Carrying Firewood with Compact Tractor

[TractorMan6635]

So, I own a Ford 1520 with a 3pt hitch and a loader. I work by myself on firewood and most projects. The firewood I get is a 2 mile drive through my field by tractor. I have a John Deere Gator but, I need the loader on the tractor to lift trees and move them around and I'm not sure the Gator will make it cross the creek that I need to cross to get to the area that I cut. I have been putting the wood in my bucket on the loader and I can only fit like 20 pieces of wood in the bucket. I need something to put on the 3pt but I'm not sure what to do. I can get a scrap box blade or metal to use. I'm a mechanic and welder so I am more than capable of making something. Just need ideas. No, I can't just pull my trailer back there because I don't know that I can make some of the turns that I need to. Thanks for your help guys!

You could used a link box, it goes on the three point linkage and is designed to carry things like wood, they are made by NC and Nugent, it's basically a loader for the back

 

[dickfoster]

I agree the weight may be significant. Seeing as in the winter months it will get tons of weight put on it weekly, I would be willing to sacrifice weight for support. I have no interest replacing these a few times a year. I possibly could just reinforce the wood with metal. How does that sound?

Sounds good to me. Maybe string a couple of cables, aircraft cabling, across the tops of the sides to support the side loading on the sides. Maybe simple pallet like bottom that you could likely scrooge to get things off to a good start. some common 2X4s to make the sides and some plywood here and there and you're done. Pallet forks front and rear and all of a sudden you're hauling a whole lotta wood per trip and your stacking time is likely at least cut in half. Stack once into the pallet and again at the house.

 

[tcreeley]

I picked up a carryall at tractor supply, bolted a floor on it and used it for wood. It worked well. - Same carry all with some sides and front. I have a hydraulic cylinder up top and it can dump. I had to drop the 3 pt pins down to the corner so that I could lift it high enough to dump for a good angle. I use it now mostly for irrigation water in a barrel in the summer.

 

[Argonne]

Years back, I was growing pumpkins in a field about 1/4 mile from the house. I used an Agrifab 4 wheel steerable trailer behind the tractor along with the bucket to transport the harvested pumpkins home. The small trailer allowed me to keep my access roads in the field narrow, which made harvesting much more convenient.

It so happens I also had a 2 wheel dump version of the trailer, also by Agrifab. Sitting there looking at the trailers one day, I noticed that the 4 wheel trailer had a cut-out in the rear axle bracket about the width of a drawbar. I pulled up the 2 wheel trailer behind the 4 wheel, and the drawbar and hitch slid perfectly into the slot, and a single standard small hitch pin dropped in to connect the additional trailer to the lead trailer.

This began my practice of me harvesting pumpkins with my JD2210 and a string of Agrifab trailers dutifully following me around, much to the hilarity of the "real" farmers unloading at the grain elevator I passed each trip. Since we heated with wood, I also adapted the string to harvesting fire wood, and it worked great. Like you, I needed the end-loader at the site, but it wouldn't carry much wood by itself, so I would just drive there with the trailer string, load them with the loader, and then hook the string back up and tow them home.

I just looked at Agrifab's current offerings, and I don't see the same 4 wheel steerable trailer still offered, although the 2 wheel dumps look the same. I gotta think that some Chinese knock-off manufacturer is still producing that successful design with the cut out in the rear axle bracket that makes the whole thing possible.

I still have one 4 wheel trailer and one 2 wheel trailer. I could string them together and take pics if there is interest.

EDIT: Hey, I just found a couple of old pics from when I started using the cart train. Here are pics of 2 carts behind my JD212:

 

[Xfaxman]

You might get some ideas from this thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/303328-tractors-wood-show-your-pics.html

 

[CalG]

I use the 3pt scoop bucket .

They come in handy for other material moving tasks as well, they hold a fair amount of cut fire wood, and are not expensive. The load stays on in rough going, but also dumps with a pull of the latch string.
A full front bucket, and a full rear scoop bucket is a fair amount of wood depending on cut length.
I pull a small trailer hooked to the scoop bucket when it makes sense.

 

[ovrszd]

I built this box several years ago. Used a QH on the 3pt so I could pick it up/set it down easily. It survived my shop fire and I now use it on my JD.

 

[/pine]

I was thinking about possibly doing a pallet fork style carry-all, making a steel pallet with high steel sides that I could then just use to drop and off the wood at the pile and stacking later. I could at a later time make a second pallet just like the original so I could drop the first pallet off and then grab another and do more without doing as much stacking. Right now, I take the bucket and just drop the wood in a big pile by the stack and usually don't get to stacking it for like a month. Not the most efficient.

I use 3PH pallet forks and pallets salvaged from rock suppliers...they have wire cages already fastened to the pallets.
Most of the rock places around here just burn the pallets and are glad to get rid of them...for storage I just throw a lid over a loaded pallet...I've found that tarps just attract ants etc...

 

[Gordon Gould]

I have a carryall and a trailer that can haul 3000 lb. I can get 1/4 cord on the carryall and over a half cord in the trailer. In the woods I can make tighter turns with the trailer than I can with the carryall because the trailer follows well. If it was me with a 2 mile trip and a brook crossing I would go with a trailer if at all possible. But that is just me.





gg

 

[2ndhalf]

Buy this and weld on an extension so that you get the dumping capability of the dirt scoop. Just make it a little bigger.

3pt Reversible Dirt Scoop 3"