Mobile Firewood Rack

[ETpilot]

I made this firewood rack many years ago so I could have stacked wood close to the back door and under the roof. I keep it on the back patio area. Initially it just sat on the concrete floor. I found that this was a bad setup as I had to carry the wood to the rack. So I made some temporary wooden wheel holders that I clamped to the rack. You can see the holder in the picture. This was an improvement as I could now move the rack to the edge of the patio for loading. The problem was that it was a bit unstable because the wheels were right under the vertical rails. I had to be careful moving it. It stayed like this until one of the wooden holder broke in two and I had a leaning rack.

So I just used up the wood and then fabricated metal wheel holders that are 6 inches wider than the rack. I tested it and it was more stable so I welded the new holders to the rack. I used that HF 1.5 ton aluminum jack to lift the rack while I worked. That is a neat jack that I have used on a few projects.

This summer I will clean the rack and paint it black. Now I am thinking that I can place the empty rack on my FEL forks and take it to the wood pile for loading. Then carefully move it back to the patio. I would only load the log area and not the top. I use the top for small starter wood pieces. I will have to give this a try and see how it works.

 

[Rsquared]

That is cool.. Stealing your design btw...

 

[brenndatomu]

Nice rack! :biggrin:

I have something similar in mind myself. I will build racks that are not as long as yours, more up-right. The plan is to load them up with wood from the stacks, leave them out in the sun all summer, then use a forklift or FEL to move them to the wood shed for the winter, then as needed, haul 1 at a time into the garage, where I will set it on a heavy duty 4 wheeled dolly. Then I can just roll it right into the basement next to my furnace. Should be able to do 'bout 1/4 of a cord at a time. Been looking for an affordable 4x4 compact tractor with FEL so I don't have to bug dad to use his forklift all the time.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I built one hundred racks sort of similar to this, 1/3 cord. If you are going to pick it with forks then strap OSB (oriented strand board) to both sides when moving it. It will still be tippy but the wood can not slide or shift then. A better design is wider, or even square, foot print. I have dumped many of these on forks. No fun... I am switching to 4'x4' foot print. Your tractor may also be tippy even on flat ground. Good luck with experimenting. Keep us posted.

 

[Jredsjeep]

View attachment 281426
this is how i move my racks of wood around. the racks are built with a regular pallet as a base with a 4 ft tall 2x4 loop going around to hold the wood. i built a fork lift attachment for my 3 pt. now in the winter time when i dont feel like working and bringing in wood from the cold it takes me less than 10 minutes to fire up the tractor and go load another skid on my front porch from my back yard.

i just refill them in the summer with the kids help. sometimes the kids get to do it themselves when they get in trouble.:hmm3grin2orange:

i figure i got about 1/3 cord on each one and i got to tell you if i have some true hardwood on the rack it will lift the front end of my tractor right up when i go to lift the rack. the plow i mounted really helped to fix that!

 

[D Dubeau]

View attachment 281426
this is how i move my racks of wood around. the racks are built with a regular pallet as a base with a 4 ft tall 2x4 loop going around to hold the wood. i built a fork lift attachment for my 3 pt. now in the winter time when i dont feel like working and bringing in wood from the cold it takes me less than 10 minutes to fire up the tractor and go load another skid on my front porch from my back yard.

i just refill them in the summer with the kids help. sometimes the kids get to do it themselves when they get in trouble.:hmm3grin2orange:

i figure i got about 1/3 cord on each one and i got to tell you if i have some true hardwood on the rack it will lift the front end of my tractor right up when i go to lift the rack. the plow i mounted really helped to fix that!

Exactly how I do mine. I even built my pallet forks too. Only difference is my kid is 3 months old. Can't wait until he's a little firewood stacker



Works great except when the tractor is broke (busted governor). I'm working on a different idea for next year. The goal is to reduce the amount of times I touch every piece of wood. Hopefully next year will be 2 less times

 

[Jredsjeep]

thats ok i got a 2 month old stacker coming up through the ranks to! the three older brothers got a little girl to look after in between stacking sessions LOL

they actaully get into it when we are down there, its the initial dissconnect from the TV that is the hardest. getting out is good for them so we try to limit TV time.

how the heck do you keep the front end down? mine will lift right off to where i am steering with the brakes before the plow counterweight.

 

[ETpilot]

I built one hundred racks sort of similar to this, 1/3 cord. If you are going to pick it with forks then strap OSB (oriented strand board) to both sides when moving it. It will still be tippy but the wood can not slide or shift then. A better design is wider, or even square, foot print. I have dumped many of these on forks. No fun... I am switching to 4'x4' foot print. Your tractor may also be tippy even on flat ground. Good luck with experimenting. Keep us posted.

Thanks for the suggestion on OSB. I will have to think about that. I am thinking of adding hooks to the sides. Then I can use rope to cinch down the load and also secure the rack to the FEL forks. I made a neat bucket level indicator that lets me find bucket level at all heights of the bucket. This will help in keeping the load balanced on the forks. I don't want to use a different footprint as this size fits neatly in a corner of the patio.

Rsquared, glad you liked it. Now there will be 2 of these around.

 

[igotcoolstuff]

I have been using 16' wire panels to make the sides and hold everything in place while moving around

Roughly 8'X3' on 5' wide forks

View attachment 281546View attachment 281547

 

[vt625]

I made a metal carrier a couple years ago to carry firewood from the pile. My Deere has a detachable FEL bucket so I made attachment points and can lift it without forks. Remember, if you use forks the weight can get pretty far out from the FEL pins and can really limit the weight you can lift. My carrier was built 5' wide, 3' deep and 3' tall. I can stack two rows in it, but when full of hardwood my 2305 Deere (24hp sub-compact) won't lift it. Doh! Next carrier(s) will be smaller and probably made out of wood. Hoping to build enough to stack directly into them and store in the carriers. Probably try to store them two high. This rig has been super handy for moving all sorts of stuff around the property though. Great for moving tires to the barn or bringing stuff to and from the garden.

View attachment 281622