Hauling fire wood

jnelson · Feb 22, 2014

Thought some here might like to see how we use our CC 6284 to haul fire wood. We heat with wood and our main pile is stacked on a hill top near the back of our 40 acres where wind and sun can season it and we have plenty of room for our large piles. When winter rolls around I put tire chains on all four wheels and add a lot of front suitcase weights to the 6284 to provide traction in the ice and snow. Usually in winter we get enough breaks in the weather that we can pull a trailer out back to bring loads up as we need it. Not this winter!

With the record amounts of snow fall and below zero temps we have had to abandon the trailer. Actually, the trailer is buried in a snow drift at the back of the hill where we stuck it trying to get to our wood back in late December. We figure it should be thawed out by the middle of June. :duh:

Bringing wood down using just the front loader involved way too many trips so I went to Rural King and bought a 3 pt carry-all (something I had thought about purchasing in the past for hauling duties in the past). I fastened a piece of 1" plywood on the bottom and a heavy wire grate in the back and off we headed up our snow drifted woodland trails to get our wood.

In most of January and February the blizzards have buried us and the snow was so deep on the trails that it came up over the top of the front tires. Without the tire chains and added weight for traction we would never have gotten anywhere. Moving through the deep snow was still very tough going and required care not to stick the tractor itself. In spite of the deep snow we have been able to bring down loads of wood (with both the carry-all and front loader stacked) to keep ourselves in wood enough to stay cozy.

When the 6284 has not been serving wood hauling duty it has been very busy keeping our long driveway dug out using the front loader since the snow has been so deep there was no where to plow it and it was too much for our snow blower. I am very glad that I installed an engine block heater (the kind that installs in place of a freeze plug in the engine block) since I am sure the diesel engine would have never started in the extreme cold temps we have endured this winter otherwise.

JN

Johnny g · Feb 22, 2014

That looks like a good load, from the pictures I see more wood against the building, assuming you have more than one load on hand at all times. How long will one load last? I keep enough at home inside to get me through the winter & well into next one, this year not so much, soon will be into next winters stash. Located at the southern tip of Georgian Bay near Owen Sound, cold like I cannot remember.

jnelson · Feb 22, 2014

We burn between two and four full tractor loads like in the picture per week depending on how cold it is. The furnace is a hot air model that sits near the house outside and is ducted into the heating vents. We have not used our propane furnace in six years now except to quickly warm up the house if we don't get home until late in the evening and the fire has gone out. Usually though we get home before it goes out on weekday evenings and we often go three or four weeks between having to start a new fire.

In previous years we have been able to use a trailer to bring wood down - enough for 1 - 2 weeks worth in a large load. We also used to store more dry wood in our machine shed but a tree fell on it in a storm last fall bashing in the roof so that was not available to us this year. But with the addition of the 3 pt carry-all the CC 6284 has been doing a great job for us. It's really amazing where I can go with it in the deep snow and ice with the chains and added weight on it.

My wife and I were discussing earlier today how much money we have saved this winter by not having to buy propane for heating. With the sharp jump in propane prices we have saved thousands of dollars this year. Not bad if you don't mind the cutting and splitting to have the fire wood to burn - and we enjoy it.

JN

JN

Looking4new · Feb 22, 2014

That is some really good looking wood.

BuilderML · Feb 23, 2014

I know its a tractor but make sure you don't scratch that great looking rig.:thumbsup:

jnelson · Feb 24, 2014

The wood is mostly white oak with some red oak and cherry mixed in. We try to cut, split and stack a year ahead so that it is reasonably well seasoned by the time we burn it.

The tractor just turned over 400 hrs this past weekend. We celebrated by going up for another load!

Here are some more pics. Notice we use the bucket with a chain and lag bolts to lift big rounds onto our splitter powered by our Ingersoll 4120 garden tractor. You can also see the trailer that we normally use to move the wood in summer and in 'normal' winter weather. You can also see that our greyhound (Scout) can't understand why we put all that work into making the firewood and then we turn around and burn it - makes no sense!