Talk Me In/Out of the Stihl MS261

[Hay Dude]

I have considered talking to some of the local logging companies and see what they will offer me because I have a ton of white and red oak laying on the ground - some that are 30" plus trees. The contract was for $94K worth of timer and I was told they left most of it laying after the argument...

But yeah, I am in the heart of Amish country, they drive right past my house every day in their wagons lol. They do work cheap. They just did a ton of work on my sister's new place and came in over 2/3 cheaper than any other bidders and way over-built, the quality was top notch!

You’d be pleasantly surprised at what they can do. I have done projects with them for 25 years.
I bet theres a group of Amishmen that will come through your property and do the same thing as a mechanized timber company for 1\2 the price.

 

[JeepHead]

You’d be pleasantly surprised at what they can do. I have done projects with them for 25 years.
I bet theres a group of Amishmen that will come through your property and do the same thing as a mechanized timber company for 1\2 the price.

I have worked around them most of my life. I use to be an electrician and worked on the same jobsites as many of them. They're very hard workers who do very high quality work.

But, I am not looking to pay someone to clear it up, I am looking for someone to pay ME to come and take the timber lol. The rest of it I will deal with on my own.

 

[Hay Dude]

I have worked around them most of my life. I use to be an electrician and worked on the same jobsites as many of them. They're very hard workers who do very high quality work.

But, I am not looking to pay someone to clear it up, I am looking for someone to pay ME to come and take the timber lol. The rest of it I will deal with on my own.

Even better. LOL
The Amish frequently have sawmills they use to build furniture & post/timber barn lumber.
They’d love to clean up your property and buy your useable lumber.

 

[JeepHead]

The Amish frequently have sawmills they use to build furniture & post/timber barn lumber.

The Amish mill down the road from me will sell you the end pieces for $20 as much as you can haul in a truck bed. Most of this is hardwood as well so it's a heck of a deal for wood burners...

 

[Hay Dude]

Bro….
You have all the info you need. Now get in your truck and drive down the road to Amos’ house and tell him what you want to do.
They’ll hook you up.

 

[WinterDeere]

Bro….
You have all the info you need. Now get in your truck and drive down the road to Amos’ house and tell him what you want to do.
They’ll hook you up.

I bought a forklift and grapple in less time than this discussion.

 

[Hay Dude]

You bought a forklift?

 

[WinterDeere]

You bought a forklift?

Nah... just having fun with JeepHead. I bought a pallet fork set for my FEL one day, the single arm log grapple the next.

 

[Hay Dude]

Nah... just having fun with JeepHead. I bought a pallet fork set for my FEL one day, the single arm log grapple the next.

Agriteer?

I called them today for a price on a HLA SDB-84, which is an 84” “Debris Grapple Fork”.

Dude….I was blown away by the price….$6,800

 

[WinterDeere]

The fork and frame are the same set sold as "Economy Series Pallet Fork Frame Attachment", not because I wanted "economy", but because it's the same as their Standard Series minus the upper frame. I wanted to build my own upper frame to work with whatever thumb I bought or built, as none of the thumbs (including HLA) work with the standard upper frames found on most brands of pallet fork frames. I got the 48" 4000 lb forks, and the frame is rated 3000 lb., with the whole rig weighing in around 400 lb.



The thumb is the same HLA "single arm log grapple" you had recommended:



I might have bought my forks from HLA, but their website does not show any JDQA stuff, so I assumed they only did SSQA. After calling Agriteer and talking with them, I learned HLA will build with JDQA, but there's added cost and time involved.

I ended up buying the forks and frame on eBay, and they'd have been here today, if we hadn't gotten 6-8" of snow this morning. Now I'm being told tomorrow. Forks + frame was under $700 shipped, but the thumb was just shy of $1800 plus tax and hoses.

 

[WinterDeere]

@Hay Dude , dealer sent me info on another option from Danuser, which is a little shorter and also opens full vertical, so as to not interfere with pallet handling. But the Danuser unit has the hinge set real low, like 18” above forms, so probably not as good for grabbing big stuff.

Of course, my loader weight capacity also doesn’t allow me to pick up huge logs, but I do often handle big (40” diameter) shorties, which I think the HLA would grab better.

HLA is a little tall to fit thru a door with arm up, but I could probably make it removable. What’s the overall height if yours with arm fully up?

HLA:



Danuser:

 

[Hay Dude]

@Hay Dude , dealer sent me info on another option from Danuser, which is a little shorter and also opens full vertical, so as to not interfere with pallet handling. But the Danuser unit has the hinge set real low, like 18” above forms, so probably not as good for grabbing big stuff.

Of course, my loader weight capacity also doesn’t allow me to pick up huge logs, but I do often handle big (40” diameter) shorties, which I think the HLA would grab better.

HLA is a little tall to fit thru a door with arm up, but I could probably make it removable. What’s the overall height if yours with arm fully up?

HLA:

View attachment 852316

Danuser:

View attachment 852317

I’ll have to measure for ya. It’s not really high.

 

[WinterDeere]

No worries. I spoke with someone at HLA who said "about 79 inches", but I'm not sure from/to where he was measuring. My thinking is overhead doors are only 80 - 84 inches, and a lot of the box trucks I might be loading are not much taller than that. By the time you lose a few inches to the height of the skid itself, it could be tight getting pallets thru doors with that arm up.

But I think the low hinge and low height capacity of the Danuser when closed is a deal killer. If I have to cut the arm off the HLA and weld a hitch receiver type socket into which I can install/remove the thing, that's still better, to get the high hinge pivot capacity of the HLA.

 

[Hay Dude]

The HLA is rugged as a bulldog