not getting stuck

[kelLOGg]

I live on heavy clay soil which when wet is a sawmill trap. Once on my own property I had to use my tractor and 4WD truck to pull the mill back to the shed. It was like pulling the wheel thru a mud wall. Who else experiences this? and how do you solve it? Flotation tires? I've seen many posted pics of our sawmills and don't see anything special about the tires on the mills. I've got a job coming up soon and the biggest challenge will be getting the mill out of the shed. >:(
Bob

[Tyrin2saw]

well im a newb to sawmillin and moven em, but i do know mud. anybody i know who takes a trailer  4wheelin uses the fattest tire possible. I have 31''x13 little mud tires on my samurai they look like balloons.

           take it easy, JD

[coastlogger]

gravel

[backwoods sawyer]

If you get into that real sticky stuff that builds up on the tires, just pull the fenders off.
Chain up the 4-wheel drive if you have to. I know I hate to put chains on in the mud to, but.....

[captain_crunch]

Sawdust slabs or anything but ROCKS in my limited experiance rocks and mill blades don't mix. One rock with in 20 miles seems to find blade >:( >:(

[ladylake]

Triple axles with dual tires should keep it up.  Steve

[ljmathias]

Not to hijack your thread, but our mud in Mississippi will match up to any in the world.  Few years ago I was clearing some of the land we'd bought with an old farm tractor- made the mistake of not paying attention to where I was and put her into some bottom land that was holding rain water pretty good: buried the wheels in about 2 seconds (2WD).  Had a bobcat that I'd rented for foundation fill-in and didn't have enough experience with it to know its limitations: tried pulling the tractor out, got it stuck.  My SIL happened by with his 4WD jeep; tried to pull out the bobcat, and got his jeep stuck.  Son came home from work, brought his F150 over, got it stuck: so now we have four vehicles lined up in a perfect row, all buried to the hubs.  Rather than keep making ruts, we built a road under them.  Lifted one end of the last one in, put boards and some loading ramps I'd bought under: ramps were a godsend: had cross-pieces just the right size to let the mud slip through and allow the tires to grip.  After and hour of this, got the truck out.  Repeat three times, three hours, all vehicles out, due mainly to the 5' loading ramps that got a little bent for using for something other than loading riding lawnmowers.  Oh, well, gotta do what you gotta with what you got...

Long story short: don't go where you can't get out of... but hey, that's most of Mississippi where I believe the highest piece of land is at around 800' above sea level and we used to BE sea bed; hence, all the mud... which goes down so deep we don't build high rises here, and for tall buildings, we let them "float" on special concrete-rebar "feet" at the bottom of the piling shafts.  But it was 65 F yesterday...  ;D

Lj

[bandmiller2]

Us yanks just wait til it freezes then we can walk on water.Seriously I would look for dual wheel adapters to put anouther tire outside the ones you have.If its still too soft for that stay off it til it firms up.A wise man knows when mother nature has him by the short hairs.Something with a good winch and alot of cable helps.Slabs and sawdust will bind a road if you can cut them in the first place. Frank C.

[stonebroke]

See if you can get some wide wheels that will fit your axles and then put on some ag floatation tires. The bigger the better.

Stonebroke

[solidwoods]

2 tire path gravel.
Dig them with a back hoe plenty deep.
May end up being the same amount that you'd have used for a full width path but you can get deep rock where it's needed most.
If you have any grade in the path maybe a couple of perforated drain lines from the gravel path/drive.
jim

[Chuck White]

See if you can get some wide wheels that will fit your axles and then put on some ag floatation tires. The bigger the better.
Stonebroke

I agree with the Ag Flotation tires. 
Keep in mind though that these tires have a maximum speed limit for highway use.
Most being around 20-25 MPH.

[stonebroke]

See if you can get some wide wheels that will fit your axles and then put on some ag floatation tires. The bigger the better.
Stonebroke

I agree with the Ag Flotation tires. 
Keep in mind though that these tires have a maximum speed limit for highway use.
Most being around 20-25 MPH.

That is what they say. however farmers have been known to push the limits just a hair bit.

Stonebroke

[Chuck White]

Yup, I know!  I have a brother/farmer who pushes the limits of lot of equipment.

However, I don't think I'd try towing my mill very far down the road at 55MPH with ag tires on it!
First, they're not well balanced and they would heat up and blow!

[stonebroke]

Actually you probably could. because the tire would be rated for much more than the mill weighs. You can haul them down the highway at 55( Don't ask how I know)

Stonebroke

[backwoods sawyer]

I've got a job coming up soon and the biggest challenge will be getting the mill out of the shed. >:(
Bob

When you go to move the mill clean out under the mill if you can, If it has been sitting in the same spot for a while with out being cleaned up it can be a challenge. Every time I move the mill a remove any sticks that are sticking up that can hang up. Most of the time the mill will pop right up out of the hole. I had a large job where the mill did not move and I ended up jacking the mill up and filling in under the tires to get it up on top of the sawdust, bark, sticks and other debris so that I could pull the mill out. 

[kelLOGg]

The biggest problem is actually getting from the barn shed to the driveway (I misspoke there) . Under the shed is dry. The mill tires are 6ply load range C but the tread is only 5 in wide - that makes for a lot of pressure on wet soil. My truck tire treads are 8 in wide and sink a lot less under the same conditions. Empty truck weight is 4500 lbs and sawmill is 3500 lbs so mill exerts much more pressure on the soil. If I change mill tires to 8 in wide I should be better off. If this works, it will be worth the expense to me and it should serve me better when I get off road on on job sites during wet wether. We have more heavy rain coming again today. Thanks for your thoughts. Bob

[Magicman]

I've actually had to run a winch line to my mill and winch it to firm ground.  I raise the front jack completely up, and hook to the safety chains.  It will track surprisingly well and does not tend to "dig in". 

Leaving my last job Friday, we hooked the safety chains to the guy's log boom on the back of his tractor, turned the mill around,  and pulled it to the gravel drive.

[sigidi]

Admittedly my Lucas doesn't get stuck, but my little dual cab ute carrying it gets stuck too easy;




This is what used to happen just in the house yard, a bit of wet and ya went nowhere:(

Now the ute has these bad boys;





nowhere near as much trouble with a bit of wet now.

Just goes to show changing the tyres will/should make all the difference - let us know how ya go.

[bandmiller2]

Allen,Thems snowy mountain tires Frank C.

[sgschwend]

My log yard is on clay.  I work on the top of the hill during the wet season, even they I cut 6" ruts. 

It is buddies place and he tells me they had greenhouse delivered once and he told the seller that the soil was clay and they would need to carry the greenhouse by hand.  The seller said no problem and promptly drove over the wet clay ground and stopped and unloaded the greenhouse.

Then the seller of the greenhouse told my buddy, "Holy Cow, you can watch my truck sink into the mud", and it did.  The toe truck came, the greenhouse seller waved the toe truck back.  The toe truck driver got out and told him no way he was going out on that clay soil.

They don't call clay a semi-solid for nothing.  As moisture is added it changes to a semi-liquid state.

[TessiersFarm]

nothing but clay here, thank god for frost.  It hasn't been 65 here in months, hit 45 today and I thought it was a heat wave.