Ideas for a self-propelled chassis for PTO wood chipper

Colonel Monk · Nov 25, 2020

Gents!

Happy Pre-Turkey day to you all.

I have a WoodMax 8M we recently acquired.

Our land is quite soft. Over the years since we homesteaded on it, the openings created by the driveway and house have dried it out quite a bit, and the thick cedar swamp has begun to get more and more sparse as strong straight line winds have knocked over lots of trees. Oh, that and the damned emerald ash borer. I'm guessing that working on this clean up often, will take several months of weekends or longer. It's a huge job.

I can't access the areas off the roads with our Kubota L2250. Too heavy and not enough tires to keep it floating above the soft ground. I'm not going to haul all that stuff to the road to chip it, so I need to come up with another solution.

The first one would be a simple one. It'd take forever, but I could build like a 6 wheeled frame and just use a winch from tree to tree to pull the chipper and motor where I need it. Not ideal, but fairly easy.

What about building my own crappy version of a track chipper, minus the tracks? I'm thinking that 6 tires (I have 4 31 x 11.5 R15 already) and maybe a junkyard differential braking system I could maneuver it well enough to reach the places I need to reach. Not talking about a vehicle you'd ride really, just a frame with wheels, motor, chipper, and maybe a platform to stand on while driving it.

I have an old 1979 Jeep Cherokee I sorta plan to restore. Plan on repowering it, so the 258 6 cylinder which runs well could provide the power and transmission. It makes nearly max torque at 1500 rpm, and first gear and reverse both have a 3:1 gear ratio which would be good for driving the chipper. Was thinking of using the rear wheel drive of transfer case to drive chipper and front wheel drive to move it around? That way I can turn off the wheel drive by shifting into 2 HI. Use 4 LO and low engine rpm to drive it around.

Am I crazy? Have watched some guys make tracked vehicle drives on Youtube from a rear differential which got me started thinking about this.

Don't have to use the Jeep motor, it is kinda heavy..... But it's got the power and transmission.

Hmmm.....

CM

sea2summit · Nov 25, 2020

Why not a 3PT logging winch and pull all the stuff up to the tractor?

Colonel Monk · Nov 25, 2020

sea2summit said:
Why not a 3PT logging winch and pull all the stuff up to the tractor?

I do plan to build a winch, but mostly for retrieving firewood. One of the reasons for chipping all the trash is for continued access to firewood. We use a cable and pulleys to yank wood out and it's getting to be a real bastard due to trees being down in all directions.

My father mentioned the same thing as you, but he won't be doing the work at 80 years old.... It would take forever to winch all those logs to the road and since it's a one lane road it'd be blocked up when work is happening.

Other thing, is the wood chips will provide fill on these "wetlands" without actually hauling fill, which requires a permit. This is why I want to chip it in place, right where I cut it. Less work, added fill.

This is a job that'll get done a half day at a time on the weekends as time allows. Being a contraptioneer, I think it'd also be a fun winter project (not that I don't have enough of them)

CM

oldnslo · Nov 25, 2020

I guess the one question that comes to mind is turning capabilities in soft ground. I suspect that you may need to have ability to slow one side to turn vs using brakes. I guess a winch assist would help with turns so your idea is not totally off the wall.

Would duals on the tractor be easier or is ground to soft.

If in MI can you get in there when ground is frozen?

Colonel Monk · Nov 25, 2020

oldnslo said:
I guess the one question that comes to mind is turning capabilities in soft ground. I suspect that you may need to have ability to slow one side to turn vs using brakes. I guess a winch assist would help with turns so your idea is not totally off the wall.

Would duals on the tractor be easier or is ground to soft.

If in MI can you get in there when ground is frozen?

Yeah, the ground is definitely easier to work with in the winter. It's not always solid but firmer, till of course you work it over to where it thaws.... Our tractor has kinda oddly small front tires, I think they'd just disappear in there to china.

A quad could work to pull a lighter weight setup but they get a fortune for those things nowadays. I say lighter, but the chipper alone weighs like 900 lbs. It can grind pretty good size limbs and small trees no problem.

So, when you say slow one side, can you not modulate the braking force with one of those differential braking setups? I guess I hadn't thought about it being an all or none kind of thing. Trying to learn how it might work.

Tahnks for the replies folks.

CM

oldnslo · Nov 25, 2020

Can you use the chips to build a road as you work your way into the swamp kind of like a corduroy road?

I presume your L2250 has front wheel assist so changing front tires becomes a problem.

As kid we used to cut fire wood in the swamps of central MN in the winter and would sometimes have to lay down a few trees to build road in the soft spots. If you broke through it does get messy since can't leave sit to dry out and if left will freeze in place. usually was more concerned about rear breaking through than the front though.

Colonel Monk · Nov 26, 2020

Yeah, mattery of fact the road we have to the homestead is or corduroy road built back in the early 80s.

You are correct, the tractor is 4wd and though it shares a cousin the L2550 which has larger front wheels, we've got these odd small ones. It's a turf tire tractor, but that works perfect for us with soft ground and snow. I have thought about seeing if the front gear from a 2550 is compatible, but seems like these tractors don't wear out and even when they do are worth fixing, so I'm going to guess finding them available on a bone yard is unlikely.

Anyway, what I have in mind is really just a wheeled sled. Whether it ends up self propelled or I just use a winch to pull it to where I need it, really just depends on whether or not I can figure a somewhat easy way to do it. Obviously don't want to sink a huge amount of money into it either way, git her done.

Anybody have experience with homemade track steering from junkyard parts? Kinda what I'm considering.

CM

oosik · Nov 26, 2020

If you have the ability to winch this chipper thru, around, between & amongst the trees - why wheels. Build the unit and sit it on ski's. Even with multiple wheels - you will eventually find those really soft spots. Wheels will not provide the required flotation - full length ski's just might. I helped a neighbor build a large sled. We used highway guard rails for the ski's. Pulled by tractor - worked like a champ.

Colonel Monk · Nov 26, 2020

The more I think about it, the more a hydraulic drive seems like the least complicated way. Then I don't need to use any automotive based axles, and there's many easy ways to drive the hydraulic pump. I don't want it to be fast, being slow would actually be preferred.

I'll head over to the hydraulic forum and see if I can find some info there.

CM