Skidder or Tractor

[jueston]

Here are a couple of pictures of the equipment I use.

I think I am one of the few people using a tractor full time-year round in the woods logging.

bill, what horse power is the tractor you use? and do you find that grapple has enough power?
i have looked at setups like that and i like what i see.

[beenthere]

Likely 'nuff power to load those logs and stack 'em.

[Mark K]

I used a Belarus 822 with a cab and farmi 601 log winch for many years in the woods. Never took out a window in the cab, just had to be careful and know your equipment limitations. Ran that setup for six years before I bought my timberjack. I can move a lot more wood with the skidder than the tractor. Tractor was 86 HP and skidder is 92 HP.  The tractor was more nimble in the woods but for every trip I make with the skidder I would have to make three with the tractor.

[Piston]

Bill,
Between you with your pictures of your setup, and Peter with his pictures of his millshed setup, you guys are driving me crazy  :D :D

I really admire that equipment.

[thecfarm]

Nice  job you are doing Stephen.Are those trees poplar? Trees are pushed into a bullpen? What's a bullpen in the woods?
billm,I really like your setup,ALOT.

[bill m]

jueston, My tractor is 55 hp. and I could always use more lifting power with my grapple. It does good most of the time but I have some jobs ahead of me with some big timber on them.

 
This 12 ft. log had about 630 bd. ft. in it and wasn't to bad to pick up. I am cutting more of this pine now and bringing out logs that are 19' 6 " and minimum 20" inside the bark on the small end. I picked up a butt log yesterday that was 26" on the small end. That was about all it wanted to pick up. The longer the log is the harder it is to pick up.

[woodmills1]

yes I have a le forester from payeur

It is perfect around the mill and great in the woods

here is the first tractor an LK3054




 

and here is arnold, I still have the trailer in the first picture



  

[Piston]

Woodmills,
Do you prefer the front end loader like you had it on the old tractor, or do you like the new setup with the front blade better? 


Bill,
Did you get your tire chains from a local source?  I'm not all that far from your area and would like an aggressive set like that. 

[Stephen Alford]

   Hey cfarm , in the storm damage pic those are largetooth aspen. One of the goals of the landowner was to get some access to trap lumber in his woodlot. When cutting the road I cut the stumps low and drag fulltree. He can then harvest what he needs with his tractor.  I clean up the storm damage . The bullpen is just a place along the road near the landing where I put the tops and limbs after I cut out the firewood. He sawed enough to put up a new machine shed. Last I talked to him the shed was up and he was out 53$ for nails.   :D

  

  

 
    Well piston be sure and post some pics of that new tractor , its just a matter of time, it's that simple.  ;D   Remember there is no replacement for displacement.

 
    Jeff your doing an amazing job with the forum.    Thank-you, your family and the admins for a great home to visit. Want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. 

 

[thecfarm]

What a tangled up mess. But at least you are making money and the land owner too. Kinda looks like some of my fir. Like the pictures. Thanks.

[bill m]

Piston, my rear chains came from Labonville and front came from Global Forestry.

 
I would try Labonville first. Ken Jones Tires in Worcester has some very similar but I don't think they are as strong.

[g_man]

Bill, I never get tired of looking at your equipment.  What do you use to make your roads so that you can get your tractor and trailer around in the woods ?  The hardest thing for me and my tractor is getting roads in that I can winch from and skid on.

[EricR]

I would go skidder all the way.  i brought my nice shiny kubota into the woods about a year ago and today all i can say today is its not so shiny.  Its now got some ding and dents, a bent step, and missing both tail lights just to mention a few things.  I have a small scale firewood operation and consider myself a carefull operator but stuff happens.  it kills me to have such a nice piece of equipment in the woods that really wasnt designed for it.  they do get beat up no matter how carefull you are.   Just today i got a nice 3 inch stick stuck up under it.  Took about 20 minutes and some choice words to get it out and it smashed my hydraulic filter and bed a hydraulic line.  Dont get me wrong, you can get the job done as i have been doing so for the last year, but i dont think its gonna have a very high resale value when im ready to upgrade.    the picutres dont do it justice but that sob was in there

  

 

[Piston]

Thanks bill.

[bill m]

g_man, I spend a lot of time planing and laying out my roads to minimize the amount of backing up with the trailer and being able to reach the most amount of wood without the need for prebunching with my winch. I also cut my stumps as low as possible.

  

 
EricR, a skid plate would help keep things underneath from getting banged up.

 

[terry f]

     You guys are killing me. I was thinking of an old skidder and a chainsaw and you show me all this beautiful equipment. Stephen, how's the skidder at moveing dirt when you make your landing? The little tractor (28 horse) I've used couldn't push much dirt, had to backblade with the bucket to do most anything.                                                                                                         I don't have any experience with a skidder, but the winch seems like the ticket for me. Whats the maximum distance you can safely winch a medium sized log to the skid trail. My plan is to put 4 or 5 trails dissecting my property and pull the logs to the trail with as little damage as possible.           

[mad murdock]

You can winch as far as the cable you got on the drum. A lot of skidders I've run had 100 yds of mainline. Much more than that gets too heavy to pull out. As far as pushing things, they won't quite do as nice a job as a dozer, but almost. Compared to a tractor with FEL, no contest, the skidder will out do a tractor in that dept. hands down. I use mine to push up 40' logs into a nice size pile, and pile slash as well as dirt work.

[rick f]

Mad Murdock, I got to ask what size skidder and winch holds 300 yds. of cable?  That must drag hard after about 20 yds or so.

[g_man]

Maybe both you guys mixed up yards and feet. Glad I'm not the only one who does that.  ???

[chevytaHOE5674]

Most skidders I've cut behind and pulled cable for had between 25 and 125 feet of cable depending on how cheap the owner was.

Few winters ago I was hand cutting the veneer logs off a sale to make sure it was done right and also pulling cable to get the logs up out of a ravine for the crew. And 125 feet was a lot of cable to pull out, and then connect sometimes up to 8 or 10 chokers together to get to the bottom or other side of the ravine to get the logs out; boy was that a workout. haha

[thecfarm]

I have a 3pth winch on my tractor. I have pulled out all of the cable,150 feet added on 2 length of 50 feet cable to get the wood to me. BUT this I was doing on a bog,cutting everything. So there was no trees for the logs to get behind. Also makes for ALONG day too. Takes time to do all of the hooking and unhooking. But even just pulling out 150 feet of 7/16 cable 150 and TRYING to walk in a straight line without getting behind another tree is hard. Seems like every time I do it I have to unhook or hook to another tree to get the log from behind a tree so I don't bark up every tree in the 150 feet of cable.Takes alot of time to fool with a few trees this way. Even though my land is a challenge to put a road in,I do anyways. It's just easier in the long run with another road.
I have worked my tractor in the woods and so far,have done no mechanical damage with brush or stumps or rocks. I only cut fire wood for me now,but even when I was doing it for money i was careful with my brush and my roads. My roads were just about always brush free and would cut any bushes putting in a road. Yes,I have the dented fenders,broken lights and all the other things that happens. BUT all my cutting is and was done on my own land which is a big difference. I got all the money. Did not have to share it with land owner. Anything that was done was done to benefit me and I could spend the time doing it.All my brush gets cut up in short pieces too. When the limbs are on the tree I'm on the end of the limbs working my way towards the tree when I can. I cut the limbs into 3-4 feet long. This way the brush gets on the ground and does not stick up in the air, will rot quicker too.Sometimes I will run the saw up and down the limbs to leave just the limb with nothing on it. Yes,I know this takes time,but when I get done with a tree,it's a nice clen job. Than in a few years I can drive run through what is left for brush.My wife has a fit over every dent on my tractor,I just tell her I bought it to work it,not to look at it.

[John Mc]

Working my compact tractor (NH TC33D) in the woods, the only damage I've had so far is a couple of flat tires on the front (good thing, since the rears are filled with Calcium Chloride). I have knocked off a hydraulic filter twice, but that was working in a field (flipped up a flat rock just the wrong way once, and a friend ran over a hidden 2x4 once that harpooned the filter).

How I manage this is that the tractor stays on the trails most of the time. When it does go off-trail, it's only on relatively clear areas. My Uniforest 35E winch has 230 ft of cable, but most of the time I only use about half of that.

The real solution is to armor the tractor by adding a belly pan, limb risers, and FOPS. I'll get around to that one of these days. Until then, I've just got to continue being careful. The equipment I have wouldn't begin to do the job for someone trying to make a living at this, but it works for my needs.

John Mc

[mad murdock]

Maybe both you guys mixed up yards and feet. Glad I'm not the only one who does that.  ???

Right you are. It is definately feet not yds.  ;D ???] : :(
I would not be able to heft that much cable.   I am glad you clarified that one!

[ianw]

it depends on what brand of tractor i would not recomend a kubota they have a real light rear axle if you were going with a tractor go with ethier a JD, case ih or challenger and you really want a loader. also don't forget fuel cost and filter cost and all the maintence cost that go in to owning a good running piece of equipment

[John Mc]

it depends on what brand of tractor i would not recomend a kubota they have a real light rear axle if you were going with a tractor go with ethier a JD, case ih or challenger...

In the smaller sizes (compacts) Case is identical to New Holland. Just different color and options.