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Will this work as a logging truck

Started by franknzupan, November 05, 2018, 09:17:42 AM

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franknzupan

 


I have zero experience logging for reference on this question.  I retire next year and want something to be able to get sawlogs to the mill.  I have been looking for logging trucks for a while, but really have not found anything decent in my area.  I am wondering how difficult it would be to log with such a long truck.  I would have to modify my fencing to be able to get it on/off my property, but that won't cost much or take much time.

mike_belben

Youll need to shorten the frame unless you are planning to haul specialty long logs and only a few at a time.  That frame will hold way more timber than the truck is legal for and youll be too tempted to overload it.. Or be forever dragging around a pointless tail.  


What motor and trans?  Whats the price?  Nothing about it says log truck but if you already had it that'd be different.    

What type of sites are you gonna be getting into and what other equipment must the truck pull?   Whata your terrain like and how long are your hauls?  How will you load it?
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Southside

What is the GVWR on that truck and what are the axles rated for?  Like Mike said - that is an awful long frame.  I could see issues with being over axle weight on the front, even when under your gross legal weight with a setup like that.  
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Resonator

X2 what mike said, what you have pictured looks like a box van chassis, not designed to haul heavy saw logs.
Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

barbender

You'd have to shorten the frame. If you don't have a shop and the skills to do it yourself, it could cost more than the truck.
Too many irons in the fire

mike_belben

what makes a good dump truck, also makes a good logging truck. In every sense except operator comfort anyways, theyre pretty spartan machines.  Double frames, walking beams, hendrickson or chalmers suspensions, locking power divider and locking rears (diff locks, "cross locks") deep reductions, 3 stage jakes, heavy fronts and floatation tires.  And a good air seat!

If you got a fair deal on a dump truck and sold the box and wet kit you could recoup a decent chunk of the purchase and put on bunks.  Or keep the wet kit and put a prentice on the back with a pintle and backhoe trailer.  That can self load logs itself, or load itself and a trailer, or haul your machine in and out.  Yeah it costs some payload to have a self loader on every trip, but if you are a one man startup versatile is pretty important in the early years where your niche isnt developed.  Not every job is worth hauling in a knuckle boom and building a landing that big or making 3 trips to get the iron setup.  A self loader can drive in with the tractor/bobcat/skidder/dozer on a pintle trailer, run logs to mill and come back to get equipment.  One driver, one trip in and out for small lots.    

Its what would suit me best anyway.  Self loader bringing dozer on a pintle.. Do a pond, load the trees from clearing, leave with dozer and wood one trip.
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franknzupan

Okay, I want to thank everyone for your valuable input.  I think this truck is a *NO-GO*.  What type of truck would be recommended to haul logs, haul lime, move slash and dead trees in areas I want to clean up, haul creek gravel.  Can I get a flatbed dump truck and use logging bunks when I need them and siding as necessary for lime and creek rock?
PS Logging is something I want to do on the side on my farm, clearing areas for buildings or cabins or clearing the fence line.  I would also like to take a load off to the sawmill 2-3 times a month.

sawguy21

You would probably be happiest with a three  axle truck, preferably a tandem. A non driving tag will work but you might spend a lot of time stuck. A flat deck with bunks would be versatile but the deck adds weight cutting your legal payload which may or may not be an issue for you.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

franknzupan

Quote from: sawguy21 on November 05, 2018, 11:33:00 AM
You would probably be happiest with a three  axle truck, preferably a tandem. A non driving tag will work but you might spend a lot of time stuck. A flat deck with bunks would be versatile but the deck adds weight cutting your legal payload which may or may not be an issue for you.
I am just getting into this.  I have 554-acres and the right side has not been cut in 20-years.  I am not desperate to get logs out, but I will be retiring this next year and having some extra income to finance equipment or buy cabins to rent out would be a plus.  That is to develop some of the land and/or sell some of the land.  I am not sure what a "non driving tag" means, but to take trees to the mill I would need to have a registered truck.

mike_belben

What region of the country are you in?
Do you have a CDL?
Can you drive an unsynchronized manual trans?  
Will your jurisdiction let you run old gear on farm plates or is it an inspection/DOT area?

What works best where i live now would get you impounded where i did live so i dont wanna suggest a headache for you.  A dump flatbed with removable stake sides is extremely versatile.  


I will say, buy it all BEFORE you retire if possible so your expenses can be deducted against your income while you still have one.   Its a huge mistake to retire first then buy machinery with nothing to deduct it against. Talk to your accountant soon about a 1040 schedule C sole proprietor business and a few pieces of iron on an accelerated depreciation table.  
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sawguy21

A tag (3rd) axle does not drive but adds load capacity. However it can be more of a hindrance than a help in mud or snow. Mike poses some valid questions, it's not just a matter of buying a truck and going to work.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Resonator

Tag axles are typically controlled by a switch on the dashboard that inflates/ deflates air bags to raise or lower wheels to the ground, to spread the weight of the truck onto more axles. (Different than the truck registration tag.) 
Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

snowstorm

the right way to shorten a truck like that is slide the rear end ahead. drill new holes for the spring hangers then cut off what frame you dont want

maple flats

Depends on how much weight you want to be able to haul.  If you will want over 26,000 LBS GVW it needs to be a CDL here, or if you have a truck trailer combined over 26,000 I think you also need a CDL to drive it. Where you are, check all of the regs first and be aware of what you are getting into, both on your license to drive it, registration of it and insurance needed. A small truck with a trailer under 10,000# ok, heavier the trailer needs it's own insurance.
I discovered years ago, that asking a the DMV is not where to get a correct answer. Ask the State Troopers in your area, and ask a trooper in that dept., not just any one you see at the donut shop.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

Autocar

I would say No the frame isn't heavy enough. 
Bill

Oliver05262

  I'll put in my 2 cents, and say probably all around you'd best be served with using a dump truck. With gravel, lime, and trash to haul, with only occasional log hauls, a fairly long dump box would satisfy all those needs. 
  Tandem drive axles, moderate horsepower, and whatever you're most comfortable with for a transmission--automatic or whatever manual transmission you are familiar with or can master and drive without being distracted would be adequate for your application.
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charles mann

16 yard dump truck, add an electric winch. raise bed, chain door fully open and winch the trees into the bed. release tail gate, lower the bed and drive away. or you could pull a pintle trailer behind the dumper with a track loader or your choice of loader equipment. you could even load the trailer with extra wood and make your last trip out with all your equipment and a dumper full of logs. 

this has 2 tag axles. the axles in front of the drive tires, but behind the cab, that are raised off the ground. 
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BargeMonkey

Like everyone else has said, too light, long frame and your going to be stuck alot. I have a single axle sterling dump with very aggressive tires, short wheelbase hauling 8yd and it gets stuck in a heartbeat. 
 The "for sale" pages on FB are loaded with single / tandem / triaxle log trucks with bunks for reasonable money, alot in WV, VA, TN. It doesnt take much wood to be heavy, your better off having more truck than you need than less. Truckpaper is also another good source, you just want to watch fixing something that's too far gone and trying to make it close to road legal. Putting logs in a dump box is a great way to break stuff, it works in a pinch, a small equipment trailer with stakes would be the way to go in my opinion, haul 1-1500mdft and not fighting to load into a box or break lights / mudflaps dumping them out. 

Skeans1

 

 

 
To me that trucks frame is too light and is short on an axle. The frame length I'm use to are longer then a super B dump truck, our lowboy with a dove tail rear frame is a touch longer then a 16 yard dump truck. Our axle spec is normally 14.6k front with 46k rears even with the two drops on that mule train.

mike_belben

I think a tandem dump truck, pintle trailer and 450 sized crawler loader with 4 in 1 bucket (this part is important for loading logs and brush aka drott bucket) will do all the things you are asking at a hobbyist pace.  

Crawler loaders have fallen completely out of favor and are very cheap for what they can push and lift.  Theyre slow but stable and powerful especially at stumping and tree pushing.  They can skid decent too.  $5 to 10k is about the entry point.  A 450 class crawler will weigh around 15k and lift about 7k (about 2-4x what a bobcat will.)  You can put forks with topclamp on them too.  And theyll load a highside dump without needing to build a ramp or ditch.  Backhoes are faster but not good in mud and the hoe is always in the way if you arent using it. 


For a trailer, you want 8tires under it.  A triaxle isnt bad and has good brakes but they are hard on front tires, tend to bend the rearmost axle, its more backing plates, brakes, wires, bearings and leaf spring parts to replace when they wear out. Eager beaver made a lot of them ive bought cheap in the past. The econoline 8 wheel setup with 8 springs (multimax and other brands) is even worse to maintain.. Its got 8 of everything to wear out.  You want a dual tandem with atleast 10k oil bath dexter axles.  Econoline makes a real good pintle trailer. 


For a truck.. Macks are tough if you can drive one.  A lot of ford louisvilles, F700s, L8000, L9000 have made americans a living.  Topkicks, kodiaks, C60, internationals have roomy cabs.  Any of these trucks can be spec'd good or bad and thats a whole other discussion. As much power and as many gears as you can afford.  


All of this assumes you will either get a CDL or file your place as farm and stick within the airmile limitations of home base.  There is absolutely no way youll slide by on a class D license for long in most of america anymore while hauling around a pintle equipment trailer if pulled over.  

If you cant get CDL or farm status, shrink this all down to a k30 sized dump with an UNDER 10K car trailer and a bobcat or tractor and hope for the best.  There will still be cops out there who will try to stick it to you and others who dont care.  Luck of the draw, but its getting stricter everywhere.  Local CDL driver can be your retirement gig, huge demand. if you arent a big drinker i suggest you get one.  I know guys in their 80s still driving cuz they like to.
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Riwaka

Log truck selection - starts with the diameter  and length of the logs (log specs) that are required by the mill or other type of processing facility.

Are the logs - hardwoods with lots of curve or pines with little taper (cylindrical pole like?)

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If you aim for small time is there any truck equipment around like the Euro specs?

Kel-Berg    (euro belt trailers   30 feet long rather than 42 feet long in the us) near 70 foot long super b etc 

Kel-Berg - New Trailers   (variety of trailers for different tasks.

Super-B


mike_belben

He will need to be haulin marijuana trees to afford anything in those links. Big long ones. 
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cuznguido

That truck may indeed be a bit light for logging but you can always just load what you feel is comfortable.  To shorten it is not hard at all.  Take the driveshaft out, remove all the bolts holding the rear to the frame, slide it forward to where you want it, drill new holes and bolt it up.  Make your driveshaft and plumbing fit, and you are good to go.  Not really easy, but not too hard either, but it is simple.

KyLogger

I live close to Frank and can say that with the frame bobbed,  and given that it is a standard shift tranny, that is better than 75% of the log trucks on the road here. DOT concerns are non existent, and the mill is only 10-12 miles away. Guys (including myself) haul typically between 1,700-2,400' international on trucks like this (and alot worse) day in and day out. From what I know of Frank's situation, he wants a "do it all" kind of truck that is handy on a piece of property. 
I only work old iron because I secretly have a love affair with my service truck!

OntarioAl


Hire the trucking buy something like this to develop your land
Build your roads and landings do your own logging leave the expense and headaches of trucking to somebody else.
Cheers
Al
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