Too much tongue weight??

[Stephen Moore]

What's an all time high feel like in the pocket? You getting getting good $$ for stuff smaller than 20ft? Speaking of which.. I've always been under the impression the longer you keep it the more $$ you'll get.. 20's being the ideal length..

You see around here, it's more so cord wood that's bringing the $$. A softwood load to the mill is only going to bring about 1/3 of what a grapple load of hardwood to a customers home would bring. Basically, either the guys I've worked for are getting boned by the local mill or it just isn't worth crap.. Example.. Grapple load of hardwood to a consumer = $800-900
Grapple load of pine to mill = $250-$450.. (to be quite honest, i never seen an mill receipt for more than say.. $325, but it could just be i never saw the higher ones)

Also, I think up there in BC it's a completely different scenario with all those nice desireable softwoods. It's rare around here to get into a sizeable softwood that hasn't been ruined by metal objects in it.

we leave em mostly 51 foot 6" bucked at 4 inch top. A truck load of cedar will put 5 grand in your pocket.

 

[Stephen Moore]

Thanks for the heads up.

I have a 2016 GMC 2500HD Diesel

I’ve been kinda eyeing up some of the starter kits that wesspur offers and then adding bits and pieces where required. Probably add a omni block in there somewhere as well.

You can haul a fair load with that truck. You might wanna put a canopy for security and to keep your gear out of foul weather, get a dump trailer with a 4 foot storage box on the tonge for fuel etc. still gonna have to make another trip for the chipper though, and you will need some high sides to keep the chips in?

 

[Stephen Moore]

Maybe partner up with a dude with a truck that can pull chipper?

 

[colb]

I'm angling towards a flatbed pickup on which I can side load my mini skid in front of the gooseneck hitch. Anyone seen that configuration?

 

[Jimmycrackcorn]

Dang! 2016? That things bandy new in my book! Well shit.. if you own it.. take that 70k lap of luxury & sell it.. then buy an entire biz outright! If you squirrel away your hard earned nuts, you'll have another one in no time!

Haha..2016.. i wish! Someday.. Someday! [emoji6]

Either way bud.. that thing will pull a damn house down.. i don't think you should be too worried about the tongue weight as long as the trailer is designed to have the machine there.. plus.. i don't think you'd actually have 2.8-3k directly on the tongue as some of it would transfer back to the axles.. if you had the setup & you wanted to see exactly what weighs what you could always use a highway dot scale or some sort of two scale system to see which axle or area the weight is being transferred to.. you'd probably have to disconnect to get the true tongue weight, but it's something i do regularly when setting up ballast in plow trucks or trying to see exactly were weight additional weight is going. Gotta weigh dry though first to see difference.

As far as making trips.. well it's just part of the biz.. your always gunna be short a driver or a truck unless you figure out how to get it all on one big $$ rig.. (knuckle boom setup with box & chipper) & even then it's allot of moving parts & you end up making trips.. But hey.. sell that Brandy new truck & you could have a down payment on one of those..lol.

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[Jimmycrackcorn]

we leave em mostly 51 foot 6" bucked at 4 inch top. A truck load of cedar will put 5 grand in your pocket.

You keep them 51feet-6inches?

Bucked at 4in top
You lost me there bud..

5 Grand? Holy shit..
I'd say it's worth the aggravation! You obviously talking a tractor trailer load.. right? I mean how else you gunna transport 51ft.. What i was referencing was the hassle of moving material out of a residential site, stock piling & then having to bring it somewhere. You know.. a tandem axel straight job truck.. grapple load of 5-7cord, 20footers..

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[Stephen Moore]

Yes a logging trucks worth! Easy money!
As for weighing a loaded trailer.. go to a highway weigh station or garbage dump, weigh the load at tonge by disconnecting trailer with wheels off the scale and the jack stand on it for tonge, and for total weight weigh the truck without trailer then with and do the math.

 

[Stephen Moore]

The mills want tops, the skinny end of log, at 4 inches. The total log length at 51’6” and shorts need a hay rack pup trailer to pick up.

 

[Jimmycrackcorn]

The mills want tops, the skinny end of log, at 4 inches. The total log length at 51’6” and shorts need a hay rack pup trailer to pick up.

Oh no shit! Now I gotcha.. 4"in though?? That's it? Damn.. picking that thing up must be like a wet noodle..

 

[Stephen Moore]

Oh no shit! Now I gotcha.. 4"in though?? That's it? Damn.. picking that thing up must be like a wet noodle..

Lol I don't have to pick them up! Sometimes a mill will ask for preferred lengths too. Automated mills can maximize logs by computer now, there is very little waste. In fact if you are working a block in the forest here in BC, the ministry will do spot checks to make sure that timber is not being wasted. Fortunately my days on cut blocks are long over! But I do provide wood to smaller local mills, particularly specialty or oversized for timber framers and carvers.