Firewood tractors

[woodfarmer]

90 hp Cummins non-turbo

 

[Dolmar Junkie]

90 hp Cummins non-turbo

Thanks, and welcome to OPE (the land of misfit lumberjacks)

 

[Ryan Browne]

Nice day to be working outside. 26F and just a little breeze. Really nice frost on all the trees. We're moving into a new house on 20 acres adjacent to my dad's land. Between using the tractor to move our belongings I skidded some logs yesterday morning and brought up some wood for the furnace in the basement.

Forgot to get the tractor in the shot, but here's some wood pics: 30" pickaroon for reference.

First a decent sized ash log.

Butt log from a half of a nasty two stem white oak.

The rest of that half of the tree (other half is still standing, for now).

Here's the wood for my furnace:


Real nice hoar frost today:

 

[RyeThomas]

That looks cold, yuk. Lol.
Picked up my Lamar trailer yesterday, doing some test loading today.

 

[Dolmar Junkie]

Nice day to be working outside. 26F and just a little breeze. Really nice frost on all the trees. We're moving into a new house on 20 acres adjacent to my dad's land. Between using the tractor to move our belongings I skidded some logs yesterday morning and brought up some wood for the furnace in the basement.

Forgot to get the tractor in the shot, but here's some wood pics: 30" pickaroon for reference.

First a decent sized ash log.View attachment 108709

Butt log from a half of a nasty two stem white oak.View attachment 108710

The rest of that half of the tree (other half is still standing, for now). View attachment 108711

Here's the wood for my furnace:
View attachment 108712

Real nice hoar frost today:View attachment 108713

Ryan, I am afraid that the door to your furnace is going to be frozen shut, that is chilly looking....

 

[Dolmar Junkie]

That looks cold, yuk. Lol.
Picked up my Lamar trailer yesterday, doing some test loading today.
View attachment 108853

View attachment 108854

Very nice set up!

 

[Ryan Browne]

Mostly busy with my move, but my buddy was around this morning so we yanked down an ash that'd been hung up in an oak tree for a couple years. The oak is pretty much dead too, but I'll save it for another day. My backup plan (in case I couldn't drag the butt around) was to cut the oak as well and winch it off to the side so they'd both fall together, but it didn't come to that.

Here's the offending tree

So I bored through from the top and stuck a wedge in from top and bottom.

Then i completed the cut and we ran the cable to a block set off to the side with the objective of pulling the tree of the stump and putting it somewhere where the stump wouldn't be an obstacle.

To be continued...

 

[Ryan Browne]

Then we pulled it up to the tractor and cut off a 21'4" log.

I skidded that one to the sugar bush and came back for the rest.


Not a bad haul considering it only took an hour. If I get desperate this will make fine wood for coming syrup this spring. Otherwise, it'll be even better next winter.

 

[woodfarmer]

Explain to me the boaring plunge and then did you finish the cut from both sides?

 

[woodfarmer]

This is the hitch I pulled out Friday All Ash but one red maple.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Explain to me the boaring plunge and then did you finish the cut from both sides?

I knew there was a lot of weight on the stump. I could have done a face cut on the top and then either bored through from the side and cut out towards the back or maybe just cut through the whole thing starting at the top but instead of perpendicular to the log I would have made my cut vertically or even a little past vertical. That way it would have dropped off the stump. Both of those methods would have required being pretty intimate with the log while it was moving, and the second one would have resulted in a log that was sharpened into a shape that might stick in the ground and be tough to skid.

So, I bored through from the top and made the cut about 6-8" wide (so I wouldn't cut my wedges when finishing). I tapped in a wedge from the top and bottom to keep everything in place and prevent the log from moving and pinching my bar. Then starting on the low side and finishing on the uphill side I cut from the outside in to meet my first cut. Both of those cuts were done with the tip of the bar, so I was about 2' away. The log did shift an inch or so when I finished, but it didn't drop or pinch the bar. The choker and cable were installed just after the bore cut, so right after I finished cutting it up, I pulled the clutch rope and it came right off the stump. Luckily the ground was well enough frozen that it didn't lodge and I got it down without any hangups.

 

[woodfarmer]

That’s they way I had envisioned it although, isn’t it more work to cut up as a posed from the top down.
Good work by the way.

 

[eric227]

I don't like to show it or even tell people I own one. But it is nice in more then one way. It is narrow, short, 60 hp, dif. lock, easy on fuel and I don't care about the paint. bad things is leaks oil, Hyd.'s are slower then slow. I would like to get a new MF to replace this one my D17 Allis and plow truck.

 

[Ryan Browne]

That’s they way I had envisioned it although, isn’t it more work to cut up as a posed from the top down.
Good work by the way.

Thanks!
Yeah, I probably could have gotten away with just cutting from the top down and saved a few minutes, but if it had pinched my bar or gotten stuck in the ground it would have cost me time instead of saving it. This just happened to be the method I felt most comfortable with for this situation.

 

[Ryan Browne]

I don't like to show it or even tell people I own one. But it is nice in more then one way. It is narrow, short, 60 hp, dif. lock, easy on fuel and I don't care about the paint. bad things is leaks oil, Hyd.'s are slower then slow. I would like to get a new MF to replace this one my D17 Allis and plow truck. View attachment 109634

Nice. Looks pretty handy. Those show up on Craigslist around here pretty often for CHEAP. I've never had a notion to tangle with one, not yet anyway, but a 50+HP 4wd tractor for $3-6k is pretty tempting.

 

[Dolmar Junkie]

I don't like to show it or even tell people I own one. But it is nice in more then one way. It is narrow, short, 60 hp, dif. lock, easy on fuel and I don't care about the paint. bad things is leaks oil, Hyd.'s are slower then slow. I would like to get a new MF to replace this one my D17 Allis and plow truck. View attachment 109634

Welcome to OPE, that's a handy setup! My first tractor that I purchased myself was an 8N, so you're definitely light years ahead of that with about 3X the HP! I regret ever selling that one, good for everything!

You never know, that could be a collectors item!
Possibly Vladimir Putin's first tractor as a teenager...

 

[srb08]

I've had this for several years. Mahindra 4530. Nothing fancy, just a basic no frills 4wd, 45hp utility tractor. It does what I need it to do.

 

[Locust Cutter]

I'd lke to have that in either a Hydrostat, or a shuttle-shift arrangement trans as loader work, especially tight confines can be a PITA with a clutch and splitting tractors to replace a clutch sucks. I wonder if a 45hp tractor would lift a 2K round bale onto and off of a GN trailer?

 

[Ryan Browne]

I'd lke to have that in either a Hydrostat, or a shuttle-shift arrangement trans as loader work, especially tight confines can be a PITA with a clutch and splitting tractors to replace a clutch sucks. I wonder if a 45hp tractor would lift a 2K round bale onto and off of a GN trailer?

Some can and some can't. Mahindra and Kioti both make some pretty heavy CUTs with pretty high FEL capacities. I think tractordata.com lists loader specs for most newer models. My MX4700 Kubota will lift about 1900-2000# of feed, plus a pallet and pallet forks (I bet a bale spear is a lot lighter) off a semi just fine. I want to have a lot of ballast hanging off the three point, and if I did it every day, I'd buy a forklift or a skid steer, but it does the job just perfectly for me.

Also, I LOVE my hydrostatic transmission. Can't say enough how much I like it. I can absolutely put that tractor or a trailer, wagon, pallet of feed, you name it, anywhere I want with incredible precision. When I'm mowing I can speed up instantly in thin patches of a pasture and then slow down for thick or bumpy places. All without touching the PTO speed or a clutch. When I'm rototilling or chopping bales for mulch I can creep along as slow as I want. Everyone has different needs, and hydros do have drawbacks, but for me, it's the tool for the job.

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

I've had this for several years. Mahindra 4530. Nothing fancy, just a basic no frills 4wd, 45hp utility tractor. It does what I need it to do.
View attachment 109878

I'm contractually obliged to not disclose my experiences with Mahindra tractors.
I'm happy for you if you are happy with yours.