Hillbilly logging operations

WV Sawmiller · July 20, 2015, 03:17:31 PM

Lacking a tractor or skid steer or other support equipment I am limited in what I can use to move logs around my place to the mill. Years ago, long before I ever thought about getting a sawmill, while I was still working overseas my wife saw an ATV with a logging arch on TV and decided I needed one to keep from killing myself dragging logs for firewood and posts and such down our steep mountainsides. She drew up her design and "commissioned" local friends to make one mostly from parts from our local junkyard and gave it to me for a Christmas present.

I use and abuse my Kawasaki 650 Prairie on a daily basis for almost everything - dragging logs, hauling firewood in my 5X8 trailer and a 4X4 cart, winching trees out of the brush, etc.

Usually I can just drag logs down the hillside on the steep slopes. Sometimes I have to take the log arch, attach ATV winch to a tree and use the winch on the log arch to snake a log down. Once in position I will wrap a chain around one end of the log and lift with the log arch and tow it down the hill. This helps keep it from rolling past the ATV as bad as without the arch. On level ground and to keep from tearing up my pasture and access roads/trails I use the rear dolly I fabricated. It is like a rear axle on a log/pulpwood truck on a smaller scale. It is made with a piece of schedule 80 pipe for an axle, 2 - 6"X 1" bolts (double nutted), and 2 pneumatic tires with 1" axles from TSC. The cradle is an angle iron V welded to the axle by the lady welder at my son's work place. I lift the log with the arch, slide the dolly under and cinch
it down tight and straight with a ratchet strap over the top of the log. My biggest limitation using the dolly is the height I can lift a big log and still get the axle under it. I The closer I can get the dolly to the center the better it balances and tows.

The picture shows this rig towing a 12'6" maple log about 16-18" in diameter. I cut the dead maple yesterday and used a snatch block to pulled the bucked up logs out of a wash with a long cable and my truck.

dustyhat · July 20, 2015, 04:20:33 PM

Never moved logs that big with a four wheeler, but i cut and moved a good sized boundary of ceder with a old Kawasaki i had , was a really rough place to get anything else in and i dident have a mule so i made it work.

fishfighter · July 20, 2015, 06:02:06 PM

Looks good OP. Hope you have good brakes going down hill. :D

WV Sawmiller · July 20, 2015, 06:23:24 PM

Fish,

I probably would not be using the dolly with a log that big when coming down the hill. In most cases like that I leave the end of the log dragging as a brake. In some cases I have to speed up to keep in front of the log to control it and to keep from jackknifing. In my ATV basket I have a pull cable with a swivel on it that slips over my ball hitch so if the log starts to roll it won't twist and break.

deadfall · July 20, 2015, 06:49:36 PM

I pulled out a couple of fir logs with one tractor chained to another. It was pretty much a level pull. Maybe only slightly uphill. Heavy things moving downhill make me nervous.

Thefarmer76 · September 24, 2015, 08:38:16 PM

Your rig looks great!, I am making a dolly for a similar setup. Does your dolly have a square base for the log to sit on to make it secure from twisting?. Also the arch I made has a flat bottom to lay the log on once it is raised up. Then you can chain it forward to keep it from swinging. Maybe that could solve the jackknife situation?. Cheers!

WV Sawmiller · September 24, 2015, 09:07:09 PM

'76,

Hard to see in the pix but my dolly axle is just a piece of schedule 80 pipe with 1" grade 6 bolts from TSC welded inside to fit the TSC pneumatic wheels with 1" bearings. I used a 1" flat washer and double nutted the wheels on because I could not find a 1" lockwasher. That works fine. Whole dolly just fits in the Moose aftermarket basket of my 4 wheeler. The cradle is a V made of angle iron 10-12 inches tall. Shorter would have been better so I did not have to lift the log end as high to get it under the log. I drilled holes in the uprights of the cradle and put the hook of my ratchet strap on and cinch it down tight. Real low tech but works for what I am using it for. Good luck and be careful.

Thefarmer76 · September 24, 2015, 09:19:13 PM

Thank you for your information...

Sixacresand · September 24, 2015, 09:50:24 PM

I sure do like that rig you have, WV Sawmiller. But how do you get the dolly under the trailing end of the log?

Thefarmer76 · September 24, 2015, 10:25:22 PM

I am just building the dolly now, I will just lift the log onto the dolly. I mostly do softwood so not a huge strain. I will post some pictures as I finish the dolly off. I had to upgrade the gator to a 4x4 because the snow got too deep!. This all helps get rid of the summers beer belly !!

thecfarm · September 25, 2015, 07:12:21 AM

Good idea you have there. Your wife is a good women by the way. ;)

WV Sawmiller · September 25, 2015, 09:37:53 AM

6 Acre,

I lift the log with the winch on the log arch then slide/roll the dolly under the log and strap the dolly tight against the log with a ratchet strap, lower the log then go around and pick up the other end with the log arch and tow it to the site and reverse the operations to remove it.

Thefarmer76 · September 25, 2015, 08:04:28 PM

In my albums are some photos of what I am using so far. Maybe these will give some people ideas about what junk can make !

Magicman · September 25, 2015, 09:48:33 PM

Thefarmer76, you have the work done on posting your pictures. Review the picture posting tutorial at the bottom of the index page and post them up. If you have any questions just ask.

Thefarmer76 · September 25, 2015, 10:08:32 PM

Ill get there.......

Thefarmer76 · September 27, 2015, 08:05:52 PM

Okay, okay, I must be blind...I am looking everywhere for this index tuturial... I am on the mobile site, does it make a differece ??. I have the album just cant post the pics, not the right format or something ???

Magicman · September 27, 2015, 08:17:11 PM

I know nothing about posting from a mobile device. The tutorial that I referred to is, LINK but it may have no value to you and your application.

thecfarm · September 27, 2015, 09:44:48 PM

Thefarmer76,I have no idea if this will do it for you or not. I see the pictures in your gallery,the hard part is done.

I like to go to whatever post or start a new topic first to include a picture.Go to your gallery,it will open in a new window.Click onto your album,then click onto whatever picture you want,it will get bigger,than scroll down a little to find,Insert Image In Post,click onto that,click Yes and that is it. Some have to copy/paste the link to work.I like to hit the enter key at least once or twice to move the picture down away from what I am typing. The enter key really helps to leave some white space if posting more than one picture or posting a comment. Use the preview button to see how it looks and modify it if needed

plowboyswr · September 27, 2015, 09:54:12 PM

I only have my phone for internet, but I use the full site not the mobile. There are more features on the full site that I haven't seen on the mobile. And frankly I like the look of the full better anyway. The way that these gents are telling you is with the full site and will work on your phone. That's how I do it.

dboyt · September 28, 2015, 10:08:48 AM

Looks like your wife & friends did a great job on designing and building the arch. It is amazing how much more you can pull and how much easier on the equipment it is. Your ATV probably has more power than my 8N Ford. I use a farm jack with a pair of logging tongs to lift the ends of logs, but the oak & hickory here doesn't have to be all that big to be too heavy for me to lift.

Kingmt · September 29, 2015, 08:51:16 AM

Nice looking rig. I've been planning in my mind how to make one myself. I have three hold backs tho. Mostly I've spent to much money so far & already know of a bunch more that needs spent. Then there is the time factor. Lastly is that I'm dragging the logs off a steep hill with my Tracker & I'm afraid of them running over me as it is. I'm not sure if picking up the front to drag them off the hill would be safer then just dragging them on the ground.

Kbeitz · September 29, 2015, 04:36:47 PM

Quote from: Kingmt on September 29, 2015, 08:51:16 AM
Nice looking rig. I've been planning in my mind how to make one myself. I have three hold backs tho. Mostly I've spent to much money so far & already know of a bunch more that needs spent. Then there is the time factor. Lastly is that I'm dragging the logs off a steep hill with my Tracker & I'm afraid of them running over me as it is. I'm not sure if picking up the front to drag them off the hill would be safer then just dragging them on the ground.

I had the same fear... I put brakes on mine....

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,84323.0.html

WV Sawmiller · September 30, 2015, 09:54:54 AM

Dboyt,

You are right. Maybe I should keep her around and other 37-38 years too. (Maybe I can get her trained properly by then).

Kingmt,

I am pretty sure you aren't cutting on steeper terrain than I am. In the extreme case I do not try to drag them on the log arch - I pull them between the trees using long cables and snatch blocks with my 4 wheeler or the winch on the log arch. Once I get to more controllable ground I use the log arch when needed. The logs are lots less likely to roll on a logging arch. They will jackknife and push you into uncharted territories if you don't handle them right. Longer logs don't try to roll past you as bad as a short one will.

Please post your details on your profile so we can see more about you and your operation. Not sure where in WV you are but if close or passing by I will be glad to show you my setup and compare notes. I learn something from everybody I talk to and watch. Keep in touch.

Kingmt · September 30, 2015, 07:38:34 PM

Well my Tracker was used for a daily driver last so the tires aren't right for what I'm doing with it but ATM it is what I have but the hill I'm speaking of gets lose dusty dirt on it & the Tracker is skidding down it as it is. I've also considered just winching them to the bottom then hooking up to them. I'm picking up way to much dirt in my logs the way I'm doing it. What I've been pulling so far is basically junk from firewooding a tree that a storm took out of my fence line. I'm getting down into to main body of the log now tho & it is going to be to big to take out with my little Tracker anyways so I'm trying to come up with a plan to mill it in place. I'm trying to brainstorm a plan to do something like an Alaskan sawmill with what I have but trying not to spend anymore money. ;)

Sadly there is 4' of wire in the best part of the tree that I'm not wrecking my chain to mess with. I had to leave a big ugly White Oak stump in my Mom's yard a few years ago that was taken out with lightning because I know at one time there was a pig lot there & I don't want to tare up my saws to stump it at the ground. That 5' stump doesn't show any sign of rotting any time soon ether. Funny thing is if there is a log I want & don't get to it soon they seem to rot fast. Lol

I live in Mason & don't even know where Hinton is.

WV Sawmiller · September 30, 2015, 09:20:11 PM

Kingmt,

I am a transplant to WV so did not get the required WV geography classes I guess most folks around here get. Thanks to Internet I now have a good idea where Mason is. You are just about out of the State yourself. Hinton is down in the southern center part of our oh so uniformly shaped state. I live 25 miles from Beckley and about 30 miles from Princeton/Bluefield WV. Lewsiburg is about 40-50 miles away. My home is in the V where I-64 and I-77 merge. I am about 10 miles from each Interstate.

If you are ever passing through this way give me a shout.