Log arch, need some suggestions

[rbstern]

Nice porch!

 

[davedj1]

Horse drawn wagon wheels were large because large wheels reduce rolling resistance. Have seen horse drawn logging arches with 6 steel wheels. Reason for steel wheels was the needed for strength on the hill sides in Tellico Tennessee. Patterned my porch railing from those wheels.
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16 truck or trailer wheels and tires are tough and cheap. 3/4 - 1 ton truck full floating axles make cheap HD axle stubs.

3500# trailer axle stubs and hubs new are pretty cheap too. Square stubs are easy to weld. Option of different hub lug patterns. I壇 use the the largest wheels I could find.

Beautiful!

 

[sleepydeere]

It is looking good I have used amc older ones they have bolt on hubs on the front end and you can go from 12'' to 15'' tires on them also house trailer axles are good the ones with out brakes they have 14.5 tires and are very strong and they are 6000 pound axles

 

[sleepydeere]

that company built Quality I had a 6'S/O 6' scraper blade it was built like a tank

 

[rbstern]

Got the assembly finished, hubs and wheels mounted. Hooked it up to the golf cart hitch. Towed and maneuvered great. The walking beams and dual wheels per side really tame the towing behavior, making it very easy to control, even in reverse.

First thing this morning, tried it with a 12' pine log, about 1' diameter, maybe 400 to 500 lbs.

Big time failure. The 1/4" flange (previously the pivot for the scoop dirt bucket) where I mounted the walking beam axle (Cat 1 pin) wasn't up the challenge:



Was shocked it bent under this load. The pins and bushings were fine, as were the axle assemblies. Came to the realization that I needed a much more robust structure to mount the walking beam axle to. Decided to use the 2"x3" angle iron that had been the rear edge of the dirt scoop structure to make a box frame on both the left and right side of the arch. I cut away the damaged flanges, cut the angle iron to lengths, and ended up with this:



Lost a few inches of height (the flange had extended several inches below the frame angle iron), but gained some footprint width. After this mod, the same log was handled without issue:



Towed and maneuvered really well. Lifting went as expected. I need to add some type of inverted "V" structure below the front portion of the main tube, to keep the front of the log from swinging. I don't love the 1600lb winch I put on this. Couple of times, I felt like the gear pawl slipped out while I was lifting the log. That's a no-no. Might need to go with something higher quality, given the critical nature of that task.

So, a bit more tweaking, some further testing with heavier logs, and then paint.

 

[Jstpssng]

That looks good. One thing about building it yourself, if something breaks you know how to fix it.

 

[John_Mc]

With as much drop as you have on your walking beam assembly, you have created a large lever acting against the mounting point.

 

[pmsmechanic]

My question is what happens when your front wheel drops into a rut and the whole axle flips over. It wouldn't be the end of the world but it would be some work to set everything right again. Maybe add a piece of chain or a peg so that the axle can only articulate so far.

 

[Smokeydog]

Having the walking pin supported both sides and under the frame would be stronger. Narrowing the width too.

 

[rbstern]

With as much drop as you have on your walking beam assembly, you have created a large lever acting against the mounting point.

Agreed. Just surprised at how "easy" it was to bend 3" wide piece of 1/4" steel.