Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Oldpath05]

So its a pine tree that dies and remains standing , don't think it matters how it died,. all the sap settles back down into the stump and super-saturates it. Not sure about the latest fad thing, its been in use for millennia.. or something. Its just a matchlight thing no paper needed, works nice. I have 4 stumps harvested off my land here, one my tractor struggled with picking it up to move it... and now I want to process it and I'll have a lifetime supply of it to start my fires with.

Excellent, I cant wait for the movie, love to see a bandsaw going threw a stump........

 

[Oldpath05]

Not really a tractor, but it will be used like one on occasion:

I bought this 1952 M37 Truck a couple of weeks ago - mostly to have a vehicle with some character to drive around on local trips and occasionally take in the woods to grab firewood.

I'll be fixing up or replacing a few things on it, but the intent is to keep that "it's been around the block a few times" look, not to have a showpiece. Still need to figure out how I'm going to address the fact that it has a pintle hitch, and all of my trailers are set up for a 2" ball.

I like that it still has the fold-up troop transport seats in the back. I may look in to adding the hoops and canvas top over the back. The current tires are 11.00x16 which are a few inches oversized for this vehicle. I'll probably eventually switch them back to 9.00x16 which was the stock size,

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To me that is in the category of to big and to small, I'd rather have a WWII Willys Jeep and or a Army 6x6...........

 

[Molalla1]

Not really a tractor, but it will be used like one on occasion:

I bought this 1952 M37 Truck a couple of weeks ago - mostly to have a vehicle with some character to drive around on local trips and occasionally take in the woods to grab firewood.

I'll be fixing up or replacing a few things on it, but the intent is to keep that "it's been around the block a few times" look, not to have a showpiece. Still need to figure out how I'm going to address the fact that it has a pintle hitch, and all of my trailers are set up for a 2" ball.

I like that it still has the fold-up troop transport seats in the back. I may look in to adding the hoops and canvas top over the back. The current tires are 11.00x16 which are a few inches oversized for this vehicle. I'll probably eventually switch them back to 9.00x16 which was the stock size,

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John M . . . very nice!!

 

[Oldpath05]

I remember when I had to do all this work my self, nit sure if my arms can take it anymore guess that's one good thing of having kids. All done with the hard part, now it's time to play pick-up wood.

New Stihl 261MS - YouTube

 

[goeduck]

Every time I wear chaps I have wear suspenders to hold them up from dragging on the ground, I thought it was (one size fits most), I'll look for the high water chaps next time.

Not too high of water unless you have high ankle protection on your boots, not just leather. :shocked:

 

[hunt4570]

Excellent, I cant wait for the movie, love to see a bandsaw going threw a stump........

Ya think Rick will help me?

 

[John_Mc]

To me that is in the category of to big and to small, I'd rather have a WWII Willys Jeep and or a Army 6x6...........

I bought it mostly for fun, but it will work in the woods as well. I considered a Willy Jeep, but wanted something with more cargo space & weight capacity. I was also concerned about the Willys' ability to haul my log forwarding trailer. I would be limited to towing the empty trailer and would be over the Willys' "off-road" towing limit even with the empty trailer. It would get pushed around far too much pulling the loaded trailer down out of the woods. The cargo and towing capacities of the M37 are a better match for what I want to do, and at just under 6000# empty, it's far less likely to get pushed around by the trailer on the hills in my woods. It's far more suited to woods work than a modern pickup: at 112" it has significantly shorter wheelbase than the shortest F150 (and FAR shorter than the 4 door supercabs that are so popular these days), higher ground clearance, much higher approach and departure angles (and this is with the stock size tires. All of that is another step up with the current tires). All of that is a significant factor when trying to drive through the waterbars and broad-based dips installed on my woods trails to control erosion. It's about 2 feet shorter and 6" narrower than a regular cab F150. It's rated for 3/4 ton payload off road, 1 ton on the road.

I would not be driving this if I were doing firewood to make a living. There are certainly more practical vehicles for that. However, for my needs - having some fun while harvesting my own firewood and helping out about a half dozen other families, in addition to working with our local WoodBank firewood donation program. My tractor is certainly a significantly better choice for working in the woods, especially since it is set up for that type of work. However, the tractor is a pain in the neck when I need to move between properties: Most of my work is on my own property, but I regularly make a 35 minute tractor drive to another forested parcel I own jointly with several other local families. That drive in the tractor gets old really quickly. It's a real pain in the neck when I need to travel further. (I don't own a trailer that will tow the tractor.) The M37 will tow the trailers I need, get me there in a reasonable time, and can handle the off road work when I get there. There are still situations where I'll need the tractor (the winch on the truck, or even the one on the forwarding trailer, is no substitute for the logging winch on the tractor, and the grapple on the front end of the tractor really comes in handy)

It's not fast: top speed was rated at 55 MPH, but no one I know actually runs them that fast for any length of time - at least not with the stock engine. It's more comfortable at about a 40 MPH cruise. But it will take a beating and go places where typical current production pickups just won't go. Once I get it set up with a receiver hitch (or possible a combination ball/pintle hitch to preserve some of the original look) it will go to work. I will be upgrading the brakes, and wiring the trailer connector to allow installation of a brake controller. If I ever do some engine mods or an engine swap to upgrade the power and top speed, I'll probably sell my Tacoma. It's nice on the road, and does some work in the woods on my better trails, but woods work is really not its strong point.

 

[John_Mc]

Not too high of water unless you have high ankle protection on your boots, not just leather. :shocked:

Yeah, I like my chaps/chainsaw pants just barely touching the laces on the top of my foot. I used to just wear leather hiking boots or my steel toed work boots with them. The rubber chainsaw boots I had were OK in wet conditions, but were just too uncomfortable to wear if I had much walking to do. When our county forester almost lost if foot in a chainsaw accident, I figured that was a not-so-subtle message that I should look into something with chainsaw cut protection that was also comfortable enough to wear whenever I was out in the woods with a saw.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I bought it mostly for fun, but it will work in the woods as well. I considered a Willy Jeep, but wanted something with more cargo space & weight capacity. I was also concerned about the Willys' ability to haul my log forwarding trailer. I would be limited to towing the empty trailer and would be over the Willys' "off-road" towing limit even with the empty trailer. It would get pushed around far too much pulling the loaded trailer down out of the woods.

I think you made an excellent choice. Love OD and love the look of those old military trucks. They were made to work and take a beating, there is no doubt about that. Make sure you upload some pics of that thing working!

 

[John_Mc]

I think you made an excellent choice. Love OD and love the look of those old military trucks. They were made to work and take a beating, there is no doubt about that. Make sure you upload some pics of that thing working!

Will do, but it may be a little bit. I at least have to get the brake work done before it does much working. If I'm lucky, I'll get to that late this week or early next. Fortunately for me, a good friend here in town is in the business of restoring old Dodge Power Wagons and military trucks like the M37.