Fall -- the best time to mill ?

[mtngun]

Finally made it back to the woods. A 19" doug fir blowdown.

Bucked into three 12' logs.

Thick bark. Unfortunately, this log had some pitch cracks. They will split when the boards dry.

It's nice to be able to mill without fighting the heat.

16 boards, topped with firewood.

Unfortunately, while driving home, the GMC skidder skidded on an icy stretch and skidded into the ditch. :msp_sneaky: I had walk home about 5 miles, and tomorrow I'll try to beg for help getting out of the ditch.

 

[john taliaferro]

That stinks after a days work ,were gonna need a picture or two . What angles do you run on ripping chain i can't remember where i read it . Barn is sure looking good

 

[mtngun]

John, I've been experimenting with slightly different cutter angles and raker angles.

Mostly I use 5 degree top plate, 40 degree hook (yes, you read that right, same as Malloff though he called it 50 because he measured from vertical), 0 degree tilt.

I've been all over the place on rakers but am currently favoring 7 to 8 degrees.

The downside to the aggressive hook and raker is that it sometimes produces a washboard finish. Doesn't matter for my purposes, but your mileage may vary.

It was too dark for pics when I slid into the ditch, but trust me, the truck is in a bad way. No damage to the truck that I could see, but it's leaning precariously. I'll have to unload the wood before attempting a pull. Aaargh.

The rear brakes went out on the GMC earlier this year and I hadn't had time to fix them, so I've been driving around the woods with only front brakes. With a heavy load of 12' lumber, the front end was very light and didn't have much traction on the icy road. It was a bad combination.

 

[SDB777]

Guess us southern folks think of fall as something different.....there ain't no snow in the fall around here. Just pleasant temps of anywhere around 35-75*, purty leaves, and deer hunting.....

Sounds like a good day milling went bad in a few moments. That suxs!! Hope you get the ride out, and nothing is broke!







Scott B

 

[betterbuilt]

rack

Well I'm not sure where the heading came from. That's twice this thing has added stuff to a post. Oh yeah I started to type head ache rack and the cursur disappeared. I guess I know where it went.

Nice pic's as always mtngun.

I put my truck in a ditch about a month ago and it wasn't fun. I had to have a tractor with a log skidder pull me out. We had to make three different attempts because I had found a buried stream or something and my front tire wouldn't come out. The sad part was I had just sand blasted the frame and put a flatbed on. Since then I've been a little more careful venturing into the woods because how wet it has been around here.

Well I hope it doesn't take much to get it out of the ditch.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I guess haveing to walk home is the price to pay, for getting to "sit down on the job", when you're milling!! lol

Rob

 

[betterbuilt]

In this picture it looks like you could just Grab the truck and Lift it right out of the ditch.

 

[BobL]

Sorry to hear about your truck. I hope it works out for you.

 

[redoakneck]

Man, after reading this and the saga of Bob L., I may take up parachute testing, venomous reptile milking, and fly fishing for pirana in the nude!!!! I always knew milling was dangerous but now I am getting scared!!!


Careful with them vehicles with no brakes, I used to tow a 10,000 pound dump trailer with my suburban and did not have the electric trailer brake hook-up, not smart but I got away with it. My hiny was puckered so tight when I pulled that trailer you could not have driven a thumb tack in my ass with a sledge hammer, sphincter factor of 12 out of 10!!!!


5 miles is a long walk, no cell phone or buds to bail you out, looks pretty remote.

Y'all stay safe,

Pete

 

[srcarr52]

Those GM drum rear brakes don't do much most of the time anyway. You have to keep up with adjusting the adjuster nut to keep them working even a little bit.

If you are willing to spend a little money and have a mig welder you can put disks on the back with race car parts (no parking brake). I think it's about $450 for a disk brake kit with a parking brake.

 

[mtngun]

GMC skidder after I had unloaded all the wood. It was leaning precariously, and wedged against a protruding culvert.

Remember a couple years back I posted pics of helping my neighbor extract a Uhaul van that had sunk up to its frame in mud ? That was in the "What have you built with your milled wood" thread, because we used my fir slabs to make a temporary road so he could drive the van out of the mud. Well, that neighbor had a chance to return the favor today. :msp_biggrin:

We put a snatch block on the douglas fir in the upper center of the pic, and then his 8000# winch was able to skid the skidder straight up the hill. Sorry, no pics of the extraction because everyone had their hands full at the time.

Needless to say, a winch is definitely on my wish list. :msp_tongue:

 

[mtngun]

Those GM drum rear brakes don't do much most of the time anyway. You have to keep up with adjusting the adjuster nut to keep them working even a little bit.

If you are willing to spend a little money and have a mig welder you can put disks on the back with race car parts (no parking brake). I think it's about $450 for a disk brake kit with a parking brake.

Exactly. The self-adjustment mechanism would keep ratcheting them so tight that the slightest touch would lock the rear wheels and send you into a skid. So I'd back off the adjustment, and then they wouldn't hardly brake at all. Repeat every few weeks.

I've been trying to save up for a disk brake conversion kit, so I'm reluctant to put money into fixing these.

 

[820wards]

It was too dark for pics when I slid into the ditch, but trust me, the truck is in a bad way. No damage to the truck that I could see, but it's leaning precariously. I'll have to unload the wood before attempting a pull.

The rear brakes went out on the GMC earlier this year and I hadn't had time to fix them, so I've been driving around the woods with only front brakes. With a heavy load of 12' lumber, the front end was very light and didn't have much traction on the icy road. It was a bad combination.

Mtngun,

Good to hear that your truck and you are OK. Trucks can be fixed, squished people aren't. My brother and I just got back from a late season Mule Deer hunt in NV this week. We were heading up one road that had about 6" of snow, and even with the good mud/snow tires he had, the ice and frozen ground under the snow made it very slick. When we started slipping so bad, we decided it was time to back down and out. We ended up backing down 3/4 of a mile down a slippery mountain side. Slid the truck into a couple of berms and had to wench from a couple of trees for get the truck out. So, I know how your feeling about getting your truck out and how much work it will be. Good Luck!

jerry-

 

[Sawyer Rob]

That's a heck of a place to park!! lol

Back in the 80's, i converted my two old chevy pu's to rear dics brakes. Both came with GM semi foating 14 bolt rears, and i swapped in GM14 bolt full floaters. I had stripped the axle ends of the brakes, and then measured the axle ends, figureing out what the adapters would have to look like to install 3/4 ton rotors/calipers and backing blates.

Anyway, once i had the adapters measurements, i had a guy machine out the adapters for me, and then it was easy to just bolt everything on that i scrounged used. I did rebuild the calipers and make sure the rotors were good.

For an emergency brake, i just run the rear brake line to the dash and put in "hydro-locks" on the read brake line. You step on the brakes, and pull the hydro-lock handle, it holds the pressure on the rear brake line...

Rob

 

[Upnorth4]

Drum brakes

I once converted a 79 Land Cruiser to rear disks, what a difference. The job took a weekend and under $500.
Toyota was really crafty back in the day and put a small drum brake on the transfer case right at the rear out put. A totally separate e brake, which would lock all 4 wheels and be force multiplied by the differentials. So no need for a dash hydro lock on the rear disks.

There is no price on a good old truck. Thinking about selling them reminds me of the difference between cost and value. Inwould never get for a truck what it's worth to me.

 

[john taliaferro]

78 FORD 250 . The elect lock works nice and is easier to install . What is bent on the skidder ? your lucky it could have been bad . Ya fix the brakes yet ? Ive gotten a 511 so i can grind one to 5 and 50 and give it a run . My milling yard is 200 feet away from shop so its handy to walk and get a cookie or sharpen different .

 

[mtngun]

78 FORD 250 . The elect lock works nice and is easier to install . What is bent on the skidder ? your lucky it could have been bad . Ya fix the brakes yet ? Ive gotten a 511 so i can grind one to 5 and 50 and give it a run . My milling yard is 200 feet away from shop so its handy to walk and get a cookie or sharpen different .

I've started looking at the brakes, found at least a couple of problems, had to order parts, and suspect I'll find still more problems.

Discs are definitely on the wish list, but that'll have to wait until the money tree blossoms.:msp_sad:

Not much damage to the skidder. The piece that supports the transfer case was bent a little, but I mostly straightened it with a jack. The snow plow mount took the brunt of the impact and seemed to handle it OK.

5 and 40, not 5 and 50. Malloff called it 50 but he was measuring from vertical. Oregon grinders measure from horizontal. So 40 degrees on an Oregon grinder to duplicate Malloff's 50.

 

[StevenBiars]

Well, at least you're alright and the SKIdder Truck lives on to skid another day. I had a Chevy S10 mechanical failure once that somehow engaged the emergency brake as I was going around a corner. I ended up going into a ditch backward in the middle of the night. Not fun. My dad was pretty ticked when the truck had a few new dents and ended up needing a new rear bumper, but after he figured out what happened, I the truck ended up getting a full brake overhaul.