Trailer behind tractor?

[Xfaxman]

I upload my pictures directly from my computer using the Insert Icon at the top of the post. It looks like a picture frame with a tree in it. Then double click the small picture and select Medium or Full Size. Large only works with pictures up to 555 pixels wide.

Detailed instructions here in post #98: Photo Posting How To -

That worked, once I realized I had to click the icon in the upper left of the post to switch to "WYSIWYG" mode. Without that, there was no photo to double click.

They didn't seem to be limited to 555 pixels wide, though I am downsizing my pictures from what I would otherwise post so they don't take too long to load: I have a slow internet connection (especially when the kids are on hogging up the bandwidth), and it always bums me out when I'm loading a thread with a lot of large, high-resolution photos in it.

It is only the "Large" option that is limited to 555 px wide. If a wider picture is posted as "Large" it is cut off at 555 px wide from the left side.

To see if that is still in effect I will use your 1224 px wide picture and post it as "Large":

It looked ok in the Preview, lets see if it got cut off when posted.

Edit: It did get cut off in the post, but displays full width if opened in a new Tab.

Thanks. I had seen those size options, but opted for medium to display. I figured if someone wanted a closer look, they could always click on it.

Yes I prefer Medium instead of Thumbnail any day :thumbsup:.

 

[kco]

How do you unload the logs? One at a time? From the side or pull them all at once from end? Do you use a grapple to unload or just have forks? It's REALLY tricky to unload multiple 16' or 24' logs with forks spaced 3'-4', especially on uneven ground when a couple get unbalanced from the rest.

I have a wagon running gear that I use (or used) for the small pine logs when I was clearing to make a pasture. (I never knew what a "bolster" was until I had to buy one)

I was selling 8' logs, which were too short to rest on wagon's axles which are spaced longer, so I would have to cut logs 16' then cut them in half at my header/ log truck pick-up station. I suppose I could of cut down the wagons main beam pole, or maybe found a way to make it adjustable (it's not). Now I just use wagon occasionally as a poor man's log truck to take the odd log(s) to a "neighbors" sawmill, so I'm glad I kept it a long length. Right now I make sure I have long enough logs to set on the bottom if I have short ones that need to ride on top. Maybe there's something I could build on the wagon if I need to move only short logs? Or just put a bed on it!

Not having a telescoping tongue on the wagon is a real pain too if you're doing all the loading/unloading with one tractor. Eventually I bought a log winch and could drag (4)-24' or 32' foot logs to the header and cut them there. Way way way faster than hitching, unhitching, loading, unloading wagon.

View attachment 583644

I just noticed your question re: my entry #17 in this thread, CodyRupert. It is just my 3rd trailer load, so I am still learning how to handle the logs. For this load I had no problem unloading the largest logs one at a time by angling the forks down and then prying up while angling the forks ends up to make the log roll toward the tractor. I unloaded the smaller logs on the bottom (they are light balsam fir) a few at a time.

I agree with the difficulty in handling longer length, large logs. Besides the instability, 90% of my cutting is done from narrow trails bounded by saplings, trees and gullies. So to use the trailer I have to park it in a wider, level location where I can load the logs from the side. The furthest I should likely need to drag a log is about 150 yards. So for large diameter logs 12' is likely the largest I can comfortably load and maintain stability. I have loaded 16' small-diameter logs by lifting them on, one end at a time, by hand. Like you, I put short lengths (16", 32", etc.) on top of the long logs.

Due to cramped trails and instability handling large-diameter logs I likely will leave my trailer at 8'. It is actually 7.5' so I should be able to load very large logs as short as 8' on the bottom.

I'm still experimenting with what the trailer and tractor will handle and have not loaded it to capacity. Some of the trails are 25% grade or more so I need to be sure I have control if going down or have enough traction if going up. For the load shown in the photo I could not pull it up a steep frozen, but not icy, stretch in 2WD but 4WD worked fine.

I am retired so quantity and speed is not an issue. Gathering wood gives me an excuse to wander in the bush while giving the impression I'm working hard and doing something productive. It's my favourite activity. I think the main advantages of the trailer are it avoids the stress using front and rear forks puts on the tractor (as shown in the 2nd photo) and it is safer. I did a few of loads using two forks as shown in the 2nd photo and it was difficult. I parked the rear forks, loaded them with the front forks, and then loaded the logs on the front forks. There was a still a lot of heavy lifting and I was at my old bones' limit (I'm 76). I am impressed with how the trailer made it easier and more fun.

The other toy I bought this year is 16.5" log tongs. I have just used them for one log. It was for a large log shown on the trailer load. I made a mistake loading and the log dropped on the far side. I had no way to get to it, but the tongs worked great to reach over the trailer and lift it back on. I'm looking forward to using the trailer and tongs more often.

 

[John_Mc]

Apologize for derailing the topic, I honestly was just trying to post a photo from my compooter using the method the gentleman suggested.

Hey, it's a tractor and a trailer...

I want one of those Woodland Mills trailers, for about half of what they're asking for em.

I looked long and hard at them, but finally decided to get something more suited to use with my tractor rather than an ATV (and those tractor-sized ones are a LOT more expensive).

I looked at a lot of comparable trailers to the Woodland Mills. There seem to be a ton of manufacturers that are copying each others designs. Some of them look almost identical. If I had ended up buying one, it would have been the Woodland Mills Woodland ATV Trailer. Their T-Rex is also nice, but the ability to dump the full 2000# was more important to me than the jib crane that the T-Rex comes with. (If you get one model and later change your mind, they will sell you the parts to switch it to the other model at a reasonable price.) I would have replaced the hand crank with an electric winch, and possibly figured out a way to add a receiver hitch to the rear so I could haul out my wood splitter behind it. DR Power's Versa Trailer is similar, but having seen one up close (they have a factory store about 5 miles from me), I like the Woodland Mills offerings better - and they are less expensive than the DR trailer (do NOT by a DR VersaTrailer for full price! They are on sale more often than they are selling at regular price.)

 

[swnoel]

5x8 dump trailer http://www.repusa.com/components/co...B6-ED92-77F3-59C357622EB2_005_1400_932_1_.JPG

 

[John_Mc]

The other toy I bought this year is 16.5" log tongs. I have just used them for one log. It was for a large log shown on the trailer load. I made a mistake loading and the log dropped on the far side. I had no way to get to it, but the tongs worked great to reach over the trailer and lift it back on. I'm looking forward to using the trailer and tongs more often.

There is a nice trick I learned when I was using log tongs (before I got the grapple for my loader). I had a grab hook on the top lip of my loader that would grab the chain I used to hold my log tongs. If I hung it just right, I could get the tongs to hang perpendicular to the edge of my loader when the bucket was rolled forward enough that the chain did not touch the lower, cutting edge of the bucket. If I rolled the bucket back so the cutting edge pressed against the chain, the hook would spin so it's orientation was parallel to the lower lip of the bucket.

This saved a lot of climbing on and off the tractor, since curling the bucket as needed would let me drop down over the end of a log that was pointed away from me so I could grab and back up to drag it out of the woods. When I wanted to pick up a log lying across my path, I could rotate the bucket the other way and the tongs would twist to let me pick that one up. Just lower down, and the tongs would open on the log, then grab as I picked up. It does take well-designed tongs for this "auto-grab" maneuver to work.

A 3/8" grab hook will securely grip either 5/16" or 3/8" chain. I could get this trick to work when using 5/16 chain. When using 3/8, it did not work, since the lower lip of my bucket hit the wrong link on the chain to make it twist. Since a 5/16" grade 70 chain is rated for far more than my tractor would lift, it was not an issue to use that size chain.

 

[aczlan]

The other toy I bought this year is 16.5" log tongs. I have just used them for one log. It was for a large log shown on the trailer load. I made a mistake loading and the log dropped on the far side. I had no way to get to it, but the tongs worked great to reach over the trailer and lift it back on. I'm looking forward to using the trailer and tongs more often.

What if you made a bracket to sit across both front forks and attach the tongs to?
Something sort of in the shape of a figure eight where the forks go into the loops and the tongs attached to the middle.
If you did that, you could grab a log so that the heel of the log was about at the heel of the forks and then pick it up and load the trailer from the front or the back. I'm not sure if your loader has enough capacity for that, but it might if you were loading logs one at a time.

Aaron Z