skidding logs with a tractor? or?
- Thread starter oifla
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This thread has taught me how little I know about skidding logs. And tractors!
Learned a lot.
Thanks!
Philbert
Learned a lot.
Thanks!
Philbert
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
I've been logging with a tractor for many years, and I've tried grapples and quite a few other ways to load logs, clean slash and many other jobs with a tractor, out in the woods. By far, the best way I've ever found is to use pallet forks with a matching single grapple, like I have now!
It does everything a big grapple does and much more,
Even moving pallets or boxes of wood,
and if you want, you can saw right between the forks,
I can push the forks together and drive them into the ground under a boulder and pry/pull and lift the boulder right out of the ground,
Because they do just about everything so well, I "rarely" take them off!
SR
It does everything a big grapple does and much more,
Even moving pallets or boxes of wood,
and if you want, you can saw right between the forks,
I can push the forks together and drive them into the ground under a boulder and pry/pull and lift the boulder right out of the ground,
Because they do just about everything so well, I "rarely" take them off!
SR
Hermio
Addicted to ArboristSite
If you run into something that could upend the tractor or impale you, you cannot push in the clutch fast enough in all cases. Releasing the pedal on a hydrostat stops the tractor instantly.Maybe it could save YOUR life, but not mine, personally I HATE that whiner transmission!!
Make mine gear drive pleasee!
SR
Found one skidding with the BX . Had to load up the bucket to keep the frond on the ground 
Sometimes you need to get creative
Sometimes you need to get creative
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
Oddly, in all the years I've been working with tractors in the woods, I don't have any "impaled" holes in me, and I've never turned a tractor over.
Have you considered that with a gear drive tractor, taking your foot off the throttle will bring the tractor to an idle, and that means the tractor will come very close to stopping.
Anyway, it's next to impossible to tip my tractor over backwards or sideways.
SR
StihlPotlicker
ArboristSite Operative
this 70 Hp 'Bota is a bit big for my woods, but until I get the funds to get my own, I gladly will borrow it.
StihlPotlicker
ArboristSite Operative
grapple is nice too for loading up my F2+ log deck. Glad I talked pops into buying one
StihlPotlicker
ArboristSite Operative
I really like the Kioti. they have a better lift capacity than my dad's 70hp 'bota. If I had a Tym dealer closer than 3hrs south of me, I think I would entertain one of those.
So far, my TYM has served me well. I will say if I was the type who needed much for dealer support, I would have went with a different brand.
oifla
ArboristSite Member
Agreed - $15K marker is for used options, new pricing is nowhere near that (prob x2) and will require financing.
A.
oifla
ArboristSite Member
Kioti was out of the question for me, had a pretty bad experience with a mini wheel loader, at the fab shop I worked for in high school. The stupid thing was always broken, usually engine issues. Should have been lemon lawed. Dealer was horrible to deal with, and the machine was frequently down for a week at a time. (If not longer.) Some how they (dealer) are still around. I think they sell Wacker branded equipment now too.
Hermio
Addicted to ArboristSite
I will relate an experience I had. While bushhogging in the woods with a Kubota tractor with an HST drive, I mowed down some saplings perhaps 2" diameter. But some of them did not get cut through; they just got pushed down under the tractor and bushhog. When I retuned going back the opposite direction, one of the saplings had started to rise back up, and it was slightly higher than the front axle of my tractor. When I drove back over it, it popped up and hit me square in the chest, going between the tractor body and the loader frame. I had a sever bruise and it hurt when I breathed for days. It probably came close to cracking my ribs. But if I were driving a gear drive tractor, it probably would have run me through, as all I had to do to stop the tractor was release the pressure on the foot pedal, which is much easier to do than to find the clutch on a gear drive tractor and push it in. I also have experience with a couple of gear drive tractors, and I usually did not use the foot accelerator to control speed; I used the hand throttle. I guess using the foot accelerator would be safer in the woods, but not as safe as a hydrostat.
I have a T474. My FIL has a Kubota and I owned one previously.
Not all gear drive tractors have foot throttles. Not all hydro tractors have foot pedals either. It's personal preference. We'll, that and if you don't have a shuttle shift/reverser and truly a straight gear w/ disk clutch and do any real amount of loader work the clutch will be shot long before it should be. Ie why I don't like straight gear tractors for loader work.
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
Sean, I have yet had to replace a clutch on one of my tractors, and I've loaded thousands of loads of dirt, ch**, logs ect...
It all depends on the operator; I have a neighbor that goes through a clutch a year!
SR
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
You won't like my answer, but that's called operator error!!
In cases like that, I back up to finish off those stubs and let the rotary cutter push them back over and cut them off. Anyway, I don't have to "find the clutch", it's called muscle memory!
How long have you been doing this? I've been at it over 40 years and like I said, the "whiner trans" isn't for me, even though I have tractors with it.
SR
Gear boxes suck ass on compact tractors. They're just fine on bigger machines like yours.
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
Just so you know, I have more than one tractor, including Kubota... And I've sent a few compacts down the road too, both gear drive and whiner trans.
SR
