Daily Fabrication Thread

PoginyHill · April 05, 2021, 07:57:40 AM

Quote from: mjeselskis on April 03, 2021, 03:35:45 PMI needed a roller to pack 5 acres of field that I tilled for reseeding. I couldn't find anything big enough, but this will work. Made from a 320 gallon propane tank. Weighs about 700lb empty and about 3,300lb full of water.

Awesome roller. Do you rent it out??

PoginyHill · April 05, 2021, 08:01:48 AM

Finished the trailer rebuild.

Ready for decking:

Self-tapping deck screws are the cat's meow...

Sideboards are only 12" high. Stakes are 20" high.

Ready for work.

mike_belben · April 05, 2021, 02:23:56 PM

Came out great. I will be incorporating receiver tubes at the tongue of all future trailers. I have two i can swap like that and will stick with it for versatility and security. I padlock my safety chains into the hitch hole or lunette eye just to frusterate a thief.

mike_belben · April 10, 2021, 11:16:04 PM

Ive been workin on improving my hodgepodge skidding attachment. Its sort of an embarrassment that shoulda never been.. It was once a beautiful ripping blade for my little deere 140 but desperation morphed it into this ugly thing.

But the winch was on a receiver that forced it too far back to skid with chokers on cable so i always had to reel them in then switch the chokers to the buttplate notches.

I grafted a pin-on hoist to it so id have an offroad cherry picker, and naturally tried a higher cable angle. Cable height certainly helps get logs climbing up out of tangles.

Well, revision 3 got tested today.

The height helps offer a tiny bit of rollover protection in that it may keep the tractor weight off my noggin.

It still carries all my junk out to the woods and back. (I dont normally bring 3 saws.. Was just making sure they still fit with the changes) Now the winch is hard mounted at about 6ft high and with full remote control which is fantastic. I did remote control and the new 500amp contactor for around $70 total. Itll control the winch well beyond my 100ft cable length.

Its still only a 2wd weenie tractor that cant keep the steers down and doesnt have a strong enough front axle or steering for a loader. The mods did make a difference in time efficiency from the remote and pulling efficiency from the cable height being raised. The tractor just repositions the attachment and charges the battery to bunch logs together. The cable brings cull trees to the main trail without tearing up keepers. I need a cable boom on my trailer now for loading the stuff along the main trail.

I still havent maxxed out the 27hp diesel at all. It would take 4wd and a FEL to be able to keep the headlights down. The balance issue is such that i am wheelie-ing near idle with a full tree cut into two sticks .. Probably 3-5 hp brings it up. On the trailer i can get maybe 5-8 trees out (a full cord) in one pass at maybe half power. 4wd and a full frame loader could fix the balaance issue and i suspect 27hp would move 2cord at a time on good ground. My ballpark number for flat ground vs even the slightest incline is probably 3 to 5x more can be moved on dead flat. Even a 5ft long 1% rise will wheelie. Now atleast i am using the winch as a mainline instead of chokers on the rack, and i now bump it in freewheel, drive past the spot, winch in and continue. About doubling what i can do if needed, with the same machine.

Walnut Beast · April 10, 2021, 11:47:57 PM

Looks great. Sounds like the remote works pretty awesome. How about a shorted axle with wheels you can put under the front logs to take the weight off the rear of the tractor

mike_belben · April 11, 2021, 08:52:30 AM

I considered that.. If i HAD to skid, a wheelie caster would help alot and id definitely try it. BUT.. i can move approx 10x more wood on the forwarding trailer per trip so fuel wise its smarter and sawing wise its cleaner. and then its already piled nice to unload with my forktruck, so no logjam sprawled out at my landing like if i skid it in.

The tractor doesnt deck very well and cant drive over logs. Bobcat is dead so it cant tidy up the landing anymore. Forktruck too big and landing too small with the way skidded logs come in. But landing is set up nice to unload the forwarding trailer with forktruck. (This isnt the landing)

soon i have to start thinning my fathers lot down the road once mine is finished. That all needs trailered so its just the right direction to go.

Since the tractor is so pathetic, this attachment is more an attempt at a micro yarder tower to get logs bunched along a solid trail edge faster than what i was doing before without letting the tractor leave the trail. The cable does the dirty work and i dont have any residual damage to the stand or machine to regret later.

The remote is excellent. Its on a fluorescent lanyard tied to my belt loop that will let it drop to my ankle. When not in use i tuck it into my shirt collar. If i need that hand for a second i sling it over my shoulder. No more walking back and forth or getting the wired remote tangled, lost, knotted, stepped on. I can hold the tong in place while pulling until its got a good bite, redirect cable around a stump and pull just a foot or two to roll log past an obstacle or run cable in and out on the fly so it wraps nice on the drum. I used to walk back and forth from log to tractor constantly and swear at things i was tripping over. Now i dont come back to the tractor until the log is there with me. Its great.

I got a remote for my other winch too, so i can be in a dead vehicle steering on or off the trailer and not need a helper to run the winch. Remotes are $20.

Next comes improving the log trailer so it can self load with tongs.

Phase 3 is this ugly attachment becomes the base for a small crane to help me raise timber bents alone.

It also will get lights up top pointing in all 4 directions to extend winter work hours. At low idle the machine hardly uses any fuel.

mike_belben · April 11, 2021, 09:22:23 PM

Next thing this poor boy really needs glued on...

Don P · April 11, 2021, 09:40:20 PM

Hope there's room for lots of friends on the hood, a poor boy see-saw ;D

mike_belben · April 11, 2021, 10:05:07 PM

Well why else would rednecks build big pipe bumpers on the front of everything?

;D

caveman · April 13, 2021, 05:06:57 PM

Quote from: mike_belben on April 11, 2021, 10:05:07 PM
Well why else would rednecks build big pipe bumpers on the front of everything?

;D

To carry air for their tires or water for their dogs. Intimidate the millennial driving the Prius. To provide a convenient attachment point for the snatch strap after a "hold my beer, watch this" moment.
The forks should be handy as a shirt pocket. I've considered making a fork rack that would have the skid steer mount and also attach to the three point hitch. A hydraulic top link could be your huckleberry with that set up.

Wudman · April 13, 2021, 05:51:05 PM

I have a couple of his cousins.

Just need about 100 more horses in that tractor. Works fine on solid level ground......not so much when things get soft.

This is for the light work. There is a set of forks (2x3 box tubing) under the carry all. Hydraulic cylinder for toplink. I think Dexta can lift in the neighborhood of 1500# on those forks.

Wudman

mike_belben · April 13, 2021, 09:18:51 PM

Its gonna fill in for the bobcat for a while.

barbender · April 13, 2021, 10:33:54 PM

Forgive me if I've told this story before, but here goes- my Grandpa had tandem end dump that he would pull the box off of for the winter, and put a rear mount pulp loader on to haul wood for the season. He had one small logger he would haul for, a little native guy. Well he had some wood lined up for Grandpa, but there were some good hills in there. Problem was, that little truck wasn't balanced out very good with the loader on it- it was really light on the steers and only got worse when loaded. Well Grandpa got in and got loaded, but on the way out there was a hill where his steers would come off the ground and he'd slowly go off the road. He tried a few times and it just wasn't happening. So the logger said, "I'll be right back" and ran into the local village and grabbed a bunch of folks- "hey come on Alvy can't get his truck out of the woods!" So he comes bombing back in with a carload of people. They all got on Grandpa's front bumper and by golly Grandpa said it was doing the trick, but those native guys were ribbing a gal that came with them who had a hearty build. She got mad and jumped off the bumper and Grandpa couldn't steer anymore. He got kind of upset with them, and told them "quit teasing her, we need her up there!". So finally she climbed back on and up the hill they went. I wish I had a picture or video of that one. "Alvy Alger coming out of the hole, 1972"😂

newoodguy78 · April 14, 2021, 12:03:38 AM

That's a great story

barbender · April 14, 2021, 01:21:55 AM

Grandpa had quite a few, I think I could write a book of short stories just from the stories he's told me. "Dad and the Highway Patrol have it out on the side of the road" and "Brother Runt gets knocked out by a jack pine" are a couple more chapters😁

thecfarm · April 14, 2021, 06:22:16 AM

I am waiting for chapter 2 and 3. ;D
That's a great story.

mike_belben · April 16, 2021, 10:31:45 AM

Yesterday while making a mount to hang a weight block on front that i built for a garden tractor puller, i realized my lead steering arm was loose on the kingpin top, which was a rounded square shape (4 flats on a circle) and a pinchbolt clamping arm. I couldnt get it snug so i welded up one flat, shaped it in and pounded the arm back on.

My tie rod was also bent badly. Fixing that i discovered a missing steer stop on one side i still have to reproduce but that should stop the wheel from catching trash and flopping in until it smiles the tierod and rips the wheel from your hand.

I finished the weight block and gave it a try. What a huge difference in steer quality and fork capacity. Theres 6" of clearance underneath which is fine for the yard and a great disincentive to try going anywhere stupid with it.

Heard the lift valve's relief squeeling for the first time here which means i can now keep the front down and max out the lift.

mike_belben · April 28, 2021, 12:59:56 AM

Walnut Beast · April 28, 2021, 01:19:43 AM

Nice 👍

mike_belben · April 28, 2021, 10:15:18 AM

another scrapyard treasure. $100 cash. someone payed a few grand for it.

mike_belben · April 28, 2021, 01:38:49 PM

Ford 460/C6 is about the limit

Tacotodd · April 28, 2021, 01:49:06 PM

I'm wanting to say that's about the limit for a 3 strong & healthy man (& young) well coordinated crew also.

Once upon a time I was there. A LONG time ago 🤬

mike_belben · May 02, 2021, 12:23:41 AM

HemlockKing · May 02, 2021, 02:22:08 AM

I have that same Suzuki king quad mike, mines a 96. Got mine for 250$ CDN all it needed was the fuel tank swamped as the threaded petcock insert holes were ripped out somehow? Anyway. On those particular models, you need to remove EVERYTHING to get to removing the tank :D anyway it came with a spare tank and it works great. Low hour machine

mike_belben · May 02, 2021, 11:09:34 AM

They have their issues but for being a pioneer in the 4x4 quad market they sure got a lot of things right. Ive had much of this one apart many times. Lack of coolant or atleast thermostatic fans to manage the heat of using it hard in super low was the biggest mistake imo.

Today i should finish a sleeve hitch for all my dirt implements and a sprayer bar im building. Have to teardown the motor for the tiller and get it unstuck. Then decide how to rig that up.

I think this will be pretty handy for keeping trails and fencerows open and doing remote food plots.