homemade skidder Pictures Added!!!!!!!!!

[thecfarm]

I would have a hard time on my wood lot.I would get hung up on rocks with it.I would have to get some tractor rims and cut the center out of the chevy rims for clearance.I always wanted to build something like that.I would like to have it as short as I could.I have driven my old truck out in the woods a few times to get some firewood before I live here.Was a bear to get around with it.Just too long to really turn with it.I went and bought a 40 hp tractor instead.But I would still like to have one.A lot cheaper for sure.

[timberfaller390]

I'd say it pulls okay  the guy that built it said he wouldn't go back to a conventional skidder after running his machine but that may be pride of owner ship.

[twobears]

well danG! i missed the pic,s. :  :'(

[timberfaller390]

Ok I finally got these uploaded to my gallery.


https://forestryforum.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1817

[shinnlinger]

HOw do you guys think an old 4x4 wrecker would do?  UPgrade the tires and It would be ready to go?

[timberfaller390]

it would work about the same as this contraption but both would be hard to move around in the woods with. If you have read the starting new work area post you've heard me talk about "the cedar job" I'm skidding with my jeep because the land owner doesn't want his yard torn up and I can't get my tractor under a shed you have to go through to go in where he wants me to, and I can tell you I desperately want my tractor. There is a reason loggers use tractors or skidders and not modified trucks usually. The day I took the pics the guy told me he had just broke the front axle but he had been running it for 20 years and the axle was about 30 years old when he got it. He had a Bobcat on the job site but I think a blade added to this machine would be a good addition.

[rebocardo]

I can see not wanting to go back after having a home made skidder because replacement parts are probably a whole lot cheaper  8)

I would add a frame around the rear window and cover it with expanded metal, a snapped cable might give someone a headache.

[shinnlinger]

I love homade crap!  I see two scenarios here

1) A deuce and a half would be cool  if you chopped the second rear axle off and shortened it up.  MOst already have a PTO to run a winch/grapple hydraulics and I would think a steering cylinder from an AG application could be made to steer it.   It would take some work but it would be a serious machine.

2)A  diesel 4x4 wrecker already has the winch but you would want to sawzall the fendwers  and stick some meats under there to get some clearance.  I would think a diesel would have enough torque to compensate for the taller tires, but I could be wrong.  This would be easier to get going, but maybe not as a durable.

Both of these options could happen in the $5000 range if you did the work yourself and you waited for the "right stuff" to become availaible.  THe tough part would be shelling out a little more for a better rig in the first place.  THere are $1000 deuces and wreckers out there, but they are ussually too far gone to build a reliable machine out of.  SO you pony up 3-4 grand for the initial machine and then you have a rig you might think twice about cutting up. 

Still alot cheaper than a decent used skidder though and probably able to do 90% of what the more expensive machines can do.

[timberfaller390]

I would want the deuce for a log truck. this guy built this thing on the cheap by doing like you saaid and just waiting for the right parts to come along. yeah I bet it's cheap to work on except for that front axle from the 50's I bet if you can find the parts I bet they ain't cheap. He told me where he lived so one of these days I'll get down there and do some serious studying on this thing.

[thecfarm]

Itr's also a good idea to keep a note book on the parts you used.That way you can remember what was used when it does need repair.

[stonebroke]

Has any one thought of takinga deuce shortening it, and putting another steering axle under the back? It would also be great to put some of the new super single 52 inch tires on it. Just dreaming.

Stonebroke

[zackman1801]

Still alot cheaper than a decent used skidder though and probably able to do 90% of what the more expensive machines can do.

i dont know man there are alot of good used skidders going for 5-6K around where i live. most arent in brand new condition but i think they would sure go anywhere and pull anything that the truck in the pictures, or a tow truck would. 

[shinnlinger]

Zach,

If you can get a DECENT skidder for 5 or 6 large I would say that is the way to go if you had to have a skidder,

But then you wont have as much fun ( if you call grease under your nails and welding sparks down your shirt fun) and a have a thread starter here in the forum

Stonebrook,

I am just dreaming to.  My current inventory is proving adaquate to get logs to the mill.

TImber faller,

I know from my GMC dumper exerience (40 and 50's deuces had GMC engines) that there are still plenty of donor axles from that vintage out there.  I bet axles hold up pretty well rusting in the weeds if they are full of gear oil. In fact, I would have one in the back right now if I didn't fear castration from the missus if I had hauled it home.

[timberfaller390]

Didn't have any idea you could find something like that, on the cheap anyway.

[shinnlinger]

Timberfaller,

What makes this possible is that I dont think the design changed in 20 something years.

Of course with scrap steel prices climbing and a broken down duce worth $500 just in shear magnitude it might be soon very hard to find these (Or any) relics.

[zackman1801]

just down the road from my house there are 5 duce and a halfs sitting in a construction lot for sale for anywhere from 5-8K they still have the military paint on them. although i saw an old duce out in the woods behind my house on the towns property. i wish i had some way of getting it out because its all still in once piece with nothing missing!

[shinnlinger]

NOw zach,

This is were the converted wrecker comes in handy...you can go "reclaim" that duce.

[Mooseherder]

When I get home tonight I will attempt to load a video of getting stuck on my woods road with the deuce last summer.  The road was damp and I had absolutely no traction in regards to weight because of not having a bed on the truck.  It is on a grade probably around 30%.  It is also when I found out the front wheels weren't pulling.  Halfway through the video with my wife taping I make the comment "this thing should be able to go anywhere."
It almost made it out with the help of a atv pulling.  A couple more feet forward would have done it.  In the end a small tractor had to help pull it out. :
I say buy a used skidder and use the deuce for dry ground. :D

[zackman1801]

NOw zach,

This is were the converted wrecker comes in handy...you can go "reclaim" that duce.

man i would really love to go out there with someone who knows something about these things and see if anything can be salvaged. here in buckfield  some company came and dumped about 10 tractor trailer beds in an old wood lot full of just old junk. its considered a "disaster area" technically by the us govt because who ever left the junk left trailers full of waste that was considered toxic, these have been removed but everything else out there was just left. there are quite a few old vietnam era trucks including and ambulance. a collector could have a field day. i bet if i talked with the town they would give them to me for free, since they had already attempted to have them removed but  no one was willing to do it.

[Mooseherder]

I haven't used this Video camera to upload anything to the computer in a couple years because it needs a go between that accomodates the connections cause the camera is too old and antiquated.  It is quite a process when you forget how to do it. :D
Decided it would be better to shorten it, add some music and take out some drama. ;D
The front axles will need some work before this thing goes in the woods again. :
At least I backed on down in there eh?
Burlkraft spotted what I needed when we were at Mr. Hooties.

"http://www.youtube.com/v/V5Itw027U0w">

[beenthere]

I'm sure Burlkraft suggested that green tractor to pull you out.... ;D ;D ;D

Good video, and am sure that slope was more than what it appeared. 

[maple flats]

Get the fron working and it will make a huge difference. Then if you need more add chains, in fact chains would make a world of difference even without power to the front axle. Good luck.

[stonebroke]

Did you break your sprag?

Stonebroke

[Mooseherder]

Did you break your sprag?

Maybe. :D
The only thing I have done to it is have the brakes fixed.  That was the second time I had driven the truck.  After it's military duty for the Navy, it had been used as a Fire Dept tanker for the forest service, then a local municipality.  The odometer reads 6800 miles. ;)
I'm thinking the fire dept may have disconnected the front drive.  I'll have to check it out when I have the time.  We bought the deuce a few months earlier from someone who was restoring it.  He had bought it at auction from the municipality.

[shinnlinger]

THat would make a nice 4 wheeler add!

I think we need to see a duce with a working front axle and some weight over the rear/chains getting pulled out with a 4 wheeler before we can say that duces are junk in the woods.

I can also say from my dually experience is they tend to float rather than bite which isn't always a good thing.  My 4x one ton dually stinks in the woods.