Mud season!

[Woodhauler]

Haven't seen a fall like this in awhile! Hauling about a third of what I should be hauling. Temps in high 20s at nite, mid 40s during day. Next 10 days and maybe longer looks the same. Got one load this morning, came home and stacked a cord of firewood and now I'm cleaning a dozen guns. Guess I will have to start hauling nights if it stays cold. >:(

[sawguy21]

Similar weather here. We are getting the spill over from large storms hitting the coast, not much happening in the bush today.

[Outer Rondacker]

I am not even cutting. Its so soft at the moment. I too can be found at the wood pile in a T-shirt. Not really sure how I feel about that one.

[Ken]

I'm in the same boat.  Reserved a property for this time of year because it is beside a subdivision and I assumed things should be starting to tighten up good right about now.  Oops.  I'm going to have to stop forwarding as I'm out of room, can't get trucks in without a battle, forwarder wading to the axles and the next 10 days doesn't look any better.   Maybe it will help a bit with the high inventory at many of the local mills.

[Firewoodjoe]

Same here but my truck is still giving me problems involving a rebuild engine, new turbo, compressor and injectors all in the last few months and it's now blowing blue smoke and loosing antifreeze. There thinking a head gasket and possible injector problems. Ahhhh!

[JBlain]

No question on the mud.  We have a thinning going on in a nice mixed oak Poplar stand my wife and i own and the loggers dozer lost a track at the top of the ridge.  1 skidder and another dozer stuck and they called it for a few weeks.  Thinning the 40 acre stand from 10,000 bd ft acre down to about 6,500 to increase growth and get some regeneration initiated.   

[Ed_K]

I'm thinking this weather won't change till after Christmas. So I'm just cutting and skidding when I can. I worried of cutting a bunch of wood and it snows and I won't find it, but not this fall. Been on side hill all summer and now I'm getting close to flat areas which are wet so I'm wishing for freeze up  :D .

[Woodhauler]

Same here but my truck is still giving me problems involving a rebuild engine, new turbo, compressor and injectors all in the last few months and it's now blowing blue smoke and loosing antifreeze. There thinking a head gasket and possible injector problems. Ahhhh!

What engine?

[g_man]

We had a pretty good frost yesterday and today, 21 degrees this morning. Enough so I could work until noon with my small tractor.

[coxy]

put in 5 tandem loads of rock in the haul road today hope it holds   the landings not bad    but new skid road is taking a beating will have to dig more out of the bank to fill in the low spots   don't mind this weather if it was only dry 

[chevytaHOE5674]

We aren't able to haul any wood. But we are still cutting and stacking it roadside. When it finally does freeze up our trucker will have a couple hundred cords of pulpwood and a few thousand BDFT of logs to get hauled out.

[barbender]

     We were just barely starting to freeze, after a 3 day soaker rain, but now what frost we had is coming back out.  CTL definitely makes it easier to get the wood out on marginal ground, but the trucks still have to get to it. We've been cutting off of our summer sale inventories, not a good situation. But, the mills will be wide open once the ground freezes.

[CCC4]

We never have a freeze up here. Friday is supposed to hit mid 70's. It's wet but my cutting pard and I have set us up for a 20+ load week, hoping for 30...but one can only wish! (Christmas shopping to think about)

[Spartan]

We never have a freeze up here. Friday is supposed to hit mid 70's. It's wet but my cutting pard and I have set us up for a 20+ load week, hoping for 30...but one can only wish! (Christmas shopping to think about)

That sounds nice, I plowed drifts in 30 mph winds today because it snowed on friday.  One truck had to stay up there all weekend because the road blew shut after it came in on saturday.

[Grandpa]

We are at a standstill here, it started to freeze then warmed up and rained.
The 10 day forecast does not inspire confidence.

[Woodhauler]

 another day, another no dollar!! Going to pay a few bills today and make a truck payment so I can keep it another month! ;D

[Firewoodjoe]

Woodhauler. It's a Detroit 14L series 60. Cracked head:/ ran like 5 loads after it was rebuilt. They sent the head out and had it checked. Guess it's just bad luck. Days like this I'm glad I work for someone still.

[Gearbox]

Woodhauler our 7 day forcast say's mid20 s nite 40's days so we won't be sending you any cold . We can't spare any . Sure has been easy on the wood pile . One wheelbarrow for 24 hrs

[grassfed]

I started trying to get a skid trail built to a wet area about 2 weeks ago and then it rained and warmed up. There is so much water down there now that it is going to need single digits if not below zero for several nights before I can get back down with the skidder. I am thinking about packing my saws down on foot and cutting and limbing everything so when it does freeze I can spend my time skidding. Of course if I do that it probably wont freeze all winter.  :-\

[timberlinetree]

This fall is a muddy mess. The forester used pic from the 30's to locate cow paths( which are dryer I guess) to make our skid roads but right now they are really wet.

[Corley5]

  We've got mud too and it's raining right now.  We've been out of the woods for a while with other things going on and firewood truck issues but are ready to go back in but trucking will be an issue now until things finally freeze up.
  The 7.3 in my 550 has always been sick and finally gave up.  I found a donor truck and we're swapping engines right now.  I had the auto tranny in my old Cummins rebuilt in the late spring early summer and it failed  : >:(  It's being covered under warranty but that doesn't cover my lost truck time.  I keep two trucks for a reason and having both broke at once really sucks. 

[timberlinetree]

That stinks! Hope you get running soon. Was thinking yesterday while splitting wood for us it hasn't really been to bad until recently.little while back I was delivering a load and Marcia went to the job to meet me and fill the little pickup with wood. She called and said she stuck. I thought were the heck did she find a mud hole? When I got there the front right was down in what I thought was a hole. Jumped in and yup she was stuck. I used her phone flashlight to see how deep it was and flat tire whole thru the side no mud. She also smoked the back tire that was on a rock trying to get out but she is really pretty and .... Happens so just another day. So  think for us it hasn't been that bad of a fall but the start of winter(has winter started?)  :-\

[repmma]

Mid 40's or higher for the next week, showers today and sounds like heavy rain on monday.  Just isnt getting any better for you Woodhauler.  Dang El Nino!

[snowstorm]

  We've got mud too and it's raining right now.  We've been out of the woods for a while with other things going on and firewood truck issues but are ready to go back in but trucking will be an issue now until things finally freeze up.
  The 7.3 in my 550 has always been sick and finally gave up.  I found a donor truck and we're swapping engines right now.  I had the auto tranny in my old Cummins rebuilt in the late spring early summer and it failed  : >:(  It's being covered under warranty but that doesn't cover my lost truck time.  I keep two trucks for a reason and having both broke at once really sucks.

what happened to the 7.3?

[petefrom bearswamp]

Checked a job on my property near Corning NY 2 days ago.
Mud nearly to the belly pan on one  stretch of skid trail in a very flat area but the woods are holding up well.
Natural gas pipeline being crossed by temp bridge
Hope it freezes soon. but not likely

[Corley5]

  #4 piston is broken, possibly from a piece of turbo impellor :-\  I found a 2000 E350 van with a 120,000 miles and a 7.3 for an organ donor.  The transplant is ongoing.  It was a pretty nice van  ;) ;D  Looks like a fairly straight forward swap.  A few accessories have to be switched from the truck engine to the van engine.  The van engine has a non waste gate turbo and is 215HP instead of the 250HP the truck engine produced with the waste gate intercooled turbo.  I'm not going to miss 35HP.  Otherwise from what I've read the engines are identical and they appear to be even the oil pans and exhaust hook up is identical.  I read the oil pans were different but not on this swap.  The van also had it's pan replaced not too long ago  8) 8) 8)
  Both engines are hanging and with a bit of luck we may get one back in the truck late today.
  It's supposed to cool off some next week but still be above normal temperatures.  There's rain in the forecast the next few days too.  Not even freezing at night. 

[lopet]

I scrapped a working 7.3 last winter. Was originally a ambulance , then a plumbing/heating guy used it as a work truck.  Price was right, thought I will throw a flatbed on it.   It never happened .  :( ;D :D       Good luck with your swap.

[snowstorm]

  #4 piston is broken, possibly from a piece of turbo impellor :-\  I found a 2000 E350 van with a 120,000 miles and a 7.3 for an organ donor.  The transplant is ongoing.  It was a pretty nice van  ;) ;D  Looks like a fairly straight forward swap.  A few accessories have to be switched from the truck engine to the van engine.  The van engine has a non waste gate turbo and is 215HP instead of the 250HP the truck engine produced with the waste gate intercooled turbo.  I'm not going to miss 35HP.  Otherwise from what I've read the engines are identical and they appear to be even the oil pans and exhaust hook up is identical.  I read the oil pans were different but not on this swap.  The van also had it's pan replaced not too long ago  8) 8) 8)
  Both engines are hanging and with a bit of luck we may get one back in the truck late today.
  It's supposed to cool off some next week but still be above normal temperatures.  There's rain in the forecast the next few days too.  Not even freezing at night.

how did the engine swap go? did you pull the cab off or go out thru the front?

[2StateTrigger]

Got one load this morning, came home and stacked a cord of firewood and now I'm cleaning a dozen guns. >:(

Dont frown Woodhauler, cleaning guns is always fun.....

[Corley5]

Got it running and back to hauling firewood 8)  It wasn't a bad project.  We went through the front rather than pull the cab.  If I had a gantry or bridge crane the cab probably would have come off.  We had to switch motor mounts, the driver's side exhaust manifold, the oil cooler tube that's on the driver's side below the exhaust manifold, the AC pump and alternator had to be switched from side to side and the truck power steering was part of that too.  There was a difference in the exhaust because of the exhaust manifolds but between the parts available we made it work.  It'll need a visit to a real exhaust shop some day ;) ;D  It runs good, starts good cold etc.  I'm happy with it 8) 8) 8) 8)

[HiTech]

We got a couple days in the teens coming up and one night below zero but then back to mild again. Won't be enough to freeze the ground with the snow we have but if a road is broke it might help with that, keep some of mud down for awhile. Want to use a gravel road to skid some timber on but can't unless it freezes solid. Any other year that road would be solid by now. Will probably have to use the skid trail in the woods but that will be a lot slower.

[petefrom bearswamp]

shut my job down last week, Woods OK but  mud flowing from the main skid trail onto the neighbors prop.
He aint friendly

[Plankton]

Had to call it yesterday for a few days. All the snow and freezing rain saturated the ground and the trail is worse then it ever was even in the rainy last couple weeks... I didn't even finish pulling out one turn yesterday, I unhichted it in the middle of the skid road didn't want to make any more ruts then I already had.

[brianJ]

Eight inches oflake effect snow before the mud froze up.   Mud is gonna stay around til spring.

[Ken]

We are getting some cold weather now but have enough of a snow blanket that if an area isn't tramped it will not freeze this winter.  I'm moving to a black spruce bog next week so will have to use every scrap of brush to build trails for the forwarder.

[John Mc]

Eight inches oflake effect snow before the mud froze up.   Mud is gonna stay around til spring.

Send some of that snow out my way, BrianJ.

I used to live near Syracuse, and my wife's family is from Pulaski. Where are you?