my mini skidder build progress

bigblue12v · October 31, 2015, 10:19:58 AM

Not much of an update but got it all in primer. Girlfriend's dad said to bring it over sometime and take it out for a test run. I don't have woods here. They have 40 acres 3 miles from me. I'd like to test it out close by before taking it to start on a big job in case something needs changed. Will be sure and get video..

bigblue12v · November 01, 2015, 08:33:17 PM

Got most of my junk together for a few pictures... You're looking at a lot of homemade stuff here. Because I'm poor, have enough fab skills to build what I want instead of having the money to go buy it lol. But I owe nothing on anything pictured so hate away lol
04 3500 6x6 5.9 Cummins 8x9 flatbed 10k winch
12k 16+3' homemade gooseneck
7k homemade log trailer (bumper pull)
Home brew mini log skidder (Vermeer V440 trencher in previous life) 60hp Perkins diesel 12k hydraulic winch from a wrecker, 4 way hydraulic blade
5.5 HP Honda 11 GPM 2 stage 5.5" x26" splitter with hydraulic crane
22hp Kubota diesel powered Jacobsen Turf Cat mower with homemade log splitter attachment on 13 GPM single stage circuit 4" x34" cylinder (twice as fast as the trailered splitter)
MS660 with 24" full chisel
Ported MS360 with 18" semi chisel
(Not pictured saws: 028 super av, modded ms170, 009)

Enjoy!

lopet · November 01, 2015, 08:58:31 PM

Impressive inventory. 8) 8)

I love home brew

bigblue12v · November 01, 2015, 09:13:20 PM

Lol thanks. Come a long way from a year ago I was firing my central boiler up to burn wood for the first time in my life, no joke. All I had was 009 top handle saw. I didn't know anything about sharpening a chain. I got through the winter on mill slab scraps while building a splitter and acquiring saws. I work a full time factory job, have my 4 & 6 year old kids on weekends, and have cut & split around 20 cords this year, plus do some small engine repair, wheeling and dealing etc. I'm 28 years old trying to figure out where the last 8 went and how I'll get through the next 40. Ugh. Lol

millcreek40 · November 02, 2015, 03:57:24 AM

You are very creative to say the least. I would love a few more photos of the turfcatsplitter you made. I have the same turfcat but I only mow the lawn with mine. ( for now). Thanks. Keep up the great work

thecfarm · November 02, 2015, 06:17:22 AM

Need a 54 year old son to play with all that stuff? :D
The years will keep on flying by,but keep on building what you need and you will enjoy watching those years fly by.

bigblue12v · November 02, 2015, 08:51:45 AM

Quote from: millcreek40 on November 02, 2015, 03:57:24 AM
You are very creative to say the least. I would love a few more photos of the turfcatsplitter you made. I have the same turfcat but I only mow the lawn with mine. ( for now). Thanks. Keep up the great work

Thank you, I'll have to get more pics of it for you sometime. The PTO is on its own separate hydraulic pump on these, it is 13 GPM single stage supposed to be at 2600 psi on the regulator but mine might be a little less I'm not sure. It does good splitting but maybe it's in my wedge design it doesn't like knots or real big rounds. My wedge has quite a bit of flare to spread the wood. Perhaps with a more flat knife it would be more impressive, or more psi or both. I see processors using 4" cylinders with multi way wedges and I can't see how that works out comparing it to this. My trailered splitter will push through just about anything you can feed it. I made the Jake splitter a lot more complicated than it needs to be. It was my first experience with a hydraulic splitter and a learning experience certainly, however I designed it to utilize the hydraulic deck lift cylinder along with linkage arms, a pivot and assist springs so that you could pull a pin, move the valve toward the seat and put the pin back in, then from the seat you could use the hydraulic lift to lower the splitter, it rotates forward as it lowers and you drive up to a large round and split from the seat. This was a nice idea but it's awkward to maneuver and quite often doesn't push the wedge through the round anyway, so it was a lot of engineering and fab work for nothing. I wouldn't do it that way again. The 34" cylinder adds a lot of weight overall, but with my owb I wanted to handle longer pieces and also got the cylinder on wholesale close out buy for $130 new. I'd do it different next time as I found it not effective for using from seat and I don't like lifting that long of pieces, and I'd do the wedge different. There is too much cylinder stroke for my needs, you have to catch the detent valve on the return and stop it so it doesn't waste half the cylinder travel.
Mine has the 72" rear discharge mower deck which it handles nicely and I'm pleased with. We rebuilt it this past season using new SCAG spindles with some custom adapter plates. They were cheaper than OEM parts, my old spindles were worn past rebuilding.
If I can line up another mower to use to mow my lawn, I would like to cannibalize this thing to use it as a parts donor to build a processor.
The trailered splitter is perfect for large rounds, it is slow but intensely strong. I'd like to speed it up with an 18hp twin Briggs I have and a 28gpm pump but this also means larger lines, tank, valves etc a lot of money to put into it. It's either that or build a processor from the Jacobsen. I can't afford both projects and the downtime of both units so I must choose. A processor would be expensive but hopefully gain some much needed productivity. I haven't had time to keep up on splitting with my limited daylight hours and good weather it's tough to keep everything moving smoothly. I want to build a processor it would be a super fun project. Just very expensive lol. The Jacobsen splitter has a very nice pace to it, as fast as you can comfortably keep up with honestly. But during mowing season I use the trailered unit more to avoid switching attachments on the Jake. Have given serious thought to building a Wallenstein style processor it would be a lot cheaper and simpler. Perhaps a good compromise. We shall see. I might just leave these two units as they are and start from scratch on that one. I've got an extra trailer frame and the 18hp. That's a start lol

Quote from: thecfarm on November 02, 2015, 06:17:22 AM
Need a 54 year old son to play with all that stuff? :D
The years will keep on flying by,but keep on building what you need and you will enjoy watching those years fly by.

Thank you sir, and I never turn down good help! Lol come on over!

bigblue12v · November 08, 2015, 02:22:30 PM

As promised... My videographer got tied up with keeping an eye on the kids so she wasn't able to get any footage. I'm in the hard hat. It needs more weight up front but did good. Just dragging tangled up tops out into the trail for my gf's dad, which is the gentleman pictured beside me.

There was a few more pictures but they won't upload I keep trying it keeps giving me an error message.

thecfarm · November 08, 2015, 02:25:07 PM

Gald it's working out for you. Those tops can be harder to drag than just a log due to the limbs digging in and more wood on the ground.

Puffergas · November 08, 2015, 07:47:38 PM

Thanks for the pictures, looks sweet..! The fall season is the best time..

SFires · November 08, 2015, 08:10:12 PM

You have no ideal how low jealous I am right now. I've already been looking on CL for an old trencher

bigblue12v · November 08, 2015, 08:26:24 PM

Thanks guys, Yea I think tops have gotta be worse than a straight clean heavy log! They snag on everything! I gotta find some lead and add some weight boxes to the back of the blade or something. With some serious weight up front this thing would be a lot more impressive. On flat ground it'll hold its own pretty nicely. As it is I can't see it pulling a real big hitch up hill though. I honestly feel like I made the right decision not putting an arch on it. It couldn't handle the added leverage. It is a blast to put it to work though! Today was perfect weather to be in the woods! 35* this morning, warmed up to 50-ish by noon, lovely weather! I bucked and split some wood this afternoon and enjoyed the weather. By far my favorite time of year!

SFires, I hope you're handy cutting and welding. Also I would have no problem using a utility tractor modified for forestry use but I couldn't have bought one for the deal I got on this. Unless you get a screaming deal like I did you maybe better with a tractor. Less fab work (you can buy a logging winch already made no trial and error) you can get them with a loader which would be more than handy, ability to change attachments for other uses etc. This does have a low center of gravity and being a dedicated machine allowed me to build it very specifically for this purpose which may give it an edge over a tractor. If you are dead set on using Trencher (and I'm not trying to talk you out of that by any means) then you'd be better off with one that articulates I think instead of steering on the axle like mine. The articulated steering would be worth it's weight in gold. Plus the layout and longer wheelbase would be a huge help. But I had to work with what I had.

thecfarm · November 08, 2015, 08:30:46 PM

Could make a metal box and fill it full of cement or sand. Or load up the front tires with something.

timberjackrob · November 08, 2015, 08:43:22 PM

how did the winch work did it do all right?

bigblue12v · November 08, 2015, 09:37:23 PM

Quote from: thecfarm on November 08, 2015, 08:30:46 PM
Could make a metal box and fill it full of cement or sand. Or load up the front tires with something.

I already loaded the front tires. Thinking metal boxes full of lead on the back of the blade.

Quote from: timberjackrob on November 08, 2015, 08:43:22 PM
how did the winch work did it do all right?

It worked great no issues. It's really slow, I guess safe is the word lol but it's unstoppable. It's worm gear drive and I think it would pull the machine in half if the front was chained to a tree and the hitch stuck on a stump or something. I might add a separate higher flow pump for the winch later on down the road it just depends how much winching I end up having to do I guess.

SFires · May 25, 2016, 08:35:11 PM

Hey what ever happened to this. Just curious how it's working out.

sublime68charger · May 26, 2016, 12:47:04 PM

just read the thread very nice build you did on this machine!

bigblue12v · August 13, 2016, 03:01:49 PM

Quote from: SFires on May 25, 2016, 08:35:11 PM
Hey what ever happened to this. Just curious how it's working out.

Sorry I never saw this reply. Life's been too hectic to use it much, but so far so good. If it would ever stop raining here I'm planning to start on a new clearing job but don't know if I'll take this, there's a winch dozer with operator on site to do my skidding.

Bigfoot870 · August 14, 2016, 11:25:23 AM

Cool project!!! Please keep us updated, even if it's not very often. I'm especially interested to see if you use tire chains in winter

bigblue12v · August 14, 2016, 10:52:17 PM

As of now I'm just a firewood junkie with a full time day shift job and Indiana has this pesky daylight savings time thing that screws me out of having daylight hours after work, if I'm lucky I have a couple hours of light after I get home in winter. So I tend to get my firewood done before dst kicks in, and tend to hole up in the shop a lot working on projects.

bigblue12v · August 14, 2016, 11:55:33 PM

I might build an arch to put near the rear of large saw logs so I can pull them with this thing... Going to look at a job this week if I can take it on lol I need bigger equipment...