Logging winch with 2' trailer receiver

[Lloyd_E]

I often take my 14' landscape trailer with me when collecting fire wood. The problem has been that the winch just clears the trailer tongue when 3pt in at it's highest point - not sure if this is good for the 3 pt. Also depending on terrain the trailer tongue has caught the bottom of the winch... The tractor came with a solid tang that I put a 2" ball on - this inserts into the tractor frame - works great without the winch. My question is could/should I install a receiver on the winch to take a ball? Will this put too much strain on the 3pt? Or, should I built a ball hitch that connects to the tractor frame and extends beyond the winch for hook up to the trailer? The ball hitch extension will have to drop to accommodate clearance of the winch bottom - it may drop the trailer tongue too low to the ground. I'm off to do some woods work but will check later today for info... thanks.

Back to winter here again -18c/0.4f this morning...

PS: I can put two cords of green firewood on the trailer comfortably = about 8 tons. Wood Species - Weight at various Moisture Contents

 

[travlitt]

Sure a lot of weight for 2 cords of green wood on a 14ft trailer.

 

[Lloyd_E]

I was surprised based on he web site info too... I usually stack it 2' to the sides and heap it up in the middle... 2'hx6'w14'L = 168sqft+/- plus pile in the middle 4'x14'x2' = 112sqft : 240sqft/128sqft = 2.1 cords+/-.
Trailer is rated for 7500 lbs...

 

[Lloyd_E]

Duh... to early and not enough coffee... should be 9000+ lbs... based on the web info...

 

[travlitt]

I assume you are stacking your wood like this..
Trailer is 6x14'

1 row of wood down the length of the trailer on both sides= 2'x2'x14'=56 x2= 112cubit ft.
1 row down the center of the trailer would be = 2' x4'x14'=112 cubit ft.
You now have 224 cubit ft of wood on your trailer.
224cf \ by 128 cf ft (1 cord)would be 1.75 cords.
The heaviest wood on that site is Post Oak at 5086 lbs. x2=10,172lbs.
What am I missing?

 

[motownbrowne]

I assume you are stacking your wood like this..
Trailer is 6x14'

1 row of wood down the length of the trailer on both sides= 2'x2'x14'=56 x2= 112cubit ft.
1 row down the center of the trailer would be = 2' x4'x14'=112 cubit ft.
You now have 224 cubit ft of wood on your trailer.
224cf \ by 128 cf ft (1 cord)would be 1.75 cords.
The heaviest wood on that site is Post Oak at 5086 lbs. x2=10,172lbs.
What am I missing?

I don't think anyone's missing anything. I think the original post should have read 8000 lbs, not 8 tons. There's no two cords of wood that weighs 16000 lbs. Back to the question at hand, though. I think adding a ball hitch to the winch is a good idea. I see it all the time. Some I have seen pin into the bracket for the lower block on the winch. I guess you have to switch them out when you need one or the other, but it would be an easy way to get one on there. I don't think the weight will be an issue, except that since it's further back from you axle, it will put more force on the back and might make your front end light. Probably not an issue, but something to pay attention to. if you load your 8000 lbs of wood on your trailer with 10% of the weight on the tongue, that is looking like 800-1000 lbs on the hitch, which should not be a problem at all. If you're going to weld a hitch receiver on the winch, weld on on the top of the bucket at the same time. If you want more info on the topic check out forestryforum.com, lots of info on this topic over there.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Thanks all,

Ya I screwed up on the math... like I said - too early and not enough coffee...lol...

Most of the hardwood I get is red oak, with some birch and poplar thrown in. I clean up fallen trees and or remove trees for selected neighbours. They get a clean site plus trees removed... I get fire wood. I looked at the winch this morning and I think I will bolt on the receiver. I have one from another project - 2" receiver pipe welded to large angle iron bracket with four bolt holes.

The attached pic shows a typical load more or less. This was a load of locus and poplar but I have placed more on the trailer just depends on the distance I have to travel. I have two sites I am working on this week. One site will be mostly hard wood / cherry and oak with a large pine thrown in. The other site will be very large poplars. Probably about three good size trailer loads. I know poplar doesn't give alot of heat or burn long but my attitude is everything burns... just depends on how many trips you want to make to the stove.

To counter the light front end I could always bring home a load in the bucket as well. I do have three 2' receivers on the top of my bucket as well. Always handy.

 

[motownbrowne]

Looks good to me. With two axles, you could probably load even more

I burn a lot of poplar myself. Mostly in the syrup operation, where it's pretty much the wood of choice. It burns hot and fast, which is what I want. When I'm boiling I burn about a cord in twelve hours, adding a few pieces every 3-6 minutes.

One nice thing about poplar is that no one wants it, so it's basically free. I've got a buddy who just gave me five cords that was junk to him (he sells firewood) but translates into about 80-100 gallons of syrup cooked down.

What kind of winch do you have? I just bought my farmi and I love it already. Id love to be doing more logging right now, but the 28" of snow in the woods isn't making anything easy.

 

[Lloyd_E]

It's a norse 290about 6380lbs pull... I bought it use but in very good conditions. I use a lot of slings and pulleys to get wood to a convenient area. Before having one I used a lot of chain and rope... the winch almost makes it too easy. My daughter and I tap a few maples for syrup. We get around 2 quarts. I will save some poplar for the boiling. 80-100 gallons! Wow that is a lot of work. We have on average a bout 12-16" of snow in the woods. The challenge is the layer of ice under it. Last week we got well above freezing and the challenge was mud. This week we are back to the deep freeze so the ground is solid again. Hoping to get 90% of my wood out this week and next. We burn around 6 cord and my sheds hold 12+ cord.

The pics show the clean up in progress. The large pine came down across a power line. The utility fixed the line but made a mess... I will be hauling out a good trailer load tomorrow plus a bit more once the snow goes and the frozen limbs are free.

Thanks for your input... chat later...

 

[Lloyd_E]

Dropped more trees yesterday. Have another six to do over the next few days. To give you a sense of scale, the stump you see in pic 2&3(see survey tape) is mid-chest on me. I saw the large chunks and split with a wedge... this gets them small enough to lift onto the trailer - still big chunks though.