Thread: How do I skid/move logs?

Do a search on log arch, should be suitable for what you want

Or, given they are wattle and won't be very large, you could have a low trailer. Log arch will be one log one trip, trailer could be six logs one trip

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Or, given they are wattle and won't be very large, you could have a low trailer. Log arch will be one log one trip, trailer could be six logs one trip

Im laughing here Allan... I can, give or take a mile or so, just about pin the OPs location on a map. I stood an ARR8 Patrick log loader on its head up there under a wattle once, dammed things get measured in cubes to the log not logs to the cube.

"Gently undulating" in Tablelands speak means you can walk up the hill without needing one hand free to pull yourself from tree to tree with.

Thats bullock team country.

Log Arch it is. My new welder will soon be getting a work out and just gotta locate some axle stubs and I'm in business.Thanks Acco
Sigidi, the wattle I have here has some rather large girth and John has hit the nail on the head-gently undulating means I can walk up it without holding on. Went walking about in another section of the block and it was holding on 2 hands, lowering down, all fours stuff. Locked my own hubs in you could say!! Got the land cruiser stuck in a gully as well and have a 70 metre winch out to look forward to tomorrow. All clay no traction.
Are you up this way still John?

Certainly can get slippery when wet,and lake eacham does get some ,depending on what you are nmilling with do the large logs where they lay , or get a local backhoe .cheers Bob

Yeah Bob, it gets proper slippery. Had a big winching session yesterday arvo/evening and got the land cruiser up the hill. I have a lucas mill, so we are going to set up a couple of sites to mill from. Been discussing the topic with a neighbor and he was talking about a winch like what they use on sailboat rigging linked up to a 5hp honda motor and works on rope tension on the spool. He saw a bloke pulling logs about with one, and seemed portable enough to go on the back of the quad. Looking at access points against my boundary where I may avoid the worst of the hills, which will save alot of time and effort.
I have a jcb1cx skid steer backhoe (think bobcat with a backhoe attachment), but due to it being a skid steer and not on tracks, it isn't good for this slippery clay (done my fair share of sliding sideways down inclines and using the buckets on both ends as an anchor !!) so anything without tracks seems to struggle with any moisture. We've had 4wd tractors bogged in some tracks in the moderate areas and had to winch it out. Ther have been many different types of vehicles stuck at various points on my property. In fact the time the 4wd tractor came I had the gu patrol stuck on one track, and the hilux stuck in another, with a quad stuck in the dam.

Don't judge me, I enjoy my time off work.............!!!

Originally Posted by Marcus79

Been discussing the topic with a neighbor and he was talking about a winch like what they use on sailboat rigging linked up to a 5hp honda motor and works on rope tension on the spool. He saw a bloke pulling logs about with one, and seemed portable enough to go on the back of the quad.

That would be a Capstan Winch

Again thank you Acco, that is it, the capstan winch. Appreciate it mate. Looks like a very handy item indeed. Anyone got anything to say about the safety of using these winches. If no, then I'll start writing my letter to Santa now..........

Capstan winches used to be the winch supplied by Landrover many years ago. Their one big advantage is you can control the pull by releasing the rope tension on the drum and the rope slips on the drum slowing the speed down or even stopping the pull altogether without stopping the winch itself.

I've pulled logs in that kaolin clay/ cypress country around Butchers Creek, so I know exactly what you're up against in terms of trying to get them up those hills and just how greasy it gets on a shower of rain. Tracks aint a full solution either... better then wheels but I've had the tracks going round and round forwards while we slid backwards down a hill many many times. At least it was a semi-controlled backwards slide... that blind landcruiser slide stuff isnt good for my nerves anymore. And I never tried to work a dozer there in the wet season!
I'd be concerned that the capstan winch would be too small, you'd need to pay careful attention to the max line pull rating and the gearing setup. Blocks go a long way to helping but even then if the winch just doesnt have the output power to drag them then all you can do is reduce the load by shortening the billet of log.... which is effective until you need 4.8's to build with and the best your winch can manage is a 2.4 meter billet of log.

Youre going to need some good directional felling skills too... that will be the most important factor in how successful you are. You're going to need to be able to put the tree where you need it to go in terms of (a) getting it on the ground without hanging it up in something else and (b) putting it on the ground where you can then actually do something with it recovery wise. In rainforest logging, the least important consideration is where the natural lean of the tree wants to take it... there's always a a tree or a gully or a creek or an inability to get a line pull at it in the direction of the natural lean.

I've got the guts of a hydraulic winch still up there: drum and line hooked into a charlyn motor via a dog clutch. You could maybe weld up a skid that could be chained to a tree and drive it off the JCB hydraulics, and use the JCB to lift it from place to place. (Its heavy - I had it mounted on the back of a D4 class dozer). Plumbing is all still there though the hydraulic motor would need attention... seals at least. If you want a look at it PM me. I've got to tell you though that I found it to be inadequate for pulling logs in that area - which is why I think you'd be wasting your money on a capstan winch.

I had delusions of dragging a 1.5dia x 20 mtr brushbox log out of a gully at a mates place.
I designed an a-frame arrangement to go on the front of my skidsteer with a 30,000lb tilt tray hydraulic winch.
The design allowed the front legs to be driven/buried into the ground to give the machine some holding power. My machine is 4.5T with 18" tracks, but you could also chain the rear to a tree.
I never got around to making it, so it's still just an idea

Originally Posted by John.G

I've pulled logs in that kaolin clay/ cypress country around Butchers Creek, so I know exactly what you're up against in terms of trying to get them up those hills and just how greasy it gets on a shower of rain. Tracks aint a full solution either... better then wheels but I've had the tracks going round and round forwards while we slid backwards down a hill many many times. At least it was a semi-controlled backwards slide... that blind landcruiser slide stuff isnt good for my nerves anymore. And I never tried to work a dozer there in the wet season!
I'd be concerned that the capstan winch would be too small, you'd need to pay careful attention to the max line pull rating and the gearing setup. Blocks go a long way to helping but even then if the winch just doesnt have the output power to drag them then all you can do is reduce the load by shortening the billet of log.... which is effective until you need 4.8's to build with and the best your winch can manage is a 2.4 meter billet of log.

Youre going to need some good directional felling skills too... that will be the most important factor in how successful you are. You're going to need to be able to put the tree where you need it to go in terms of (a) getting it on the ground without hanging it up in something else and (b) putting it on the ground where you can then actually do something with it recovery wise. In rainforest logging, the least important consideration is where the natural lean of the tree wants to take it... there's always a a tree or a gully or a creek or an inability to get a line pull at it in the direction of the natural lean.

I've got the guts of a hydraulic winch still up there: drum and line hooked into a charlyn motor via a dog clutch. You could maybe weld up a skid that could be chained to a tree and drive it off the JCB hydraulics, and use the JCB to lift it from place to place. (Its heavy - I had it mounted on the back of a D4 class dozer). Plumbing is all still there though the hydraulic motor would need attention... seals at least. If you want a look at it PM me. I've got to tell you though that I found it to be inadequate for pulling logs in that area - which is why I think you'd be wasting your money on a capstan winch.

Yeah John, I have decided on building a Log Arch and a dolly. If they can't do it then the tree stays. We will use a 3 ton excavator to manouvre fallen logs and snig them up to the tracks where log arch will pull them to mill site using quad/4wd or excavator. I agree the importance of felling the tree is paramount. I will be felling on ridges and need them to fall onto ridge, not down gullies. Recovery will be virtually impossible on the slopes. Looking at some trees I will have to climb them and fell some branches to enable me to drop them where I need them. I am trying to fell without destroying undergrowth, so there will be a bit of this going on. Started transplanting forest plants already in these areas to replant and redistribute following the removal of some bigger wattles. Huge branch broke off 1 tree Girth of tree 2 metres or more and the branch girth before it split from main tree is near 800mm. Took out a hell of alot of forest trees in the process, and left a tree which is quite dangerous. The more I look up at what hangs in the canopy, the more cautious I become!!

Thanks Heaps for the offer on the hydraulic winch John, I think if you found it inadequate, then I'll follow your advise in that case. Can lift with Jcb, just can't get JCB to winching areas hence me looking for something that can be carried on a quad. Appreciate the offer none the less, you're a true gentleman. If it is sitting rotting somewhere, I'd go save it, store in the shed and use it down the track for a 'super winch' for us and all our neighbours. (wet season can be fun in these parts)The capstan type winch would be great as far as portability but if can't do the job then I may pass on it as well.

A mate of mine was a logging contractor in the Dorrego area. They shifted camp and went to an area that had been "logged" previously. The mate said there were a number of trees that were felled and "got away" by a previous contractor. They were on steep sided ridges. They had a D7 with a winch and were able to pull the logs up and out to load them. They had an old "Flint Stone Mack" on the jinker. Some of these logs were one log, one load!! The Mack was flat out on the road at 80kms an hour, but put it in the bush and it could nearly climb up a tree!!