# Log dolly, harbor freight dolly, motobarrow, log arch, arbor trolley?



## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 9, 2015)

So, im on the hunt for a simple cost effective way to transport fire wood sized chunks of logs from the yard to the trailer. At the moment we just buck it and roll it if its too big to carry. I dont think many logs would weigh much more then the rated 600lbs that the "extra capacity wide dolly" at harbor freight. Im trying to keep cost low but if it brings up production or allows for less men on sight it may be worth a little more. I been racking my brain the past few days because we have a large oak removal coming up, then two moderate oaks that are in a hard to access spot. Even smaller powered equipment would be hard to get back there, and control when taking down the small slick hill. with a load. I have used two wheeled barrows before and think they suck, but ive never used a motorized one either. I dont think loading the logs would be too easy into the barrow... The log dolly is quite pricey for just a dolly but i have heard good things about it. menards sells an electric barrow but its only rated for 200lbs, and its electric. I really dont have the cash to shell out for the arbor trolley but that is my first choice if i could afford it. Im not sure log arch is right for what im trying to do as a lot of the trees we wreck are 30"+ and again we buck it into firewood sizes. most log arches i have seen are for logging operations. HELP my head hurts! Ideas comments exp. with some of these items? I mean what we are doing works, but it wears out guys fast and labor aint cheap, the more tired they are the slower they work...


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## Carburetorless (Jul 9, 2015)

I've carted some good sized chunks with my 600lb dolly. Just make sure you pressure the tires up till they're hard and it works pretty good.


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 9, 2015)

the harbor freight dolly? for 100 bucks it seems like the best deal. I have a pipe fitter friend who i was just talking to about building an arbor trolley, he said he has a bunch of 3/8 angle we could weld together to make box tubing for the main part and use the rest of the angle iron for the supports. i took out a dead maple for his mom last week so he kinda owes me.


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## Carburetorless (Jul 9, 2015)

I can't remember if I got the dolly I'm talking about at Northern Tool, Harbor Freight, or Lowe's, but it works pretty good. Think I got it for $20.

Anyway, by the time you burn up all the rods or wire to weld those together you could probably buy square tubing or flat.

Do you have a drawing of what you're going to build? I've had building a log carrier on my mind for a couple of years now, I've drawn out the plans and everything, just haven't gotten around to building the thing, but when I do it's going to be awesome.


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 9, 2015)

it doesnt have to be welded fully down the seams, just a nice inch weld every 6-10 inches will make me happy. and again its stuff he has laying around. If i go that route I will only have to buy rims tires and pins to hold the wheels on the axle.


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## Carburetorless (Jul 9, 2015)

You might want to look into wheels with tires and bearings already installed, with a castle nut to hold them on the axles, especially if you're going to be carting heavy objects across uneven terrain.


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 9, 2015)

Thanks ill keep that in mind!


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## TreeFeller11 (Jul 10, 2015)

Mini skid.... Work hard and save up for it, you won't regret it.
Until then tractor supply has a beefy 1000 lb. hand truck for $130.00. Me and several other companies near me own it and swear by it. The tires are big and perfect for lawns. And the handle sticks out far enough so you can lay it on the ground and load it up to the gills without the logs really rolling off.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/hand-truck-1000-lb-capacity


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 10, 2015)

Yeah something like a dingo is in my future im sure. Stump grinder bucket with grapple, and a million other uses, but out of my price range for the next few jobs for sure. The tractor supply dolly looks promising. i hadnt thought about them. proly the one hardware store in town i didnt think about. thanks TreeFeller


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## Magnum783 (Jul 10, 2015)

I just built my own arbor trolley. They aren't too bad I can post up some dimensions if you need them or want them. I feel like that and a two wheel borrow can't handle. Just my two cents.


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## Carburetorless (Jul 10, 2015)

I'm planning to build something like this.


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 10, 2015)

I want something like that when i start milling. Right now we need something small and easy to get in tight places but still make moving the load easier on the guy moving the load.


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## ATH (Jul 10, 2015)

I finally bit the bullet on the Arbor Trolley. It was expensive but it is great! I load the thing down and it really works...not on any kind of up hill slope with one person, but otherwise it is wonderful. I know you said it is out of your price range. I thought so too. When they had free shipping, I decided to do it. Don't miss that money now, and love the Trolley every time I use it.

imagineero made his own. Details in this thread:
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/arbor-trolley-tree-stuff.276626/


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 11, 2015)

so started on the arbor trolley this morning. heres a couple pics of my buddy Trevor welding some angle together to make the back bone of the trolley. Oh yeah and about half way into the mock up process, while cutting some 45s on the angle for the cradle i guess somehow a spark managed to work its way to a bucket of fireworks he had in the back corner. He said he thought he had them covered and forgot they were there left over from the 4th..... well thank god no one was hurt or killed but they went off right under a shelf of paint cans and right next to his big tanks of oxy and propane!


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## ATH (Jul 11, 2015)

Add that bucket of fireworks into the savings 

Was it least a good show?


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 11, 2015)

No thank god they were concussion mortars so they just go boom. i think thats why he had them left because they didnt do anything cool...lol yeah im almost thinking i should have just bought an arbor trolley for all the trouble this one has caused...lol He seemed to be a good sport about it... i mean he was running the grinder when everything went boom, but still...lol No real damage happened just the drywall coming down and it knocked everything off his walls in the house. Honestly for an hour after i still couldnt figure out how Trevor his buddy that was with us and i arnt dead.


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 11, 2015)

Oh yeah 3 3", 5-8 2", and a hand full of 1" mortar rounds.... that's a lot of big fire works. We found pieces of the bucket they were in, only a few and they were twisted and scorched.


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## ATH (Jul 11, 2015)

Wow...I guess I didn't catch that first picture was the after picture. That is quite the mess it made! Are your ears still ringing?


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## Carburetorless (Jul 12, 2015)

Wow; where did all the dirt come from, or is that spray in insulation?


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Jul 12, 2015)

insulation


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## square1 (Jul 12, 2015)

Not nearly as exciting as building your own Arbor Trolley next to a bucket of unspent fireworks, but I think two wheel tractor would be the cat's meow some days. Small, light, powerful (and sometimes) cheap!

http://lansing.craigslist.org/grd/5117501005.html


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## blades (Jul 12, 2015)

I have the Motobarrow conversion saves my tail on a couple jobs but still tiring as you are picking up the rear of the barrow. If using a poly bucket be careful how you load it -do not toss into it it will bust out. That said a rear caster assembly would be a big boost on it so no lifting. Only problem with 2 wheel tractor is straddling load connecting bar less it is something you can sit on ( sulky with a load area behind) CapstanWinch & wagon just got to set pull points, but not cheap on the chain saw motor driven one , Electrics worth their cost are notcheap either- drain a battery fast unless you set up a genny to charge battery. The winches will draw too much amp for use just with genny.


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## Carburetorless (Jul 12, 2015)

ATH said:


> Wow...I guess I didn't catch that first picture was the after picture. That is quite the mess it made! Are your ears still ringing?



My garage looks like that most of the time. lol


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## ATH (Jul 12, 2015)

Mine too....minus the insulation everywhere! But when I looked at the pictures, I didn't realize what that picture was showing compared to the others - wondering why they cleaned the garage just to weld...much easier to take it outside


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## Carburetorless (Jul 13, 2015)

ATH said:


> Mine too....minus the insulation everywhere! But when I looked at the pictures, I didn't realize what that picture was showing compared to the others - wondering why they cleaned the garage just to weld...much easier to take it outside



Yea, I'm not much into welding inside unless it's set up for welding. Fireworks = No go


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## Magnum783 (Jul 15, 2015)

Here is a pick of mine all done.


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## imagineero (Jul 16, 2015)

Looks like a good build. You might find those wheels need upgrading to something a little beefier/flatter. I started with pneumatic wheels similar to yours and found they pretty much just sank in the ground by the time you have a half tonne on the trolley. They bearings also failed after a couple weeks. I went for Large flat solid/gel wheels with heavy duty bearings rated for a half tonne and have had no problems since, we've gone well past the half tonne a few times and have had about 1700lbs on it at one point. It's amazing what you can get onto it as long as the load is balanced and the ground is flat and solid. 

You may also find you want to move the wheels close to the center of the cradle also. It's critical to get the load balanced over the centre of the wheels for the trolley to be easy to use. Unless you have the load hanging far out the back of the cradle I think you'll find there's too much weight on the handle.


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## Magnum783 (Jul 16, 2015)

Ok I agree totally on the wheels those were cheap and allowed me to experiment and find out how I would like it and how it would work for my operation. As far as centering the wheels I disagree they were placed there to allow it to be better used as a hand truck. I can stand it up wiggle in under a log and use the end to pick the log and quickly move it onto the wheels and out. You may be correct and at some point I may want to move the wheels forward. With the long handle you have ample leverage to pick it so that time has not set in.


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## arborlicious (Jul 16, 2015)

imagineero said:


> ... I went for Large flat solid/gel wheels with heavy duty bearings rated for a half tonne and have had no problems since, we've gone well past the half tonne a few times and have had about 1700lbs on it at one point...



Hey Shaun, where did you get those wheels from? Somewhere local or imported? I ended up importing the Stein Arbor Trolley - paid itself off after the first job (2 less groundies over 2 days.) I thought it would come with sealed precision ball bearings but actually has roller bearings (to suit the 1" axles.) 

Snowed in today...


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## Magnum783 (Jul 16, 2015)

I second the wheel sourcing info request.


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## ATH (Jul 16, 2015)

You could buy the Stein wheels at Tree Stuff.


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## Magnum783 (Jul 16, 2015)

ATH said:


> You could buy the Stein wheels at Tree Stuff.


What is the axle size as in diameter.


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## ATH (Jul 16, 2015)

1"


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## Magnum783 (Jul 17, 2015)

Really one inch well I could make that work with mine. Might just have to order me a set of those thanks for the info


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## imagineero (Jul 17, 2015)

arborlicious said:


> Hey Shaun, where did you get those wheels from? Somewhere local or imported? I ended up importing the Stein Arbor Trolley - paid itself off after the first job (2 less groundies over 2 days.) I thought it would come with sealed precision ball bearings but actually has roller bearings (to suit the 1" axles.)
> 
> Snowed in today...



From memory I think I got them from Masters hardware. Bunnings didn't have anything of that quality. They were $100 each, and came with 2 sets of bearings - 1" and 24mm so you can swap them out depending on your application. The bearings aren't top quality but the wheels themselves are very good, wide and a big space between the bearings which helps a lot. I used 1" shafts on mine. Those bearings are very common off the shelf components and can easily and cheaply replace them with good high quality sealed bearings from CBC, nachi etc for probably $5. I've had my trolley going for more than 6 months now and no issues. Prior to that we were wrecking a bunnings trolley every 2-3 weeks @$80 each. 

Can't imagine the arbor trolley would be a huge benefit in the mountains, seems like every house up there the site slopes upwards to get to the road :-( We were rained out today and yesterday too and I was kind of thankful for it. Had a couple of weeks of doing 5'+ trees and my body is stuffed. Had cranes on most of them but still hard climbing/cutting with a 660 all day long.


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## imagineero (Jul 17, 2015)




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## imagineero (Jul 17, 2015)

Big stumps = big grindings


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## blades (Jul 17, 2015)

I have some silver maple coming later- I expect by the time it is all bucked to size there will in excess of 2 cubic yards worth of saw chips and noodles.


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## arborlicious (Jul 17, 2015)

imagineero said:


> Can't imagine the arbor trolley would be a huge benefit in the mountains, seems like every house up there the site slopes upwards to get to the road :-(



Yeah, you're right about the slope but I still reckon two people pushing a loaded arbor trolley can move more material than 3-4 dragging. Of course it looks easy when I'm in the tree and others are pushing the trolley :> It only comes out maybe once a month when there's a lot of material to move more than 150' and no hydraulic pressure options are available.

Nice work on the big tree.


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Sep 1, 2015)

Finally almost done! need to drill a few holes in the axle for some keeper pins to keep the wheels in place, and a hole for the pin for the handle. Then it will be hitting it with a wire wheel and paint! I cant wait to put this thing to good use! It is pretty heavy, but im hoping that we will be able to abuse the poor thing and not worry too much about it.


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## Wayne Wilkinson (Sep 2, 2015)

So it may be heavy, it may be ugly, but when you load it down it rolls smooth and easy. If you go to roll it around unloaded, it seems like its going to be heavy and hard to move, once some weight is put back there it off sets the front well the Handle bar is wide enough for two guys to get a good grip on so it shouldnt be hard to move even loaded down. We have talked about welding a trailer tongue to the front of it just so the cushman could pull it around the job site. We are going to play with it tomorrow, wish me luck!


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