a grapple is awonderful thing

[woodmills1]

i bought a kioti because it was a used package that had a metavic trailer and grapple arm.  it serves me well with my sawmill and forestry.  my log trucker asked me to remove some rocks at the edge of my new driveway so as not to puncture one of his tires.  faced with hours of hand work i tried to lift the rocks with the grappel.  so easy that i then dumped the grapple into the dirt and fluffed it like a poor mans backhoe.  the only hand work left involved a rake.  i packed it every time i drove out the drive in whatever vehicle i was in. :D :D :D

[Tom]

Man, would I love to have a boom loader on my truck.  I stand and admire big Prentice loaders on trailers in the woods, knowing I could never carry anything like that. I have priced loaders used on forwarders while at Ag shows but can't part with the money they ask for them.

All these beautiful pine logs I see going to waste in town by being buried in the land fill.  All I would have to do is pick them up and they would be mine.  I still get a few of them but ah-h--h one day perhaps. Can you tell I'm envious?

[Frank_Pender]

Jim, I designed  one for my John Deere 550.  I took a winch form a Duce &1/2 Military rig and turned it 1/4 turn from the "official" working position so as to cut down on the center of gravity from the tractor three point system.  I then attatched  an A frame to the winch so that the top of the frame was 4' above the bottome of the winch.  I installed gussets of course near the top and extended a 12" boom from the top of the frame.  From the end of the boom I hung a swinging grappel.  Both the winch and the grapple are hydraulic.  I attatched a hydraulic motor to the winch.  It is slow, but on the first job I did with the unit, I set only one chocker in twn truckload of 32' fir logs with an average dbh of 20".  Some day when I learn how to put pictures on this machine I will try and send some samples of the toys I have devised.

[TxLogger]

Tom,

I my neck the woods older, smaller log loaders can be purchased relatively inexpensively, when compared to the knucklebooms that are new.  I have a '78 model H Prentice loader mounted on the tail end of a Ford 7000 which I pull a 24' homemade log trailer behind.  I use the truck & loader to haul logs as well as load my mill.  I spent a little extra & had the loader basically rebuilt (hoses, valves, cylinders rebuilt) & recently but a remanned motor in the truck so I should get lots of life from both.  

As you said its really handy for going and picking up one or two logs someone has given me.  Doesn't take any time.  If I cut a tract of timber can haul 10-14 tons of logs a load.  I "kind of" slip under the CDL limits, although when I haul full loads of logs I'm technically overweight.

Tom

[Tom]

Hey Tex, I agree and want one.  

Our loggers don't just use equipment, they use equipment up.  I would still like to get one and probably will before all is said and done.  I use a backhoe at the house so it isn't too critical.  It just that I can't move the backhoe to pick up one log off site.  Hydraulic booms are worth their weight in gold regardless of what they are on.

Staying under CDL is a tickler.  I thought I was under and a weigh station in Mississippi held me for over an hour chastising me and telling me that I was over weight.  Here is what I found out.


I have a C-60 tagged for 21500 GVWR.  The CDL limit is over 26000.  My truck weights 10100 lbs.empty.  My mill weighs 7300 lbs. I travel empty or pretty near that most of the time with just sawmill equipment and fuel on the truck. Empty, I figured I weighed 17500 lbs.  Still under CDL limits right?  No-o--o--o

The rules read that you total GVWR's to get the weight not what the scale reads.  My truck was 21500 and the mill 7300 so that made me 28800. That is almost a ton overweight at 5 cents a pound.  

I know,  I couldn't believe it either but was told that the law is the law and I was breaking it.  I didn't think I was going to be let out of Mississippi.  Was really glad to get back in my home state.  The DOT around here has never gotten on to me, but then, most of them know me.  I called our DOT office and was told, by some lady on the phone, the same story as I was told in Mississippi.

I guess the Government's theory is that I could  carry over 26000 whether I was carrying it or not.

My logic applied to that says that, because I have 45 acres, I could fit a hotel on it, so my property taxes and zoning should be applied as if the hotel were there.  Or:  I went all the way through school and worked in a field to the point of retirement that pays x thousands of dollars a year.  I never made x thousands of dollars.  I only got up to y thousands of dollars.  But there again the logic of the Government would say that I should be able to make x thousands so my income tax will be applied at the x rate.  Of course when I draw SS they are very particular in pointing out that I didn't pay in but y Dollars.

You would think that weight would be a function of gravity but the Feds have changed that.

I think we need airport security too but wonder what is going to happen now that the feds have taken over that. Being a little facetious, I know, but do you reckon they will detain you because your grandaddy bought you a 22 when you were 14 so you are a terrorist?

I've stood real close to arguments on Board Foot measurement that follow this kind of logic before. :D

I guess I'm too simple minded to understand .

I just thought you might like to hear the Rules As Told To Tom.  8)

[Frank_Pender]

  Tom,  It is because of this type of government thinking that we might have to have another "tea party" of sorts in this country one day.  Taxation without representation or listening to the wishes of the people who elect the  legilatures to watch out for us, or them?   I am sorry for the soapboxing, it gets slick up here sometimes.  I better stick with just sawing lumber and keep my mouth shut and the sawdust from flying inside when open.  :D :'(

[Tom]

We tried that down here one time Frank.   It didn't work and we had to go home. :D

[woodmills1]

is that tea party, or tree party.  i would go for a tree party then.

[TxLogger]

Yeah Tom I undestand what you mean about weight limits.  You can very easily go over weight & CDL in a 1 ton pickup.  I don't have a problem with tagging & complying with weight & CDL requirements,  my problem is with INSURANCE.  It goes through the roof when you step up into that mess.  I guess I'll just press foward the way I operate.

As for other issues with government reg's, I guess I'm naive enough to still believe in the vote & getting involved with the election process.  Actively seek out & support canidates that support your view, your livelihood, & your values.  Get involved if your not already.

Tom

[woodmills1]

i also was having a problem with insurance for my mack and one ton untill i found farm family insurance.  if you live on enough acerage to be considered a farm try them out.  i was able to insure house, cars, trucks, and extra liability for what i was paying for the two trucks before. :D

[Tom]

Being envolved is the only way Tex.  It's a shame there are so many that don't visit the polls. I tell folks to 'git outta my way 'cause I'm gonna vote for somebody."

Politics is a "popular" thing, voting is not.  By that I mean that just because the guy tells good jokes, is good looking and smiles a lot doesn't mean he deserves your vote.  Sometimes it's that under-dog who has the good ideas but he can't get on top because he's stepping on the very toes that you want to have stepped on.  Wasted vote? I don't think there is such a thing.  Some things are accumulative.  It just may take more than one election and people sticking to their guns.

About those rules.  My problem is understanding them.  The logic, apparently, is so far over my head that I miss the point.  Then when I think I'm doing the right thing, someone who has been schooled in the 'letter of the law" sits me down.
If I'm lucky, I don't get spanked the first time.  The really confusing part is when that person says, "I know it doesn't make much sense, but that what the law reads".

I wish I had the time to learn every rule and every nuance but I don't. I'de be a lawyer then I guess.

We have an interesting thing going on in Jacksonville now.  Even the authorities have problems it seems.  

Jacksonville has a tree ordinance. (the Ag folks have been agin' it but the city folks passed it).  The State DOT came in to widen a road and took down the trees to do it.  The city fathers got all up in arms because these (nothing special) trees were taken down without the city being allowed to survey them and demand fines and replacement per the new ordinance.  The DOT says the trees are on state right-of-way and belong to the state which has mandated that the DOT be responsible for their care or removal.  

It looks like a big enjoyable fight unless mitigation smooths it all over.  Sometimes these kinds of disagreements just kind of miraculously disappear.

Understanding the law is not confusing just to the citizen I guess. :D