I had been using my dirt scoop or the jib with tongs on it for moving logs out of the woods. Those worked fine for firewood sized stuff, but after getting the sawmill, the large logs were getting too heavy to drag with those because the attachment point was too far behind the axle. I made up a gizmo for dragging logs that is in a single plane with the 3 points of attachment to the tractor that puts the lifting point much closer to the axle. Kind of like a skidder without the winch. I have cables and chains that I can drag logs out to the trail if I can't get the tractor to the log, I'll just have to drive the tractor instead of use a winch. I'm just in my woods so productivity isn't a huge concern, heating the house and using the lumber for my own projects. I used a battery base that was scrapped out at work as a frame to start with, it's pretty beefy as these battery stacks weigh in the 4 to 6 thousand pound range. I welded in some reinforcement plates for the pins and put some chain grab slots in the top plate. I can pull a few firewood size logs at once and hoping to be able to drag a 24" by 16' long log out to the mill. I haven't got to try any large logs yet, but I did get to play with it a little this evening and it pulled 3 nice firewood size logs no problem with no wheelies. My welding skills are not very good, the look is pretty bad, but I'm confident it will hold together. I just have an old stick welder. I got some paint on the bare metal stuff with a leftover can from a previous project, but appearance isn't my main concern... LOL
Nice setup. Hope it works well for you. Could you weld a pull point on the bottom rail, for big logs? In my experience, pulling off the top link on something heavy, especially if you get it very high, will increase the wheelie effect. Just my 2¢, and I've pulled 30-36" logs with the TO-35 we had. Just want ya to be careful. This is what we used for the big stuff. CountyLine Cross Drawbar, Category 1, 3/4 in. dia. at Tractor Supply Co.. Use a clevis in the center hole with the tongs, clear the end off the ground and drive on.
Jeff nailed the wheelie effect. I had a friend killed pulling an oak log with a 3 pt hitch. Drove him in the dirt killing him instantly. It only takes .75 seconds for the tractor to climb the ring gear and bury your head in the dirt. You will have the benefit of having your log chained securely to your fine apparatus. Just raise it the bare minimum off the ground. When the center of gravity gets just above the axle is when trouble starts. There is plenty to read about this on the web. Just be safe, but I like your handy work.
So sorry about your friend. I know several people in our area that had fatal encounters with tractors. One was a pastor trying to pull up some big bushes at his church, tractor turned over on him, another older guy, engineer at one of the local plants, was pushing a limb with loader bucket, something happened and limb got him. I was lucky, right after we got the Kubota, had dead pine break off, ROPS kept it off me, had some serious 'xplaining to the HUNNY about why the fender was bent down. I was able to get it about right and the dead trees can stand until they fall, then I'll move them
Thanks. I was pushing trees down when building my lake. I had a large ash tree fall on the cab bending 1/4 inch steel on the front. With the roots still in the ground, loader stuck, and 50 ft of tree above the cab I had a tree under extreme tension. Had to cut it with the chainsaw. Scariest cutting I ever attempted. When the saw touched the tree about a 10 ft strip came flying up trying to take my head off. Looking back I probably shoulda got another machine and dug it out.
Safety is No.1 on this stuff. It works fine with the small stuff as is, but I am thinking of how to get another chain catch lower in the middle. I don't think the lower bar raises high enough to lift a 24" log (the largest I will be attempting) so I'm thinking 2 angle irons welded vertially back to back up the middle with a few chain catches at different heights. Sorry to hear of injuries or worse. One of my brother's best friends was taken by a rollover when he was dumping a load of dirt into a ravine. I'm always very aware of the potential dangers, but thanks for reminding me and I will add some lower drag points to lessen the possibility of disaster.
Wheelies are fun on the quads, but scare the crap out of me on the tractor. Again, thanks all for the safety awareness.
No problem. I never knew until my friend got killed. I had pulled hundreds of cords out of the woods with a Farmall M. Lucky for me the only place I had to hook was the draw bar.
Those old M's and H's will rotate quick if you put the chain around their rear axle instead of using the drawbar. Those engineers knew what they were doing.
I haven't gotten to play with it much yet and we do have a set of tongs. I need to figure out the best place to attach them and weld up a place for it. I also want to add more chain slots simply to keep my chains securely in place while driving around. I have two 20' chains that I use for other things as well as dragging logs so I don't want them any shorter. I'll just let them hang out here and loop them in some extra slots because I only use a few feet once I get the tractor backed up to the log. Sometimes I will have to use all forty feet of chain and maybe go get my cable to get a log out of a spot I can't get the tractor into. With out a winch I will need the long chains. I'm just getting started with it and will have to figure out the best ways to use it and probably "enhance" some features on it. Nothing a torch, grinder, and welder can't fix... LOL I'll probably weld some grab hooks a couple places too because there are places I don't want to put slots in that may weaken the structure although this thing is probably way stronger than I need for this tractor and the logs I will be dealing with. But I can't argue with FREE. When they say haul it off so they don't have to pay someone to come get it, I'm all over it if I can make something useful from it. Thanks fuelrod, my welding skills aren't great since I only weld occasionally. I break enough stuff (or just plain wear it out) that I can't imagine not having a torch set and a welder since I can't afford to go buy new stuff every few years. Most folks would have scrapped my 5' rotary cutter years ago, but I keep welding it up. Dad bought it new when I was 12 years old.
I think I have a good way figured out to pull large logs safely with this setup. I'm going to weld grab hooks on the bottom rail near the sides of the "skidder". I will wrap the log with my slip hook end of one chain and pull it tight to the skidder and raise the log off the ground. With my second chain that has grab hooks on both ends, I will grab the cinching chain on both sides of the log with the grab hooks on the chain ends. Then I can take those chains to the grab hooks welded low on the skidder and lock them in as short as possible. This way the top rail of the skidder allows me to lift the log, but the actual pulling force will be from the lowest point on the skidder below the axle. I saw a large log tong with short chains welded to it just a few inches from the tips that got me thinking to try this approach. I would have already tried it out, but I'm laid up with a blown out knee / quad injury from a week ago. Nothing broken, but swollen and just now starting to be able to move it after a week. Rookie move, carrying lots of stuff down to the basement with flip flops on... Stupid, stupid, Stu Ped... and I had just bought some new clodhoppers too...
Like the idea, don't like the injury. Hope you get well soon so you can try it out on flat ground first.
I work from home so at least I'm not having to hassle with that and still getting a paycheck... I don't like this crutching around and icing the swollen stuff, but I'll do whatever doc says to get it better ASAP. And yes, I will be trying it out on flat ground to figure it out. We do have some hills out in parts of the woods, but I've been developing the trails with the least amount of slope and NO weird cross slopes and awkward spots. My tractor does have the two piece rims that are easy to add two feet of width on the rears. I may do that when pulling logs just to add more stability. I normally run them all the way in so the tractor is the same width as the bush hog, but for this application, wider may be a lot safer. It only takes a few minutes to run them in or out.
