Log Dragging

[BrettW]

I just have a tow bar on the 3pt. with a 2 inch ball on it. Probably not the best arrangement even with the 3pt all the way down. Worse yet, I'll have to pull them up hill. More suggestions would be appreciated. No loader up front, bw

 

[MossRoad]

I've never used a dirt scoop, but sounds like it might work. There are several good threads by people with way more experience than me. You might want to search for "log" or "skid" and see what you get.

 

[Corm]

My father in law used to use something very similar to your dirt scoop idea. He had a contraption he made from on old barn shovel. He had removed the handle, welded a piece of pipe (about 8 inches) to the shovel where the handle was, at a 90 degree angle. In other words, if the shovel was flat on the ground, the piece of pipe was standing up like a flag pole. He then welded a small piece if sharpened re-bar to the piece of pipe at 90 degrees to the vertical plane, pointing to the open part of the shovel. He would slide this under the log, bang the sharpened rebar into the end of the log like a spike, and then drag it back to the barn. The shovel made a great 'sled' for the end of the log. He used this for years and was able to drag some real big logs with his little ole Allis Chalmers.

Sorry for the long explanation. Sometimes simple things are the hardest to explain... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

Happy Holidays everybody!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Corm

 

[RayBee]

I pulled logs for a few years with my Ferguson similar to the 3ptarrangement on your JD and had no problems.Slow speeds arekey to any arrangement you use. I used a 3pt boom pole with a chain attached close to the tractor rear and lifted the butt end of log a few inches off ground then attached a second chain to the clevis on the trailer hitch which was attached to & below the rear end. I also had no FEL, so added a ballast to front of tractor. ...RayBee

 

[MDNick]

All,

I highly recommend you NOT use a ball on the draw bar for this application. The ball is not designed for that. The ball mfgs caution against doing it. The tool of choice is shown in beenthere's closeup shot. Note the clevis attached to the drawbar. They are available at most good tractor dealerships. Bought mine for under $10.00. Included the pin to put it through the hole in the drawbar. And that is the real drawbar. That bar with all the holes on it that goes on a 3ph is not a draw bar. It's a bar with a bunch of holes in it that goes on a 3ph. You should NOT pull heay loads with this either. It's ok to use for light loads on a trailer, or CAREFULLY hauling a log if you can get it off the ground, and have a loader attached. As mentioned the loader will help in reducing the likelihood of a flip, but will only help. If the 3ph can't get the log of the ground, it's probably worse than just dragging by the drawbar. I like beenthere's setup. Gets the log well off the ground, can't dig in, and mostly keeps the dirt off of the log, which is important for later sawing operations. But it's still a good idea to have the FEL on there for front end ballast. Maybe even some dirt in the bucket.

Nick

 

[beenthere]

<font color=blue>""....the end of the log could be put in the scoop""<font color=black>

The idea sounds good, but after fetching many a log out of the timber with my logging tongs, I am thinking getting that log into the scoop will be a chore. Lifting the log by hand is not easy, if even possible. Normally, the first log is the butt log that is just off the stump, with the stump preventing backing straight up to it. With my tongs, I back up to that log at an angle, with the tongs lowered, then lift the log and am off.

Possibly with the scoop, a chain could be used (one end hooked to the top of the scoop 3pt attachment) to lift the log, and then, by putting something under the log to hold it up, the scoop could be backed under it, the chain shortened to keep it in the scoop, and then be off. I am not sure if the scoop is designed strong enough to carry the weight of the log without the edge bending.

 

[beenthere]

That sounds like a good combination of log end support. I started out in the early 60's with the tongs on an 8N Ford, with no weight on the front end (sometimes one or two guys would ride there if a big log (the biggest I remember was right at 24" diam, 8' long red oak!) was being pulled up through a ditch or up a steep grade). I then graduated to a TO-30 Ferguson. No weight on the front end, but just took it easy and trimmed the 3pt to the right height that the front end would stay down. Driving with the brakes was usually necessary as there was not much weight on the front wheels. By going slow, it is easy to control the load of the log. Now with the FEL, there is no hint of the front end being light.

 

[hazmat]

I use a twisted clevis at the drawbar

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.speeco.com/asp/display.asp?view=top&category=Twisted+Clevises>speeco Twisted Clevis</A>

 

[beenthere]

Re: Log Dragging (clevis)

Interesting, that when thinking about why one would use the twisted clevis versus the straight clevis, as to what the advantage of one over the other might be?

Seems the straight clevis has two degrees of freedom, whereas the twisted clevis only has one. Is that the advantage? I have both kinds, but I don't know when I would use one over the other.

 

[hazmat]

Re: Log Dragging (clevis)

<font color=blue>what the advantage of one over the other might be?</font color=blue>

Twisted clevis looks cooler!/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif/w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

When mounted on the drawbar, a twisted clevis is mostly horizontal in the middle vs a straight one that is mostly vertical. This allows me to drop the chain hook onto it, instead of from the side.

Any difference that matters? None that I can think of.