SKIDDING LOGS WITH TONGS ;QUESTION

[Baby Grand]

Escavader-

If you examine geometry of the tongs, the pivot pins and points, you may observe that the hooks close together when you lift the attachment ring or hook due to the resulting angle. The closing force depends on this geometry and as the tong teeth get closer together that geometry (closing angle) changes and the closing force is reduced. I have a set of "blue" tongs that won't even close all the way - they stay about 4" apart when hung by the attachment hook. I suppose you could wrap a bungee cord around to force the points together on small diameter "tops" or do as some others have suggested and use a choker chain.

A related suggestion - I find that lifting a heavy log with the tongs is fine, but for safety I also run a choker chain wrapped around the log to a hook I installed on my drawbar. This way the tongs do the lifting, but the actual forward dragging force is tranmitted through the drawbar.

When hauling a log suspended only by the tongs from the 3pt hitch there is often the possibility that the butt of the log will dig into a stump, root or rock as you are moving forward. If this happens you will be in the s--t (but fast) if you don't stop. This all may happen before you even realize what needs to be done.

-Jim

 

[6011Artist]

By putting your hooks on a boom pole, you can get further back on the log, preventing it from rolling and coming loose. With having the bucket for ballast, you may can use a regular manufactured boom pole, counterweighting the leverage. I have learned to pull up beside the pile and with the right manuever, I can back up while turning sharp, putting the hooked end on the pile. Unhook and move down the log to the other end, or beyond the balance point, picking it up and placing the rest of the log on the stack. A boom pole works great with log hooks.

If you have someone at the pile to do the hooking/unhooking, it really makes life easy. But you can accomplish this by yourself with a lot of getting on and off the tractor. By having the hooks on a boom, I can usually hook it without getting off, sometimes shaking it loose too. It's something you will have to rig and play with to get the feel/hang of it.

 

[6011Artist]

BabyGrand, with the hooks on a boom pole, I can raise the log high enough to clear any stumps. I use my hooks to pull entire trees up to 16-18" straight across the butt end. Never had any trouble. But I am on flat ground and I do seem to test my tractor to the extreme sometimes.

In our neighborhood, we have an old guy that rebuilds green tractors as a hobby, but he is in it for the $$$$ as well. I cut 22 pine trees down from his yard and pulled them off as full trees, never limbed. Had another neighbor that wanted them to block off trails in his woods from unauthorized 4 wheelers. I was cutting, had the old guy on a JD pulling them over to insure the bigger ones close to his house fell the right way, had 2 more neighbors pulling with tractors. In 3 hrs, we had removed 22 trees from his property, no limbs in sight. The two guys pulling had no boom poles. We met at my shop, I rigged them up with booms and chains. One guy had a lil 650 JD, I put a short home made boom on him to keep the leverage down. I was cutting small trees for him, didn't want to overload him. I looked around and saw he had chained up two trees together and was headed up the road....lol...he was grinning, showing us his lil tractor could get the job done. Next round he grabbed the biggest tree on the ground. It amazed me how strong that lil 650 was pulling. The old guy was also amazed at how fast 22 trees disappeared with very little clean-up. Team effort gets the job done.

 

[defed]

If you examine geometry of the tongs, the pivot pins and points, you may observe that the hooks close together when you lift the attachment ring or hook due to the resulting angle. The closing force depends on this geometry and as the tong teeth get closer together that geometry (closing angle) changes and the closing force is reduced. I have a set of "blue" tongs that won't even close all the way - they stay about 4" apart when hung by the attachment hook. I suppose you could wrap a bungee cord around to force the points together on small diameter "tops" or do as some others have suggested and use a choker chain.

i agree that the geometry is what holds them closed. maybe if you somehow make extensions for the grabbing tips so it doesn't close as far on small logs?

 

[Cami]

@Baby Grand: The bungee suggestion is interesting one, and I fit springs to pallet tongs I make but they still rely on line tension for all of their hold; the spring is just to keep the tongs set while rigging it up.

For the record, while I do make tongs, I use chokers; one size fits all. Heck, in a pinch I've used a length of chain tied in a clove hitch around the log. If it's done right, it's not too hard to remove....

 

[beenthere]

I have the same tongs and the same problems.
A 5 pound hammer helps get them into a log - BUT - unless you grasp the log right, they'll get opened by the process of dragging the log.
So - a chain helps.
More tools, less problems.:thumbsup:

And I'd rather have a chain along to choke the log, rather than tote a 5# hammer into the woods

I use the tongs to lift the logs, and that makes it easy to get the choker chain looped around and secured. Saves losing a log half-way to the landing and have to get off to hook it back up.

 

[Baby Grand]

6011Artist-

I am familiar with the boom pole/tongs team. By moving the point of suspension of the tongs aft, any dip you drive across drops the butt of the log even more. That's exactly why I use both the tongs and the choker chain (I'd already removed the chain right before my wife took this):

6011 ... are you a stick welder?

 

[escavader]

6011 artist,
You wouldnt have a pic i could kinda go by would ya?BABY GRAND;that looks nice ,any shots of the rest of it so i could see how its hooked to the tractor?
ALAN

 

[Baby Grand]

Cami-

I had to google pallet tongs - those look very useful. Someone sells a green painted variation for grubbing brush. My mention of the bungee was for escavader's benefit, but what you said made me rethink my own tong situation. A light spring to help close up the jaws might be just the ticket. In the past I have used a chain or 5/8" nylon rope for anything under 8" diameter. You can see the rope next to the tractor seat. One end is back spliced and the other has an eye splice. It works great with the boom pole for draggin slash. And I'll have to try the clove hitch with the chain thing. I was using a nylon tow strap tied with a clove hitch around an elm tree to hitch up a comealong last week and almost had to cut the strap once I'd finished my pull. But the nylon stretches ...

-Jim

 

[Baby Grand]

BABY GRAND;that looks nice ,any shots of the rest of it so i could see how its hooked to the tractor?

No pictures of the entire works, but here's how I hitch the choke chain to the drawbar - it's quick & easy: