Firewood Gathering With A Power Trac

[J_J]

If you should use the 8 GPM's on the 425, there is a valve made by Prince that has a fast extend mode that will save some time. It does not work with a 2 stage pump.

Prince also have those two lever log splitter valves that are automatic after setting the levers.

 

[MossRoad]

So 5 years later and I'm still burning firewood! :laughing:

I fell and limb the trees that are usually 12" and under locust, very much like telephone pole sized trees. Then I take the PT425 into the woods, usually with my forks, and either drag them out with a chain or carry them cross-wise with the forks. Carrying them cross-wise with the forks goes very fast, but it requires me to cut the trees into 8' lengths or they won't fit down my narrow trails. So I'd rather drag 20-30 footers if at all possible to save some cutting time. Problem with dragging is it requires me to get off the tractor, un-stow the chain, chain up the log, get on the tractor, drag log to landing, get off the tractor, unchain, stow the chain and go get the next one. Get kinda tedious after 30-40 trees.

I was playing around with building a grapple, but after several experiments, I realized a couple things...

A grapple weighs quite a bit and that takes away quite a bit of lifting capacity from the little PT425's 800 pound lift (at the QA plate) since it would hang out a foot or two at least and was a bit over-kill for what I was doing.

So last week I ordered lifting tongs from from Northern Tool...

Roughneck Lifting Tongs — 16in. Jaw Opening, 750 Lb. Capacity, Model# 2504Q046 | Log Skidding Lifting Tongs| Northern Tool + Equipment

For $29.00 I figured I'd give it a shot.

I put it on my ring like this into my 2" receiver that's mounted on a QA plate.



That QA plate has been used for various projects, like a soil slicer and a pipe puller, so there's a heavy angle iron sticking up that's perfect for wrapping a chain around.

And I took it out in the back yard this morning and tried it out on my spare telephone pole (doesn't everyone have a spare telephone pole?).

Works pretty darn good. I just drove up to the pole, lowered it down, it opened itself as it slipped around the pole and when I raised the loader arms it grabbed the pole and lifted it right up. Then I set it back down and had to get off the tractor to remove it from the pole and set it to the side. That was quick and painless. I hope to take it to our property next weekend and give it a workout. I'll take more pictures.

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[SpringHollow]

I have used a set of tongs on my lifting boom to drag out logs and sometimes to load a trailer. Using a boom allows you to release the tongs by lowering completely and then driving forward and to the side. The swinging mini hoe is nicer to use.

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

I have used a set of tongs on my lifting boom to drag out logs and sometimes to load a trailer. Using a boom allows you to release the tongs by lowering completely and then driving forward and to the side. The swinging mini hoe is nicer to use.

Ken

I thought about putting it on a longer stick for just that reason and never getting off the tractor again! :laughing:

However, I know that would increase the leverage and as it is, I frequently get the rear off the ground with just the chain so I wanted to retain as much of the lift ability as possible.

An option I'm considering is to mount a thin steel cable to one of the tong fingers and through a loop on top of that angle iron, back up to the canopy with a pull handle. Then I could just pull that cable to release the tongs. I'll give it a try as-is over the next couple trips to the firewood factory and see how it goes.

 

[cqaigy2]

I like the lifting tongs! I'm going to do that for sure.

 

[SpringHollow]

I thought about putting it on a longer stick for just that reason and never getting off the tractor again! :laughing:

However, I know that would increase the leverage and as it is, I frequently get the rear off the ground with just the chain so I wanted to retain as much of the lift ability as possible.

An option I'm considering is to mount a thin steel cable to one of the tong fingers and through a loop on top of that angle iron, back up to the canopy with a pull handle. Then I could just pull that cable to release the tongs. I'll give it a try as-is over the next couple trips to the firewood factory and see how it goes.

You might need to put a crossmember on the angle for the cable setup.

Have you tried pushing the tongs all the way down so the log is forcing them open and then drive forward a few inches while turning the PT or are you just lowering until they unhook? Extending the hitch 12 - 18" would make that easier and would make accessing the logs a little easier if you can not do it as is.

One other possibility - I wonder if it would work better for you if the clevis were connected to the ring with two pieces of chain instead of directly - might let them open more.

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, I was thinking of a cross member out to one side, perhaps an L with the ring for the pull cable on the top of the L and the bottom of the L welded to the side of the angle iron. That would allow me to still store the chain wrapped around the angle and not have the pull cable interfere with the chain.

The way I have it now, the chain hooks onto the angle, goes through ring on the hitch, through the ring on the tongs, and back up through the ring on the hitch, then there's probably 8' of chain wrapped around the angle for storage. I like taking the long chain into the woods. It helps to get stuff I can't get the PT directly to.

I haven't experimented much with the tongs and the telephone pole, as you can see in the picture, I had to come at it on and angle because the pole was buried a couple inches on the end due to the cana lilly bed that's on the inside and end of the pole. We just cut them down last weekend and I don't want to damage them.... we only have 350 of them left!

I'll play around with trying to push down to open and then turning to remove when I get out to the woods. That would be the bees knees if I never ever had to get off the tractor ever again in my entire life!!! :laughing: Thanks for the tips! I'll let you know how it goes. :thumbsup:

 

[woodlandfarms]

Hmmm... I have 2 sets of those tongs... never could make them work right. Because I cut down so many trees at atime I now just grapple to a bundle then put a logging cable around them and drag them out.

I need to be careful, I have put on some serious weight since I bought the PT.... clearly this machine is aming to kill me by how little labor I need to do, I mean implement connection? I once had to get off the tractor to align something but, that was on a big slope.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, I've packed on the pounds since giving up manual labor, too. :dance1:

 

[ponytug]

You guys are clearly better at this than I am. I moved 50 cu yards of compost on Sunday ahead of the rains, and while the PT did a lot, I still shoveled some, and I was definitely sweating and getting my exercise.

Perhaps my bar for exercise is lower...

Love my PT. Spreading the compost a cubic yard at a time was great, after rototilling the whole pile first. I can't imagine how many days it would have taken with a wheelbarrow.

All the best,

Peter

Yeah, I've packed on the pounds since giving up manual labor, too. :dance1: