Little Skidder Moves Big Logs

Little Skidder Moves Big Logs WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 33-4-42 Moving big logs with an ATV is no sweat for Sidney Stubbs. The sawmill operator can skid out enough logs in 25 min. to keep him busy in the mill for several days. "The biggest log I have hauled was 39 in. dia., even though my quad is only 36 in. high," says Stubbs. Stubbs' skidder loads itself. No hydraulics or winches are needed. Stubbs used a fairly standard skidder design with a top arch and a forward arch. The lift mechanism is a 1 1/4-in. round steel bar with a sliding ring and hook. The bar is welded to the front of the yoke, just behind the hitch and extends back and up at a 45 degree angle to a point 6 in. ahead of the top arch. The last 6 in. of the bar are parallel to the ground, forming a sliding ring rest. To skid out a log, Stubbs backs the yoke over it until the front arch of the skidder rests against the end of the log. A log chain wrapped around the log is then attached as tight as possible to the sliding ring hook. This places the hook at a point on the diagonal rod closest to the top of the log. "When I pull ahead with the quad, the sliding ring is dragged back up the diagonal to the ring rest, pulling the chained end of the log up off the ground," explains Stubbs. "I put some oil on the bar and it slides right up." Stubbs says the skidder had to be built strong to handle the big loads he puts on it. He used 3/8-in. 3 by 3-in. steel tubing for the top and front arches on the skidder. The 10-in. wide wheels have inner tubes to handle the torque on turns. Stubbs recalls breaking the beads on the tires when he first tried them without tubes. He also had to upgrade the diagonal bar from its original 1-in. diameter after it bent under load. "To make the arches in the yoke, I cut 22 1/2 degree wedges out of the 3 by 3 tubing and then bent and welded them tight," says Stubbs. "I also welded small gussets on the inside of the first bends to reinforce them." Axle hubs were welded to pieces of angle iron welded to the lower back corner of the top arch. Mounting the wheels behind the arch even a couple of inches moves a significant amount of the load weight forward onto the hitch. This gives the ATV vital traction as it begins to tow the skidder. "You need at least 350 cc on the quad to use this," says Stubbs. "You also have to be careful the load doesn't push you down a hill." Stubbs has an 8,000-lb. winch mounted to the front of his ATV, which he can hook to a log being pulled. The forward arch starts out parallel to the ground and at the height of the quad hitch. About a foot from the upright arch, it steps down a couple inches to the level of the wheel. This provides added stability to both the skidder and the quad. Several add-ons make skidding logs easier. One is a length of pipe welded to the forward arch to hold a cant hook. A chain hook is welded to the forward arch for cases where a log needs to be dragged a short distance before being lifted into position for skidding. Two stump deflectors made from 1-in. steel rod are mounted ahead of the wheels. The front hitch has a handle made from one jaw of a pipe wrench. "I look for worn out pipe wrenches," says Stubbs. "The jaws make great handles. Your hand will never slip on them." The top arch has an inside width of 36-in. and an inside height of 39 in. The forward arch and hitch measures 68 in. front to rear. "You would be amazed how much you can pull," says Stubbs. "I've used it to skid 45-gal. barrels of oil and 45-ft. long oil well casings. I even move power poles around with it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Sidney Stubbs, RR #1, Site 6, Box 21, Beaverlodge, Alta,, Canada T0H 0C0 (ph 780 354-3112).

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