Best front end loader attachment for handling tri axle load firewood

Have you tried a longer bar?? I find that helps a lot!

 

Yes I have but I’m spoiled from sharpening 16” bars. Gotta give up something to get something I suppose.

 

A decent grapple is going to run you $4000, possibly more. I would make a stand that you can set the logs onto with the grapple to buck, rather than holding the logs with the bucket. Main reason is there are at least 3 rounds that you won't be able to get to on each log because the grapple is in the way. A skinny excavator bucket with thumb would be more suited to bucking while holding with the machine.

My much cheaper suggestion is get them off the pile onto the ground and get some knee pads to wear while bucking.

A friend tried to use his big tractor to help unload wood from a car hauler that was put on the trailer by a skid steer. Honestly...we'd have been just as far ahead to go ahead and buck those logs on site and put them in the regular trailer after all was said and done. If they had been big logs, perhaps the tractor method would be justified, but for up to 14" or so stuff the tractor actually makes more work, especially if going solo.

 

Will your tractor reach high enough to unload a trixale? Some are over 12' high.

 

You can get grapple attachments for buckets and forks. Kind of like a thumb. I don’t think the bucket one would be useful for your situation but the fork attachement might be just what you are looking for. Would narrower than a root grapple and cheaper.

 

No I don’t think so. I’m more concerned with picking the logs off the pile once they are unloaded from the truck & on the ground & cutting them while they are on the forks to save my back.

 

If you have help so you can run two saws, forks work well. If you are by yourself, the grapple will let you mAke several cuts from one end, then twice as many from the other, and then finish. The grapple will hold the log, but you don't want to get extremely unbalanced, especially if you have a relatively small tractor/grapple.

 

This is what I was trying to get across a few posts back. It just isn't like this though. If doing it dead center, you get 1 or maybe 2 cuts on either end. Then you either go back to the tractor and dump it to make the remaining 5 or 6 cuts on the ground, or you re-pick the log off to one side, go back to the saw, and make 3 cuts, back to the tractor, dump, make 2 or 3 cuts on the ground. You get more tired travelling back and forth than you do actually cutting the log.

I could see it working if you made a log stand out of a couple 24" rounds about 4' apart on center. Make a couple v notches in the top to set the log on, and then cut into firewood length.

Like I said earlier though. If you have an area where you can skid out full length trees minus the brush, and if the grapple/tractor will pick up the whole tree, there's a huge advantage to having one. At my gtg last year, we did this for my neighbors. My L48 will lift a 12 or maybe 16" ash tree. I'd grapple the tree, maneuver it to the side out of the way of the rest of the skidded trees, and a guy on each end would buck it up in a few minutes. 8 guys bucked 6 full cords in 1-1/2 hours.

 

It may work with a different grapple, but with mine the clam wouldn't hold a log of any size due to the added leverage. And the gap between the bucket and clam was too big to pinch smaller logs. It might work if the bottom of the bucket and the clam overlapped when closed. Mine come down together

 

Would work with small stuff. But it'll get tipsy quick.

 

I found this grapple on Craigslist two years ago. Had to weld on jd quick attach pieces. Upgraded below to a mini with a thumb.

 

Ok, does your tractor have a quick attach? If it doesn't the first the thing I would do is convert it to skid steer quick attach if it doesn't. That will open up a lot of possibles for grapples and make changing from your bucket to the grapple easy. Forks are dangerous to use to handle logs unless you get a fork grapple. There is nothing to keep the log on the forks. Sometimes it can be tough to even get the log to stay on to pick it up. If the only reason for getting a grapple is moving logs, don't get a root grapple or a grapple rake. The tines are too tall on these grapples and they won't penetrate into the log pile. Check out my video below. I roll the logs off the pile to pick them up. If one is laying on the ground I curl the grapple out and get it from the top. It is not as efficient as a frostbite or sundown grapple. You are also going to need a 3rd function to run the grapple, or if you have a rear remote you can run hoses up the loader but I am not that crazy about this method. Here is a good deal on a grapple, but it is out of stock now. Titan 29” Log Grapple Attachment for Skid Steers

 

Not to mention the tractor is sitting there running, burning fuel, racking up hours, and getting closer to the next service. I have a 6' grapple and if the log is 18'' or 20'' I cut them to 8,' they are usually delivered 16-18.'' So I am like you, only 2 cuts. The tractor will pick up log that big and long but, the log is so long and it is so much weight sticking out to the sides of the tractor and I feel it is tough on it. I've seen loaders break at the pins and I don't want that to happen down the road.

The only way I may consider buck a log from the grapple is if I had a log grapple, and they are 29'' wide. I could cut all but 2 pieces. I could cut while my Dad ran the tractor, but then he would be sitting there in the tractor watching me cut verses us normally cutting the logs on the ground, 2 people cutting at the same time. The only thing I have thought about using a grapple is I could cut the logs all in the same spot and they would be staged for splitting in comparison to now I have to get them all in a pile/ stack. IMO cutting is the easy and fun part. I don't like splitting.

 

These weren't all that heavy, really. A 30" beech x 14' long makes mine grunt. I'd guess these ash trees weighed half that. But I know what you're saying. Having that kind of mass hanging 20' out either side can potentially make things tippy on uneven ground

 

I enjoy cutting far more than any other aspect of firewood production.

 

I would also go for a Grapple on the loader and this company (( https://www.mtlattachments.com/))makes a good one for around $1000.00 delivered to a local trucking yard.

 

If you don't have a 3rd function these look intriguing.

Brush Crusher™ | Westendorf