The wood lot

[Hoobie]

I have a 225 acre woodlot property I inherited. Grew up here. Love the woodlot work but I don稚 work in summer heat. I have a kubota mx5100 which I love. Also a 1959 Ford 641 Workmaster which I use occasionally. Also a Wallenstein winch. My trailer isn稚 a walking beam kind and wish it was. But what I have works ok. With it loaded and the pallet forks loaded with smaller limbs and pieces I move one cord. Usually work with a partner for companionship and safety.

 

[MossRoad]

That’s kinda the problem with doing that. I’d love to have a truck with a knuckle boom loader on it. Then I could haul a years firewood all in one trip. But I guess my dump truck that’s already paid for will have to work. View attachment 588555

Yep, that would be nice, but highly impractical for my needs (and probably cause a wee bit of an issue with the spouse, too :laughing.

That's why I've been looking at a pickup truck crane with 2000# capacity. I figure I could mount it on the side of my car hauler, grab the pole-sized logs that are usually 18' and well under 1000#, pick them up and spin the crane around 180 to drop them onto the trailer. I have a very nice and easy accessible landing area where I can park directly parallel to the log pile. Maybe add an electric winch to the crane, or a hydraulic one powered by a gas engine, or even the gas log splitter. The crane could be used for loading and unloading.

Or I could parbuckle them onto the trailer. I'd still need a winch, though. And I think parbuckling would take longer with the small poles VS a crane. Heck, I can lift the ends of most of them myself, so I could probably do it by hand, but there's some fatter ones that I just can't lift.

Lots to think about over the winter.

 

[4570Man]

Something like this might work but I’d definitely want an electric winch and possibly powered hydraulics. I think you’ll need some way to level it or the load will swing downhill. But that’s priced completely out of line at $1700. Add 3 more bills and I’d sell you my bucket truck body and you can have a 30 ft hydraulic crane.

 

[4570Man]

Or drive to Muncie Indiana and buy this for $600

 

[Paystar]

That痴 kinda the problem with doing that. I壇 love to have a truck with a knuckle boom loader on it. Then I could haul a years firewood all in one trip. But I guess my dump truck that痴 already paid for will have to work. View attachment 588555

Nice truck there! Steel hood Paystar 5000. I've built many mile of logging road with one of those, but the six wheel drive models.

 

[4570Man]

Nice truck there! Steel hood Paystar 5000. I've built many mile of logging road with one of those, but the six wheel drive models.

Not my truck, but still pretty sweet.

 

[MossRoad]

Something like this might work but I’d definitely want an electric winch and possibly powered hydraulics. I think you’ll need some way to level it or the load will swing downhill. But that’s priced completely out of line at $1700. Add 3 more bills and I’d sell you my bucket truck body and you can have a 30 ft hydraulic crane. View attachment 588609

I was thinking more like this

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/t...MIpeaAuuWH4AIVVrjACh1etQFCEAQYASABEgI2CvD_BwE

and using two points to lift the logs so they don't swing.

 

[MossRoad]

And don't temp me with that bucket truck. I have a 40' blue spruce I decorate for Christmas every year and it's getting hard to do it from the ground. If I had a truck body to put it on, I'd seriously consider your offer.

 

[4570Man]

Got any ideas for a bucket truck quick attach? Putting it on a truck will cost me a couple thousand for a truck plus the yearly tags and insurance and upkeep. The bed in my dump truck is only held on by 3 pins and would be pretty quick to remove. I can live without the service bed and only want the boom and required structure. If it had some kind of mount on the truck that didn’t interfere with the dump bed it would be pretty quick to swap. The other ideas I thought about was mounting it on a heavy steel plate that I set on my trailer and chain down. The problem is it’s pretty limiting where I can take it. Or the obvious approach of putting it back on the truck it came off of but that would ruin my plan of making that a flatbed truck to pull my backhoe with.

 

[MossRoad]

Female side make a heavy plate with three sides of L-shaped overlap on a slight triangle on the truck frame. Make a corresponding male plate and weld that to the base of the lift.

Slide the male plate into the female socket, and pin it in place to keep it from sliding out.

Kinda like my Power Trac quick attach system, only much larger.