Backhoe Dragging logs with backhoe attached

   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #1  

Gary_in_Indiana

Elite Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Messages
3,388
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
Tractor
John Deere 4200 MFWD HST w/ JD 420 FEL w/ 61" loader bucket & toothbar & JD 37 BH w/ 12" bucket
I'm in the seemingly never ending process of cleaning up some property I bought. Part of the process is digging out stumps and moving downed trees and limbs to a burn pile.

Some of these are large enough I can't handle them with the FEL. I know enough not to just chain them to the BH and drag them that way but don't want to take the BH off right now since I'm still doing BH work.

Any suggestions as to where I could attach the chain and not do any damage? I even thought of hooking to my front weight bracket and dragging the logs backwards if nothing else would work.
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #2  
Got a swinging drawbar? or did it come off with the backhoe frame?

Soundguy
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached
  • Thread Starter
#3  
No drawbar to hook to. It came off to make room for the backhoe.
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #4  
I've been using a chain attached to the middle of the FEL and around one end of the log. I lift the end of the log up about a foot off of the ground so that it will clear any obstacles and then drag backwards. I've mostly been dragging down a gravel driveway without any obstacles. If I had to do this through the woods, I would be very careful of catching the log on a stump or rock and especially of uneven terrain that can lift the rear of the tractor, dip the FEL and cause the log to hang up.

When I get to the pile, I unchain and push with the FEL. I haven't found a stump that I can't pick up with a chain on the FEL so I haven't had to think about that too much.

-david
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #5  
<font color=blue>"I've been using a chain attached to the middle of the FEL and around one end of the log. I lift the end of the log up about a foot off of the ground so that it will clear any obstacles and then drag backwards. "</font color=blue>

That is what I was going to say. Sounds like it would work to me.
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #6  
Is there any way on your tractor to rig up some attachment point to the pin that holds the drawbar in? If you could perhaps get the pin through a link of the chain, you might just be in business. You would probably also need to make sure that the chain could not snag anything on the bottom of the backhoe though.
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #7  
I assume your backhoe attaches the same way mine does to my 4700. It only takes 5 minutes at most to remove the backhoe and the same to put it back on. I would just remove the backhoe and use the drawbar if it was me - but it isn't of course.
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #8  
I see by your profile that you have a JD 4200. When I have the backhoe on my 4300 there is still room to slide the drawbar in from the front of the tractor and use the hole closest to the end to attach it. This leaves quite a bit of drawbar protruding forward underneath the tractor but I still have room to attach a clevis and a tow strap underneath the backhoe.
If you are doing a lot work in brushy areas you have to watch that you don't get anything hung up on the portion of the drawbar that sticks forward. I had to deal with the same situation when we built our house and even though the hoe is a quick detach it's a pita. You might want to check and see if yours will work the same way.
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #9  
I concur with Dave. I've been opening up some woods lately myself and started out chaining the logs from the drawbar, dragging to where I was going and then disconnecting. Then I had to get the log out of the way using the loader.
I found it more efficient to use the FEL hooks to drag the log to one end of the pile, raise the loader to lift one end of the log, back up some more and pull the whole log up onto the pile.
 
   / Dragging logs with backhoe attached #10  
Just this weekend I welded on a plate on each side of the backhoe pivot point pointed at about 30 degrees downward. Welded the plates to the backhoe mounting frame. Then bolted a bar to one of the plates that has 2 holes in it so that when a clevis is bolted to the bar it is below the bottom pivot point of the backhoe swing point. That did reduce the ground clearance but I can unbolt the bar if need be. The other plate (not needed) had the same holes in it. Once I get playing with fixing and welding on my tractor I don't know when to quit.
 
 
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