The Logging set up on my 350b worked great! photos

[Scottyb]

the materials for my rops are bought but not assembled...



but we had to get on with the logging so I made a guard\rack\tool holder from a pallet.....

And from the back it holds the chokers nicely...

But none of this would have worked if not for a little help from Digitup2 and KenP who solved my traction problem in the snow with this beauty of a method...

These hardened bolts on every third pad turn my ordinary loader into a "Snow Goat!" Of coarse, I used longer ones than was suggested assuming that "more is better" I only twisted a track off once.

I removed the bolts from the tracks today as a warmer than average winter and the logging is done a month earlier than expected. One
un-expected problem with the bolts is that the bolt ends on the inside of the tracks rubbed on the rock guards and made the bolts hard to remove and will need to be replaced next year. Next fall I will have a few more thread turns longer to the outside to clear the bottom of the guards, and it will work even better! We pulled many large spruce up to 30 inch at the base and 80 feet long with the little crawler, branches on!
The winch would get them out onto the trail, and the the crawler would pull them to the landing. On the uphill climb we would have to release the winch and pull them up once the crawler was over the top. From there we would trim the branches and stack them for the log cabin builder who is coming to pick them up. The Aspen, Popular and white Birch we cut into 8 foot legnths, and stacked with the bobcat for firewood.

I had a "Lumberjack Weekend" and invited many of my buddies and Dad to come up and work their butts off for Beer and steaks and we managed to pull out and process 100 logs in 4 days. For the record, no booze until 5 pm, and we started every shift with a safety meeting. For real.

The guy on the right tested the chainsaw chaps I provided and THEY WORK! he put a full speed saw into the front of his chaps and except for jamming the saw with Kevlar, no damage to his leg. (I am in the blue hardhat)

Scottyb

[JWB Contracting]

Good to see that the winch and arch are working well for you. Impressive what a 350 crawler can do in a day.

It is also nice to see that you are doing it safely. One of my brothers friends was killed doing volunteer trail cleaning for a local snowmobile club in 2006. The gentlemen was very experienced with a saw and took all the safety precauctions but weren't enought to save him from an deadfall situation.

[Scottyb]

Jason, you are so right,
Safety is everything.
Accidents do happen, we need to remind ourselves daily to work safe.
As weekend Lumberjacks it is easy to just want to get out there and start cutting.
I have worked with equipment and cut wood all my life however this tornado ravaged forest has been an extreme lesson in cutting trees for me.
Leaning trees, some broken 20 - 40 feet up but still attached with the tops onto other trees, many others with huge stumps pulled upright that slam back into their holes when the saw cuts through the trunk, lots of tangled piles of 60 - 80 foot logs still attached to stumps bent over in all directions.... Trees split up from the stump for 20 feet and leaning over with a good turn adding compression on one side, twist on the other, and everything in between.
I do not know what I would have done if you had not helped me out with the winch.
Having a powerful winch was the only real good solution. You said it, It is amazing how much you can do with a 350 in a day, and it helps if you have a trusted helper and a couple of good saws. (and the winch!) I set up my two favorate old Husqvarna's, one with an 18 inch bar and the other with a 37 inch. That long bar is hard on the arms but, when the trees are all tangled up together you don't want to be climbing over to get to the other side! I mostly had my helper run the crawler and I ran the saws and hooked up chokers.
Many days of pulling down the leaners and most dangerous trees were completed with just two of us in the forest before the larger clean up crew were brought up. By that time the crawler could spend full time moving trees to the landings and opening up logging trails to get at fallen trees. I selected several of the guys to learn to run the Deere this winter and it has been a real pleasure for them to enjoy what we usually take for granted. Driving our crawlers.

Sorry to hear about your brothers friend, but I am glad you mentioned it, it is a reality check and this stuff does happen.


my boat is under there a big spruce totaled it across the back

Dads garage next door

Scottyb