Log skidding machine!

[Bday]

She's an ugly beast, but works great minus the wide front we need to add. The bale carrier was converted to skidder attachment that I welded up. My son has skidded 24" x 60' whole oak trees. We added the loader yesterday. Should keep him from lifting the front end up as bad. He had 400 lbs. of weight on the front for counterbalance before the loader. He still was bringing the front up on some trees. Good old equipment!

[MIKE R]

Looks good. If it works thats all the counts.

[arrow]

She's an ugly beast, but works great minus the wide front we need to add. The bale carrier was converted to skidder attachment that I welded up. My son has skidded 24" x 60' whole oak trees. We added the loader yesterday. Should keep him from lifting the front end up as bad. He had 400 lbs. of weight on the front for counterbalance before the loader. He still was bringing the front up on some trees. Good old equipment!

Skidding an entire oak out of the forest is quite the feat. How well do the tongs work ?

[Bday]

Skidding an entire oak out of the forest is quite the feat. How well do the tongs work ?

Chinese stuff! So far they have held up. We skidded around 40 trees with them. USA made tongs were $250. I hate buying foreign, but $80 was a no brainier. They make replacement inserts for the spikes, probably need to get a set for future repairs!

[smiley]

Just wondering if those bale forks are intended to prevent backflips or ?? Several years ago friend did that skidding with his 8N and luckily only broke his leg. Another guy a few miles away did the same but wasn't as lucky.

[Bob77064]

That's a powerful machine, I can't imagine skidding a 60' tree with my tractor.

[Bday]

That's a powerful machine, I can't imagine skidding a 60' tree with my tractor.

Just think you could do with a new front wheel assist tractor and a loader!
We drop the tree , pull it to an area where we cut all the smaller limbs out of the top, then pull it out into an open field. We can save time not needing to drag brush. Some of the larger trees had to be cut in two pieces, but most were able to be pulled out whole.

[Bday]

Just wondering if those bale forks are intended to prevent backflips or ?? Several years ago friend did that skidding with his 8N and luckily only broke his leg. Another guy a few miles away did the same but wasn't as lucky.

If you don't raise the log up very high from the ground it's really stable. Just need to keep your hand on the 3 point lever to drop her quick, if you think your in trouble.

[Tony S]

How hard is that to put on and off the tractor.

[Bday]

How hard is that to put on and off the tractor.

It's just a 3 point bale attachment modified with a piece of 2x6x3/8 walled tubing made as a top link. It's easy to hook up. We skidded out another 15 trees today, the loader made a big difference on stability. We have a wide front we are rebuilding to replace the narrow front.