Dunham 441 log hog VS skid steer

[Ventryjr]

As @thecfarm said I don't think a trailer would work good even with a 4wd tractor. To steep of grades a trailer will push a tractor all around.  

[thecfarm]

We use to haul wood out with a trailer with a 2 wd tractor and a steep hill. Than we got a 4wd with the same trailer and same steep hill.
 The front wheels will hold you back. Or something sure did work better.    
What a difference!!!

[Ventryjr]

 

 

 

 
I think I'm going to pull the trigger on it.  
Tires all hold air and have some life left. Everything else seems intact.   No winch and doesn't look like one is missing.  But it does seem easy enough to mount one on the rear.  Motor looks like a total loss. Cylinders are stuck and heavily corroded.  Owner claims to have all motor parts in a box and the sheet metal for the hood.  Said when they tried freeing up with motor they tried every gear and the clutch worked good. Motor never turned while they owned it tho.   I found a few ford diesel tractors locally that run. I think I'll do a motor swap. 

[47sawdust]

Well you are the right age for the project. Plenty of time to the finish line.
Best of luck getting it going.

[mike_belben]

i guess for the money you cant go wrong, its a robust hunk of iron by the pound. an electric winch would serve it really well for the occasional twitch that it cant back up to, but the way those are armored itll get up in where an ag tractor is getting torn up so probably not a ton of winching needed. yeah DC winches are slow but they cost less than the slider tackle and brake bands for a real winch.  a 12k electric is enough to flip the tractor over backwards so strength wise theyre fine. just need a good marine battery and alternator working right.


id tear the motor down and inspect it real good, then check agkits and such for parts and weigh out maybe partly doing it yourself, just sub the parts you cant do to a shop.  drop the crank out, sit it up on some tires and soak the pistontops in wd40 or diesel, PB, blue kreeper, kroil or whatever your magic sauce preference.  seeing it wash down is a good sign.  cut a hunk of hardwood limb or firewood to sit nice and flat and tall out the top of the block and beat the pistons down a bit without wacking the deck.  if it wont budge put some bottle torch, more sauce, more time then in a day or 3 more beating.  get them driven down to reveal the ring marks.. then hand sand the bores with diesel for lube until theyre shiny all the way out.  flip it and again use a wooden rod to drive the pistons out onto a piece of cardboard or dog blanket etc.  

it looks like a parent bore block and not a wet liner.  hopefully the bores have an oversize left in em.  

buying another motor of that age but "runs" can often mean a high priced core that needs a headgasket and few other things soon after anyways... so i would inspect the one you got real hard and considering a full reman on it before paying much for a sorta good one. composite headgaskets have an age based shelf life, no way around it.  if its from 83, its leaking.

[Ventryjr]

Well a deals made on the log hog.  I just need to pick it up. And maybe I'll get into rebuilding it.  I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'll swap the motor and set it's current motor aside to rebuild later.  I have a collection of items to rebuild later haha. 

[mike_belben]

congrats man.  hope to see it resurrected one day.   8)

[Ventryjr]

Thanks! My plan is to have it running to use this summer.  But we will see about that! 

[mike_belben]

meanwhile.. what attachments do you have for the skid steer at present?

[chevytaHOE5674]

Looks like a ford 175ci diesel? Based on a 3000 series tractor.

If so don't bore the motor out without having some thick wall sleeves pressed in and cut back for factory size pistons. The ford motors are common to cavitate and one in the condition probably isn't long for this world you don't want to remove any more iron. Lol

Personally you can probably find a good running motor with good oil pressure, little blow by, good compression, etc and come out way cheaper than rebuilding that old hunk.

[Ventryjr]

I found a ford 3000 diesel at auction with a "rebuilt" motor and bad clutch going for $1k.  So I may pick that up to swap motors then assess the current motor in the log hog once it's out.  I'd like to be able to use the log hog this summer.  

@mike_belben i have forks, bucket, hitch plate, jib boom and a auger. For the skid steer. 

[Ventryjr]

The current motor in the log hog is not original. It's blue and the rest of the tractor is yellow. 

[mike_belben]

take your forks, stiffen up the back rack to mount a 12,000 pound, 12vdc winch with remote and 100ft of steel cable, a high roller made from a used mini-ex bottom roll out of your local dealers scrap hopper and a hydraulic 3rd finger off the remotes.  get some 11-r22.5 snow chains with the L wrench and crescent adjusters all the way down the side, cut a few rungs off to fit your machine on all 4.  buy some old arc welder cables from your favorite weld/fab shop or scrap yard and put an anderson connector down your boom to run the winch.  the winch brake is the issues, not the rating.  an 8 winch will pull the machine over, but the load holding brake is only good to 4k so skidding with the winch will wreck the brake.  youve gotta transfer chokers over to a welded grab hook once you reel it in if you need to skid.  thats why a grapple is so much faster for logs you can drive up to. climbing out to chain and unchain everything gets tiresome. 


you will have a really nimble little micro logger for short distance jobs.  the 3rd finger hydraulic top clamp is critical.  youll be furious trying to juggle logs with plain forks in a woods setting and itll be a ton more fishing through the same ruts trying to catch that fidgety log right until you get stuck. 

 i personally prefer the stump bucket in the woods but intend to put a grapple on my forks for handling back up in the yard.  i cut the center tooth out of my stump bucket, put in a trailer hitch and use it to walk a bunk trailer.. until i popped the engine.  









this is the grab that is worth what it costs, and its not as easy to get it with forks, which is why i prefer the stump bucket.  being able to pinch between top and bottom fingers instead of a flat slippery fork surface and one finger on top.  you can snake a 16ft log out backwards between keepers but you cant carry it crossways with forks or a brush grapple. 

[mike_belben]

the skid steer wont go where the tractor can.  so the skid steer is best on the landing to load truck or trailer.  the tractor fetching out of the woods to it. 

[Ventryjr]

Ended up with the ford 3000 also.  Has 2100hrs so I'm planning on swapping this motor into the log hog soon and potentially rebuilding the motor in the log hog.  I'll post more pics once I pick both of them up.  Thanks for the insight.  

[Ventryjr]

 

 

 

 

Picked up the log hog this weekend and began disassembling it.  I'm not sure if this block will be salavagble or not. But either way it's coming out.  

[chevytaHOE5674]

If the block isn't split it should be salvageable. But with how many 3cyl ford tractors are out there it may not be worth rebuilding. 

Pre-covid a guy could buy a ford 3000 that runs good for 2k bucks or less with worn out tires perfect for a transplant. 

[mike_belben]

a gas axe will pop that rust right off and swell the bores enough to start working lube down there and get things ungummed.  dont melt a piston and dont shatter one beating on it.   an old busted axe handle makes a good piston pounder. be careful not to wreck the cylinder walls incase thats a parent bore block. 10 or 20 over aint gonna clean much if you really ding it. 

[mike_belben]

pretty cool machine.  on dry/frozen ground that isnt too steep or off camber i bet that thing can get pretty good production. 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Its a parent bore block with thin walls to begin with and prone to cavitation.

The cylinder walls wouldn't be what worries me they are easy to bore and sleeve. What would worry me is the open water jackets and freezing weather, the open holes down to the oilpan so the crankcase could be full of water and ice. 

[mike_belben]

yeah id expect it to be.  i opened the planetary on a fully sealed winch last night and it had in ice crescent in the bottom blocking it from shifting to freewheel. 

[Ventryjr]

I pulled the dipstick out and the oil was slightly low and dark black so I don't think water made its way down that far. The ford 3000 I bought at auction didn't "go" I guess the auction house left the sellers the ability to decline a sale price. So I'm still on the hunt for a replacement motor.  Id still like to rebuild this one.  But I think a complete tractor would be my best bet for getting this unit running.  Looks like I might be missing a bunch of small parts/ hardware. I do have the head/valve train that was kept indoors and doesn't look bad.