Best way to move big wood?

[Lumberjack]

~$3k or so price difference, 300lbs heavier. The hanger for the HD BMG is getting more beef, it'll get squared away.

Articulated loaders really don't need a hydraulic rotating grapple for most aspects of tree work.

 

[AmericanArborist]

How do you control the rotate function with the gehl 540?

 

[Lumberjack]

I wired the selector valve to the horn... easy access from the steering wheel from the left hand.

 

[AmericanArborist]

The fold down ROPS came in handy last week. Luckily this guy had a garage door at the end of his garage to get into the back yard.

the photo isn't of the big wood. this log could have easily been done with the mini.

 

[AmericanArborist]

From today, the Gehl AL540 sneeks through this back yard gate with the big logs.

We drove across this yard all day and turned 90 around the corner of the house. The photos are from before blowing the yard with the leaf blower even! No damage what so ever.

 

[Tr33Climb3r]

Plan on picking up this guy soon. Old Gehl AL20DX. 550 hours on the machine. Comes with brush mower, bucket and snow blower attachments for $8500.
This will be half the size of our big loader which is a wilmar manufacturing wrangler similar in size to the 540

 

[DTS]

Plan on picking up this guy soon. Old Gehl AL20DX. 550 hours on the machine. Comes with brush mower, bucket and snow blower attachments for $8500.
This will be half the size of our big loader which is a wilmar manufacturing wrangler similar in size to the 540

Great machine good price they are hard to come by. Only thing left to get is a BMG

 

[tc262]

Plan on picking up this guy soon. Old Gehl AL20DX. 550 hours on the machine. Comes with brush mower, bucket and snow blower attachments for $8500.
This will be half the size of our big loader which is a wilmar manufacturing wrangler similar in size to the 540

If you don't pick it up let me know where it's at and I'll go get it.

 

[Tr33Climb3r]

Little Gehl is home.

 

[Gorman]

Plan on picking up this guy soon. Old Gehl AL20DX. 550 hours on the machine. Comes with brush mower, bucket and snow blower attachments for $8500.
This will be half the size of our big loader which is a wilmar manufacturing wrangler similar in size to the 540[/QUOTE]

What are the gpm on that gehl? I have a 540 and hesitate using a brush mower since I only have 17 gpm at full rpm.

 

[Lumberjack]

The AL540 only has 15gpm, fwiw.


I think he was saying his Wrangler is the size of a 540. The AL20 is considerably smaller than an AL140.

 

[burtonbc1400]

The A300 is not an articulating machine it is an all wheel steer machine, there is a big difference,
weight (i think) 10~11000lbs, 60 to $70K pricetag, and terrible visibility compared to the Gehl 540
which weighs ~ 7400lbs with a $42K ~50K price tagView attachment 27809

How is the compact articulating wheelloader on hills? Also for accessing gated yards and operating in close quarters?

 

[burtonbc1400]

Drove a total of 10 hours today and bought an AL540. I'd never driven one before so I was a bit nervous about how it would feel. It was very intuitive. Took and spun some cookies on some grass without even a trace that I was there.
Waiting on Dave to make some more grapples. I'm very anxious to put this thing to use. I feel like this machine will set us apart from other companies in a great way.
Stay tuned for some good videos and photos of the thing in use.
Here's my girlfriend giving me final approval before purchase.

Do you have videos?

 

[burtonbc1400]

Moving wood is an art form. We do it the old fashioned way only when necessary (and not without complaints). We use the boxer 320, 322, and 532. They work great! Would not work with out them. We have four with TNT grapples that work every day. We have Kubotas and we have a Terex pt80 with a Ryans grapple. And then the log trucks. Oh, and one log dolly.

Hi Mark, when you say

We have two smaller ones. Both were purchased before we owned a mini. They work way better than doing thinks by hand, but less efficient than a good mini with a grapple. Not horrible on a lawn but they do make small ruts. The pros are that they work for a long time with few problems. They just aren't made for what we do.

The kubota You guys are referring to are tractors of some kind?

 

[burtonbc1400]

Most people can not believe I can fully load our 12k 6'x12' dump trailer with 12' logs with our mini. The trailer has a 6' tall metal framed/ plywood chip box with removable 2 piece top. We only remove the top when loading with cranes.

The trick is to line up the largest logs first. If the mini can pick on end of the log up, it's on! The secret is, the deck height of the dump trailer is so low, compared to say a truck's deck. Some times the mini can only pick up one end of a big log few feet high for a moment. The trick is to line it up at an angle that allows the mini to lift and move forward at the same movement to get on end of the log onto the trailer deck. Then simply go to the other end and lift and push her on. Of course you can not get the bigger logs up high. You presort the load, according to weight/size. Some times we will even use smaller pieces of wood to step up the really big logs. Amazing that longer logs are easier to load due to the leverage you can manipulate. As log as you can continue to put one end of a log on top of each course, it's on. Even near the end you do not have to reach the top, all you have to do is lift a few feet from the end so you can get the end up top at a 45 degree and then go to the other end, lift and push em up, some times using the end of the bmg jib to get it all the way up there.

We refined this technique this winter working on frozen ground. We could not believe we had been cutting logs down to 4'-6' to pick them up and load them in the past.

First log of our load the other day was a 12' x 20" shagbark hickory somewhere in the 1600lb range. The mini could not skid this log due to the tall grass and sand, nor pick one end up more then a couple of feet for a moment. Backed the trailer right up lift and lunge technique. The rest of the logs were the smaller logs of the shagbark and 12" elm logs. The jib on the bmg works great for pushing the upper logs all the way into the trailer, as well as rolling the big logs over to the trailer. In about 20minutes I can load that trailer with 8,000-9,000lbs of logs.

I suppose I should make a video showing this technique as I have not seen anyone else doing it. I'm going to get an arbor trolley to help forward logs to the trailer with the mini so we do not have to skid across nicer lawns. Can I just use my iPhone and YouTube?

Do you have a video of this process?

 

[Mark Chisholm]

Hi Mark, when you say

The kubota You guys are referring to are tractors of some kind?

That is right. We don't own them anymore.

 

[Jehinten]

Do you have a video of this process?

I use the same technique, I don't have a video but I made a crude sketch that may help what he is explaining.


Mini skids are strongest when driving forward and when inline with the weight. Occasionally I'll load a log thats too big for this technique. When that happens I do one of two things.
1) use this same technique but cut blocks of wood to create steps up to the trailer height. Often times on heavy ones you can lift 6-12" but not 2 feet to the deck height. Lift it 12" at a time until its high enough.
2) this technique I've only used a couple of times, but it's allowed me to load 2,000+ lb logs into a dump truck. It does require a little more maneuvering for the mini and truck. Start by lifting from the front end, inline with the log, like the second image below. Have a helper roll a larger diameter round (24" or bigger) under the lifted log and place near the balance point. Set the log down on it and drive the mini to the rear of the log. Back the truck up to the log (the end should now be elevated near bed height) tilt the bed if needed to get below the log and lift/push the log like in the picture below. If loading multiple logs like this (we loaded two saw logs like this) tie the first one down before tilting the bed for the second log to prevent sliding out. If it slides out a foot or so against the chain, then it can be pushed back in after the second log is loaded. I've added a quick drawing of this technique as well.

 

[Daniel]

A300 with turf tires in action:

She was maxed out on this tulip log. MUCH lighter than oak FYI

Below see the asv RC 50 with turf tracks in action.

I got the ASV in 2009 and the A300 in 2018.

Both good machines. The A300 can handle more weight which is great for moving big woods. The ASV is better for chipping because it makes that tight turn to feed chipper better. Generally easier loading and offloading, and quicker than having to wait for the electronic systems to switch from steering to full skid. ASV is also more stable on hills and over bumps

AC and heat are more comfortable in the bobcat and the ride is a lot smoother.