A couple upgrades for Orange Crush...L4802

Since we replaced the front axle bearings on the L3130 we had, not because we OVERWORKED it......
We decided to try something different with the L4802.
Let's put the weight on the rear tires.
Looked at getting a set of 3pt adjustable forks, but they were ~$900...let's back up and punt...
1st package came Thursday while I was at work. It got put on and tried out that night...
3pt to QA adapter hitch from Titan.
We looked at some on ebay, several different sellers, all the same pictures and descriptions...lol...they were cheaper...in several ways...
About 97# compared to 132# from Titan. Welds look decent, I saw a couple that would make WeldrDave ...
Put the forks on and tried it out with a full 330gal tote of green oak. It's way heavier than our 6.5' Frontier harrow. It slowly picked it up at WOT, almost did a wheelie when I started off, got the grapple on the front made it much betterer. Probably need to leave a little room, put tote in storage, then add rest of splits and top. It handles a big seasoned tote fine. The 275gal totes green should be ok too.
2nd box came Friday...
Since we had rear remote added when we bought the tractor, why not use them...
Hydraulic top link...
If fact, before it came in, we were moving a tote, it was sitting on a slight downhill, had to put forks back on front to get it...
I think this will work fine in those situations now...might even haul shorter logs on the back too.
https://youtube.com/shorts/r9wEBRnc3DA?si=_SK0xgaHf0phkBgD

Got 1 more part coming, QA mount plate will be welded to our counterweight, be easy to swap then.

 

Putting the weight on the back with that being the heavier axle makes good sense. It will drive nicer too.

 

Seems like the hydraulic top link is the trick...
Back under tote...
Tilt forward and lift...
I had put these 3 totes in storage the wrong way, want the door facing tractor, so when we load later, door is facing rear of truck. Pulled them out and turned them around.
This oak was split Wednesday night, stacked it Saturday morning, it was the heaviest of the 3. Struggle but made it.
How about double duty......

 

The hydro top link is a great upgrade! I’ve got one and use it all the time in the woods to get the skidding winch to dig into the uneven ground. Also makes hooking up implements easier as well.

Might have to get a set of rear forks to move more things around, they look handy.

 

I asked about rear forks on here several years ago and it was mostly crickets for responses (probably because I have one of the 'other' orange tractors...). Never moved forward on the rear forks, but some of that is due to being mostly out of the firewood processing game for a few years. Still thinking about going that route, and definitely want a hydraulic top link anyway, so thanks for posting your setup. Since I'm still trying to reinvent the wheel with my stacking/storage conundrum due to the plethora of logs on hand and still-standing dead trees that need to come down, I'm inching forward to getting some IBC totes, and that would be a good excuse to set up the capability for rear forks on my tractor while allowing me to keep the grapple on the front.

Anyone using rear mounted pallet forks on their tractor?

 

It would, barely. Had to keep lever pulled back, WOT, and kinda rock tractor back and forth to get it off the ground. Knew long term, that wasn't going to be good.

 

I deal with the same issues which is why I opted for the front mounted blower on the tractor instead of the 3-point style. I've seen several people that have installed a camera to help with using 3-point implements and with the cost of all that technology dropping all the time, am thinking about installing something on my tractor.

 

I've made it a long time without the IBC totes, but with so much wood that needs to be processed, and knowing a good amount of the red oak is destined for ugly bins, it may finally be time to pull the trigger and get some totes. The pallet bins have worked for me but are becoming maintenance-heavy and the simplicity of the IBC totes is appealing (despite the cost).

 

Yes, that would be extremely helpful, especially with the stump grinder hooked up. I haven't had neck surgery, but it's definitely stiffer than it used to be. I had to take breaks when we ground that big pine stump at our church.

 

One of these days I'm going to put rear remotes on mine. I want a hydraulic top link for sure, and will probably have an extra remote or 2 just in case. If I'm putting 1 on a couple extra don't cost much more.

 

I saw some on FB marketplace last week going for $50 apiece or all seven for $300. They were only about 40 minutes away and I would have been all over it if I could drive but they didn't last long and are gone. I was walking around this morning with the pup thinking about the totes and trying to figure out where I would put them, if they're really worth the investment, and doing the usual mental mind games of trying to calculate the cost versus how much time I realistically have left to use them. I was thinking about possibly getting ten, and hopefully being able to stack them 2-high with the tractor. That would roughly end up being 3-1/3 cords of storage. The totes are on my mind and on my radar so we'll see what happens.

 

You can find non-food-safe totes with liners all day for $20 around here.