressure treated) 12--half inchX6 galvanized carriage bolts with Galvanized washers and nuts 6--half inch X4 eye bolts 2--half inch quick links 6 feet of 3/8 chain I cut the 2x8's in half and used 3 of them. They were bolted onto the 4x4's. Rounded off one end of each 4x4 on one side to allow easy pulling over roots in the woods. I took it for its inaugural run today and it seems to work well. Thanks Dennis for the inspiration
Nice job! Looks very stout and will doubtless give many years of service. Backwoods Savage is an inspiration to many. His firewood hoarder's family tree has many branches. It's like Ghengis Khan, where half the country can trace their lineage back to him...
I like that you can now get more use out of the lawn tractor other than cutting grass. Very nice and a great idea. Of course Backwoods Savage has some years of experience to draw from. I know I like reading his posts.
Hmm. Is this easier/better than a trailer for the riding mower? I have a few options, but haven't actually used any yet.
That would depend on your area of use and what you intend to haul. I have a wagon that I use and use it mainly for moving splits from my stacks to the garage. I also use it for when I go to the mountains and cut wood I use the wagon for hauling out the rounds. The wagon has removeable sides. The sled is something you can make your self unlike the wagon I have. I have thought about making one though to use during winter.
This will allow me to more easily move wood in log form from my woods. Being able to buck logs close to where I will be splitting them, will be a bit easier for me, at least that is the hope.
Thanks Erik! I hope this serves you well for many, many moons and am sure it will. The only question I would have is the Quick links you used for fastening the chain onto the eyehooks but pulling just with the riding mower it will probably hold well. If you start hauling heavier loads you might want to get a cold shut to fasten that. Otherwise, you did a fantastic job on this. Congratulations.
Thanks Backwoods Savage I do not see myself getting any other equipment for pulling the dray other than my garden tractor. I have looked at specs for those quick links and they seem to be rated for 2000lbs or more. If I see them start to fail, I will change them out. Thanks again for your inspiration.
Thanks for the reply Erik. A coworker gave me an old trailer, and I'm hoping to use it for the same thing. It's pretty low to the ground, and it has a boat winch(no idea why it's there) on the front. I'm going to try winching the logs onto the trailer, and I'll buck them next to the wood pile.
Fantastic looking dray Erik B , awesome job!! I do most of my pulling around the yard with my lawn tracker as well, I am def going to have to look into building one myself .
I have to confess I did have to use a big hammer to get the bolts to line up with the holes I drilled
For loading the dray, a cant hook is all we use. If you notice the bolts through the cross members, they are too long. This is by design as they aid in gripping the log as you are rolling them onto the dray. If need be, you can even file them down to a point but we've never needed to. If the dray is built too high then you would need to make a couple ramps. Those can be made out of 2 x 6 or 2 x 8. Screws can be driven in from the back side so the points stick out to grip the log as you roll it up.
That sounds fairly straight forward. I may have to make one of these if the trailer doesn't work out the way I'm imagining.
