I stopped by the dump on the way to the store, couldn't just leave BL lying there! Big chunks pushed into the pile that I couldn't get. Not even with tongs. Then I went to the store smelling like vomit!
It should be mostly rain when we leave. But, it's tough to make good time on anything but dry roads. We have reservations at the bottom of the delmarva peninsula. So, we'll get there when we get there. Then 6 hrs to the cape fear area on saturday.
The reason i pester you is because i have a saturn wagon...used to stop after work n pick up shelled corn from a farmer....5-600 #.....after the 3rd time it broke one my coil springs...fixed it myself n still cost me a couple hundred bucks...dont want to see it happen to you n i believe if it were to happen to you...it would cost significantly more..
Yes....it sagged somewhat on the broken side....n one day where i park it....there happen to be a peice of coil sprind layin there...however...it could have fallen out any where. If you can swing sometime...i feel youd be much happier with a trailer. Easier to load n unload....i put 3/8" x24 high plywood around the front n sides. I have a 6x8 ft (besides my 16 footer) that i loaded a half cord numerous times with no problems....
I asked my husband if I could break a coil spring, and he said, "not the way you drive". Still, that's not to say it couldn't happen. But a trailer would allow me to collect more wood, for sure. I'd have to get a hitch put on the RAV4.
Yes u wood....u haul installs them...im sure other places do also. I will tell you this...theres very few people out there that are as anal with there things as i am..your RAV definetly has heavier (not a tremondous amount more)springs than the saturn. As much wood as you get...a trailer would pay for itself in no time...of course...its your call.
Midwinter I don't think you would ever regret the cost of a small trailer And hitch . It is easier and faster loading and unloading Just because it is ,But also because you don't have to be careful at all like putting wood in the back of the truck . One downside is that is not always hooked to the back of your truck you have to go home and get it If you spot some wood while your on your way to somewhere. Heck I remember a time When I didn't unhook my trailer for a couple of weeks While I was scrounging a lot , Just drove to the store ,To pizza pick up Or wherever ,just kept it hooked on there . A Trailer is just nice to have around for hauling other things besides firewood
Still a gap at the top, but I ran out of birch and time. Have to sneak by the dump one last time, snow cover is more or less the end of hoarding season. edit:. nothing there.
Midwinter nice BL score! I'm gonna have to find a house near that dump and buy it Haha! Since we're talking car springs and scrounges, I have a trailer hitch on the back of my Ford Flex I use for extra log space. I load up the interior plus I have one of those aluminum HF trailer crates I keep on back. Like HDRock said I also keep it on most times in case I see something while driving. Most times though I scrounge with a purpose and I will try to do some other errands in the process of scrounging in the chosen location. It's not a trailer though so i can't put too much weight in it. I try to stay under 300lbs, and 200lbs if I'll be driving long distance. For my purposes it does fine, but early this September I answered a craigslist ad from a guy who was giving away partially split wood from a massive tree he took down on one of his rental apartment properties. This was one of those 6 ft in diameter red oaks and wood was solid, beautiful but soaking wet green oak. Each chunk averaged 50lbs and it did not take much to limit out my interior space and the crate with these hunks of lead sagging my car. I took what I could and a little extra because of the inconvenient location being in Elizabeth NJ I did not want to return again for anymore. It was too far and the area turned out to be a real hassle as in the case of many tightly cluttered or industrial cities. When full the car must have had at least 800 -1000 extra Lbs and the crate acts as an extra cantilever pulling the back down even further. I didn't even make a dent in his pile and I was maxed out! Anyway, while slowly and cautiously pulling out of his tight driveway I heard a big hard Cloink! Immediately I thought I snapped a spring and asked the guy if he heard it too from outside? He said yes, but when I asked him if it was maybe a rock that shot out from under a tire he said he didn't see anything like that. So I took it real easy going home and so far months later everything is ok. Maybe the spring just slipped or snapped into place? Who knows? It was a warning though not to push things with a passenger cars limits. I always say carrying solid inflexible weight is much harder on a car than soft springy passengers that absorb any road bumps.
Sounds like a hassle all right, just driving to Elizabeth NJ would be a deal breaker for me. With my dump, I go everyday, but most days there's nothing. A trailer would be an advantage because on the days when there is something, the loader tends to push it into the big pile pretty quick. I've loaded my car up and gone back for more, only to find the wood pushed out of reach. A trailer would also save wear & tear on my car. The other side of the coin is, I get plenty of wood as it is. Most of the time I'm taking in wood faster than I can split and stack it. If I had a trailer, I would get even more wood, and might feel stressed out enough to buy a splitter to keep up with it. And I really love hand splitting, it's like a drug for me, I want to do some every day. Also my yard storage space is limited. So, go big, or stay small?
A small trailer would help you so much. Just be able to roll bigger rounds up the back gate saves lifting. 4x6 or 5x8 are a good size. Find you a small splitter, hand split the straight stuff, use the splitter for the cranky stuff. Faster and easier than sledge and wedges.
Oh yes my town has a dump here as well for all kinds of recyclables where people dump old tv's, furniture and such. I live in close proximity to NYC so pretty urban/suburban environment and so there are trees dumped here only occasionally, but mostly hedge and branch trimmings. Same problem you have with the access due to the bulldozer mashing everything up, but here its even worse. First off anything decent is always buried under tones of entwined branches and leaves. There is a dip in the ground before the pile created by the bulldozer and I guess because of our NJ clay soil it acts as a sink basin and the rain water never seems to evaporate unless we have a drought. There is always a 4 inch deep minimum pond to hop and skip over before you can even start to pull and tug at the pile! OK it gets even worse... The constant watery and muddy conditions that never evaporates like the Salton sea has the whole pile sitting in a fermenting stink pond. Picture sour smelly black oak on steroids. This wood only goes in the trailer crate if I get any at all and then my hands will smell but luckily I keep those moist wipes in the car. Needless to say the dump is the last place I look, unless I happen to be passing by. I wish they would at least separate the more useful logs from the rest of the garbage. The wood does air out eventually Haha! Yes I love hand splitting too, but I do get tempted at times to look at splitters when swinging at elm or crotch wood Something tells me if I'm ever presented with a offer I can't refuse I'm gonna pull the trigger.
Definitely looks that way haha! Not sure which side the tire is going to burn it's tread? Those blocky splits pack real tight and dense getting very heavy before you know it. I always make sure to push down on the bumper to see if I have some spring left.
