Building a Log Arch

[plumbstraight]

when lying flat the bed just sits on the dowls.

[Chilly807]

The initial pics of that lightweight arch is made for a quad. It also doubles as a dump trailer when it is folded down flat and the bed put on. It does work well behind my 650 quad. I did build a larger one with the same design for my tractor back in the 70's. I do like some of the ideas of others, love the diversity.

I'm planning to build a conversion for mine this summer. It doesn't get used much as an arch anymore since I got a log winch for the tractor, so I'll build a dump body for it for yard work. We still use it for hauling fence posts and rails when the ground is soft in the spring and fall so it needs to be removable.

Sean

[Oliver1655]

Lots of good info.
On the axle/wheels, a mobile home axle ($50/$75 with electric brakes), 14 ply tires - standard rating at this time ($35 each) axle/spindles are now rated at 7,000 pounds. This setup will take a lot of abuse & $35 for a spare tire on wheel is cheap!
While I agree keeping the axle in one piece until it is all welded together for alignment is a good idea, mobile home axles would be too wide. However you could remove a section from the middle & clamp a length of 3" channel iron to the realign the axle while you weld it together then cut off the extra tubing.
I use mobile home axles all the time & love that I only have 1 size of spare tire to keep on hand.

[Chilly807]

On mine when I welded the pads in place for the axles to bolt to, they warped quite a bit from the heat of welding. They now have a distinctly tractor-front-end look, with a narrower track at the bottom of the wheel. Looks like it was designed that way, I even had one person comment that he was impressed that "I had done it that way so when the load was on the arch the wheels would sit straight". Not so much, but the praise felt good

At the speed these things operate at, alignment isn't so critical in my opinion. As long as the thing doesn't track like a three legged dog things are good.

Sean