Log trailer build

   / Log trailer build #12  
What size logs/ how much weight are you planning on carrying? Do you have any hills or is it all flat ground? When I first built my house I was using an older 3 wheeler to haul log sections that were about 4 feet long. Anything more than about 4 12" diameter logs would be about all I could safely move, but I have a couple hills to go down. A quad is heavier so it'll handle more. My current trailer is one I made and uses standard 5.70x8 tires.

I'm in the collecting phase to make a new trailer. It's going to have much wider golf cart tires (18x8.5-8). I made the trailer deck as low as possible. This means having fenders inside the trailer. For wood it's never been an issue. Having it low means less lifting to get wood into it and a lower center of gravity means it's less likely to tip. I used the springs and axle from a small trailer so it goes over uneven ground better than the garden tractor cart I had been using and having bearings vs bushings is much nicer. I think ATV tires would work well but they are taller than a golf cart tire.
 
   / Log trailer build #13  
I have a 6x10 7000# dual axle dump trailer I plan on using for my firewood wagon. My plans call for a boom and winch mounted on the trailer tongue. I should be able to haul a cord of oak at a load behind a full size pickup truck. The side on my trailer are removable and I can use stakes if I chose to, but I have loaded that trailer many times with a fel and have just kept the regular sides on it. I normally just cut the wood into 10ft lenghts and haul home. I will lay a couple of poles behind the trailer and then raise the dump and drive out from under the logs. This way the wood is setting off the ground until I find time to process it into firewood. I think having the boom will help with my wood harvesting in that I can use the winch to pull the logs up to the trailer and load without needing another piece of equipment to load them on the trailer.
 
   / Log trailer build #14  
Here's my trailer. It's really a car trailer I built, but I haul logs/firewood on it in long lengths. The first few times I hauled long lengths there was a tractor available at the site and we used that to load the logs.

The last few sites I didn't have a tractor with a frontend loader, so I started to devise some sort of loading system. The first thing I did was go to harbor freight and buy their 12000 winch on sale. That thing works really good so far. I then needed a way to get the logs up on the back of the trailer and to also load them on top of each other. The first version is shown below, it's a hinged bar with rollers on it. The height is adjustable by the winch mounted on the far side in the picture on one of the standards.



I did get the wood that is shown in the picture loaded with this first gizmo. The first problem I had, the first log I tried to load was a big one, and the little winch operating the bar would not pick it up. After that, the winch was strong enough for the rest of the wood, but there were other problems. Stobs or short broke-off branches on the bottom side of the logs would hang up on the bar/rollers. Also, I had several short rollers covering the bar, one long roller would have been better.

I didn't like the way it turned out, so the next plan I formulated was to build a sort of gantry crane off the standards with a long I-beam down the center up high, with a trolley. The trolley would have a pulley. The 12000lb winch cable would go through the trolley pulley and could be locked. The trolley could also be locked to the I-beam out at the tail end of the trailer. My plan was to move the trolley out to the tail and lock it. Then use the big winch to skid the log, and then let the log start going up to the trolley. Once it was high enough, I was going to lock the cable, but unlock the trolley, and let the winch pull the trolley/log up onto the trailer. I started on this idea, but what stopped me was the i-beam. It was very heavy, and the whole system was getting complicated. Whatever I build needs to come off without too much trouble, after all the trailer is a car trailer also.

What I have done now is to take the system I had in the picture above, and move the hinge point back to the very rear of the trailer and remounted it. I then made a wooden square frame that fit down inside the metal frame, and made it solid with with wood. It turned into sort of a wooden ramp, hinged dovetail that goes right to the ground to skid the logs up on the trailer. One other trick I am going to try, the wooden ramp is hinged to the metal frame. So after I get the first layer of logs on the trailer, I can hinge the wooden ramp up to lift the skidded logs a little higher hopefully over the first layer of logs already on the trailer. I have yet to try this latest version.
 
   / Log trailer build #15  
Those guys on the forestry, lumber, and arborist forums have done this a time or two.

Here's one writeup of a lifting arch:
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/...SID=0052a508fbd831bc23099e84a1bebe9d#msg94732

Another common way is called parbuckling. If your log stakes fold down to the ground from the bunks on one side, or you can put down posts or ramps of some kind, and you have either a winch on the other side of the trailer or another pull vehicle (or can unhitch to load without the trailer becoming unsteady, a big if) then you can run a loop of chain or cable out, each end each attached to one of your bunks, and the middle goes out under the log, then back up the far side over top and back toward trailer, then on to the winch or tow vehicle. The loop will now roll the log as it pulls instead of sliding, as well moving twice as far as the log (increases the effective pull). Old timers would even do this with their horses or mules.
Parbuckle - Loading logs the easy way - by mart @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,18503.0.html
 
   / Log trailer build #16  
Those guys on the forestry, lumber, and arborist forums have done this a time or two.

Here's one writeup of a lifting arch:
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/...SID=0052a508fbd831bc23099e84a1bebe9d#msg94732

Another common way is called parbuckling. If your log stakes fold down to the ground from the bunks on one side, or you can put down posts or ramps of some kind, and you have either a winch on the other side of the trailer or another pull vehicle (or can unhitch to load without the trailer becoming unsteady, a big if) then you can run a loop of chain or cable out, each end each attached to one of your bunks, and the middle goes out under the log, then back up the far side over top and back toward trailer, then on to the winch or tow vehicle. The loop will now roll the log as it pulls instead of sliding, as well moving twice as far as the log (increases the effective pull). Old timers would even do this with their horses or mules.
Parbuckle - Loading logs the easy way - by mart @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,18503.0.html

I was going the parbuckling route also. It's really the only way to load really large logs. I started into it and was figuring how to get the logs to roll over the tires. Then figuring how to parbuckle the second layer of logs over the first layer on the trailer. What I didn't really like about the parbuckling idea was how the logs need to be staged before they can be loaded. If you load the logs from the rear, you just need to get the trailer in the general vicinity, and then with the long cable on the winch you can skid the logs some distance from the trailer. With the parbuckle idea you really need a tractor to skid the logs alongside the trailer. That along with being a little fiddley and slow discouraged me from pursuing it.

Same with the arch. It's a little fiddley, you have to keep re-positioning the chain on the log. It's a powerful method, but does not have much travel to it.
 

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