pulling logs out of the woods.....

[10acreheaven]

Hello,

I have lots of fallen trees down a hill on my property. The slope is too much to drive any thing down. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas to pull out logs. I will cut the trees up before they get hauled up. My idea was to make a sled and pull it up with the tractor. Or maybe some type of PTO driven capstan winch.... Any body ever built one? Bring on the comments! Thanks guys!

 

[MossRoad]

My first question is why do you want them out? If they aren't harming anything, just let them rot. If you want them for firewood, lumber, clearing out wildfire fuel, etc... well, then, lets get em out. :laughing:

And welcome to TBN!

To start, how big of logs are we talking here?
And how steep and far down the hill are they?

 

[newbury]

There are many yarding systems.
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/logging/manual/yarding/example_systems.html

For instance a zig-zag yarder may fit your needs.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_037923.pdf

There's a whole forest of information on small scale yarding
https://www.google.com/search?q=small+scale+yarding&oq=small+scale+yarding&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

good luck.

 

[oosik]

Do you have the room to pull the trees down the hill? Pull them down, limb, cut to length, load on a trailer or drag from there.

 

[OZisKTB]

Can you use a log arch like this one? You hook the log, then the arch supports it while you wench it up the hill.

Fetching Arch - LogRite Tools LLC

 

[dave1949]

Unless you build it yourself, or have a lot logs to bring up, the skidding arch might be too expensive. ~$1750. Nice though.

Here is a skid plate that costs $250, or would be much easier to build yourself.
TIMBER TUFF

I guess a lot depends on how smooth the hill is and how many obstacles there are.

 

[motownbrowne]

Skidding winch. Look for a used farmi or Norse.

 

[10acreheaven]

Sky line would be sweet.....but a little more involved than I wanted to get. Yes it will be firewood. And the log skid is a good idea too.

 

[s219]

Setup a fairlead with pulley block high in a tree at the top of the hill. Run 5/8" or 3/4" logging rope over fairlead and down to logs, using a chain as choker on the last 6-8' to avoid wear and tear on rope. At top of hill, tie tractor/truck/etc to other end of the rope and pull.

Ideally, the fairlead will be high enough to elevate the butt of the log off the ground so it will drag up hill easier. Adjust height and/or log size to make it feasible. You just want the tail end of the log dragging on the ground.

I've done this many times and it works well.

 

[Pilot]

How far? How steep?

I'm a retired forester, sale planner 30 years ago, but I pretty much dealt with much larger logs--the kind where we planned for logging 20-50+" logs using a skyline system reaching out 2,000+ feet, lifting a 10,000 pound load. As I said, that was 30 years ago, so I am a little out of practice.

If I was contemplating hauling small logs uphill I would look at the standing trees at the hilltop & see if I could rig a block 6, 8 or maybe 10 feet up in several of them. Then a cable down to the logs and pulled up by a tractor running across flat ground at the top of the hill, moving the block from tree to tree to keep the logs going as straight up the hill as possible. The block in the trees gives the front of the logs some lift to keep them from digging a trench as they go up. Run the tractor slowly because the logs can get stuck on obstacles and you don't want a surprise sudden stop. If the trees at the hilltop are the same size or smaller than the logs you are pulling you'll want to guy them to support them.

Don't try to use a lot of power. I saw a 24" hemlock cut in half when a cable splice on a skyline gave way & the cable whipped around. That was a big system with a several thousand feet of skyline, but you get the idea.