Loading logs without equipment

[tnflatbed]

I think the OP wanted to be able to mill them. I know personally it kinda hurts me to cut up some nice logs but I don't have a mill so it all gets whittled up for heat. I have dropped quite a few that would have made grade logs if I had the machinery for it.

 

[dancan]

Not much equipment .

 

[Woody912]

Since you're rolling the logs you should be able to get away with a small winch but the duty cycle and amount of time required to run the winch will polly kill a small winch .
An 8000lb or bigger should be cheap enough down there but if you could score a pto winch to run off of the truck would be the best option .

I think a manual boat winch would do the job as long as one does not mind using some elbow grease

 

[dancan]

Worth watching

 

[dancan]

 

[300zx_tt]

I will be parbuckling for sure, I thought of the idea but didn't think it would work because the cable would need to be centered perfectly for it to work.

Anybody have any cheap winch suggestions? Harbor freight? Smittybuilt? Random eBay brand?

 

[Woody912]

Worth watching

I think that first fall was about one RCH away from being a barberchair

 

[dave_dj1]

I will be parbuckling for sure, I thought of the idea but didn't think it would work because the cable would need to be centered perfectly for it to work.

Anybody have any cheap winch suggestions? Harbor freight? Smittybuilt? Random eBay brand?

I have a Smittybuilt 10K on my Jeep with synthetic rope, it's wireless or wired. It has gotten me out of a couple of jams, not sure how it would hold up with constant use but I thought the price was fair.
I have and have had several HF cheap 2500, 3500# winches and they have held up great. I have a 2500 on my forklift and that thing has been used to death and keeps on ticking. My friend has a Quadratec winch on his Jeep, seems to be a good winch. The one he had before that one was a Mile Marker 9k and that was as tough a winch as I've ever seen. I think if you respect any of the cheaper winches you will be fine with pretty much any of them. My last Jeep I had a Warn M8000 and it was a good winch. I do like the wireless feature now though.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

I will be parbuckling for sure, I thought of the idea but didn't think it would work because the cable would need to be centered perfectly for it to work.

Anybody have any cheap winch suggestions? Harbor freight? Smittybuilt? Random eBay brand?

It does not need to be centered perfect. When I am in doubt I run two cables around the log a short distance back and winch away. Thanks

 

[dancan]

I think that first fall was about one RCH away from being a barberchair

You been watching AvE ?

Mighty Mouse Logging LLC

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I have a HF 12K winch, it has a very short duty cycle, something like 6 mins out every half hour? (I think) Over heating it, voids the warr...

I also have a Warn 12K winch and it will run quite a while even pulling heavy loads and if run long enough it has "thermal over protection" that will "kick out", (and auto reset when it cools) but I've never had it kick out even one time.

You could burn out a few HF winches to get the price of the Warn though... lol

I've par-buckled a lot of logs on trailers, some times using a cum-a-long, it's slooooow but it gets the job done!

I've also par-buckled more than a few logs off my trailers too,

SR

 

[Picaso]

well gentleman Im glad that I have something "new" to add to the list of suggestions here. I have no loading/unloading equipment other than myself and basic tools. (peavey, hands, chain, trailer, cart, etc. ) im always having to find a way to move pieces/logs/slabs by hand, and usually alone.

After going through adding a winch to my trailer, I still had to deal with extra battery, rigging etc.. and I had an underpowered winch to be dragging full logs up on the trailer. I used the method from the side but i dont have a good trailer for that setup. Plus the impact of logs dropping from side and hitting the deck full tilt felt like my springs were going to retire to FL. It was slow and dragging logs was messing up the decking.

I have tried pipes as others have suggested but on uneven terrain it can be a pain to push. Also up significant inclines you have to rely on separate tools to aid in pushing (come-along) or stopping it from coming back at you. (or if the log is too uneven the pipes miss in places and require repositioning often). Not good enough.

Anyways, necessity being the mother of invention I had a eureka and decided to use conveyor rollers. This is the cats meow of hand loading/unloading. I can easily load and move anything up to the max payload my trailer can carry - 2500 lbs. My conveyors hold 5000lb each. I can move slabs as is or for logs i bring a scrap offcut of osb or ply .. oddball logs no problem. My 6yr old son can push a 500+ lb chunk of wood on flat terrain and not break a sweat (ok maybe a little sweat-he sweats a lot like his dad). I have never gone back. A week or two ago I scrounged and hauled out a fresh oak stump covered in burl that was 36" dia and 48" long (and very lopsided) through very uneven forest terrain by myself. It was every bit of 600 lb and couldnt be rolled - I couldn't risk damaging the burl on the sides. Just slides right up onto the trailer and unloading couldn't be easier. Green 24" dbh cherry logs 10' long.. safely unloads in seconds. (sounding like an infomercial now). Look at this pic: 45" dia ash slab 7' long on my trailer and 8" thick! those were heavy sob's. Right up and on the trailer, and slides right off. like buttah

Oh, and to make it even easier.. those of you who have a winch (even a cheapy) can let the winch do the pulling- it is hardly even taxed.

I could go on with examples and advice but I'll leave it open to anyone who wants more info to pm me.

 

[300zx_tt]

Welp I picked up a harbor freight winch and mounted it to the side of my truck, and I used the steel "ramps" I posted in the first picture, braced them with some rounds so they only spanned 4-5 foot. Parbuckeled a white oak log that's 9' x 21" small end and 25" on the big end. I'll try and post some pictures when I get to a laptop.

 

[dave_dj1]

Nice! I just wanted to say that the wireless remote is an awful nice feature to have on a winch. I had to use mine Wednesday to get my tractor un stuck. I was on the tractor and chocked the wheels on the Jeep and slowly let the clutch out and winched in and it came right out.

 

[300zx_tt]

So I hooked my winch cable to the underside of my bed, little bit of an issue because it was teetering on the edge of my truck, I don't have a cant hook yet so I had to just use good old fashion elbow grease. Good thing my brother was there to help! Estimated weight was 1700lbs. Next time it'll work flawlessly. I didn't even center up the cable, I was so excited to start winching!