Tractor carry-all

[Darren Wright]

Added the shelf for the fuel, bar oil, tools, and spare saw chains. I used some of the salvaged wood found in the garage. Just used cabinet hanging screws to assemble.




I’ve gotten where I really like using the GRK cabinet hanging screws. They don’t split the wood easily, are super strong, and hold tight with the washer style heads.

I’ll make up another rack to hang up in the spring for gardening and yard tools. Needing this for firewood right now.

 

[Brent Dowell]

Looks great!

 

[Ryan Mooney]

GRK cabinet hanging screws

I've been using some of their construction screws and they really are quite sweet.

I'm liking the modular theory, that seems pretty smart.

 

[Darren Wright]

I added the e-track today and the slow moving triangle found in the barn, so put it to use.


I’ve got some pipe straps for 2” pvc on order to add for tool holders. I also have some J hooks coming for the e-track to hang some chains on.

 

[Peter Rideout]

I've been using some of their construction screws and they really are quite sweet.

I'm liking the modular theory, that seems pretty smart.

We used hundreds of those screws in the barn roof structure, even put a fender washer under the head, which multiplied the force. Where the barn would have been shifting and creaking in a wild wind like today, there’s now not a sound.

 

[Peter Rideout]

I added the e-track today and the slow moving triangle found in the barn, so put it to use.
View attachment 119431

I’ve got some pipe straps for 2” pvc on order to add for tool holders. I also have some J hooks coming for the e-track to hang some chains on.

This is coming together really well Darren. It will be useful around the farm in so many ways. You’ll probably find that’s where some of your tools like chains and rigging will permanently reside.

 

[Darren Wright]

The J hooks showed up today along with the straps for the pvc pipe.


Still have two more to add. I ran a 4” lag bolt through the bottom of each pipe to keep the tool handle from slipping through.

 

[fred hargis]

I'm really liking the setup you've designed, lots of good ideas (that I intend to steal).

 

[Darren Wright]

One of my big goals for this year is to start cleaning up the creek. We have at least 100 downed trees of various sizes along the creek banks and in the creek. Some will go to the sawmill, some firewood, some to a burn pile. Getting to all of them is a big challenge. Some are laying where I can get them with the forks, so need a chain with the tractor to move, but a lot of them are going to have to be winched from their spots with snatch blocks and rigging.

I started looking at skidding winches, the pto driven type that included a safety screen to protect the back of the tractor from a snapped cable. They aren't cheap and pretty much do one thing, but do it well. I don't have the budget for one, so started looking at alternatives. Come-alongs are too slow and too much work for the amount we have to pull out.

The Norwood skidding winch came up on my youtube feed the other day. It was quite a bit cheaper, using a synthetic tow rope and capstan to pull logs, running off the tractor hydraulics. It's pretty well thought out, even has a chainsaw scabbard, cant hook carrier, receiver hitch, can swap the stabilizers to be used as forks, etc. The capstan method also seemed like a safer method of pulling logs. I was pretty close to buying one, but still felt like it was over priced for what it is.

https://www.norwoodsawmills.com/skid-winch-hydraulic-log-skidding-winch

A bit more googling I found a capstan wheel and a hydraulic motor (probably larger than I need), but my plan is to create a plate on top of the carry-all for the motor to mount and weld on. I think it can go on the top corner of the carry-all itself and mount a roller for the rope also. Cost wise I should be about $400 in with the capstan, motor, rope, and a few other accessories. I have some shorter hydraulic hoses that should work that were too short for connecting up some other equipment that will work fine here.

 

[Jonathan Shively]

Darren's quote--"I started looking at skidding winches, the pto driven type that included a safety screen to protect the back of the tractor from a snapped cable."


That screen is there to protect you (even though I would hate to put my life on it). Having grown up in a family owning wreckers, I have a very keen appreciation for the tension in a cable/chain/rope etc. Be safe my friend. Ag and Forestry always vie for the most dangerous occupations for a reason.

 

[Mark Patrick]

I would look at getting a larger winch from harbor freight. Run from the power off the tractor , load with synthetic rope and use a chain at the end for quick rigging.

 

[Jonathan Shively]

I would look at getting a larger winch from harbor freight. Run from the power off the tractor , load with synthetic rope and use a chain at the end for quick rigging.

This and anchor it to a tree and run your cables to the tractor and HF has a wireless winch remote making it easier to keep those skidding tongs on at the beginning.

 

[Darren Wright]

Darren's quote--"I started looking at skidding winches, the pto driven type that included a safety screen to protect the back of the tractor from a snapped cable."


That screen is there to protect you (even though I would hate to put my life on it). Having grown up in a family owning wreckers, I have a very keen appreciation for the tension in a cable/chain/rope etc. Be safe my friend. Ag and Forestry always vie for the most dangerous occupations for a reason.

Yes, I know. With the capstan you stand to the side out of harms way, so it's not needed (unless you're dumb enough to stand behind the winch).

 

[Darren Wright]

I would look at getting a larger winch from harbor freight. Run from the power off the tractor , load with synthetic rope and use a chain at the end for quick rigging.

I might have to for heavier stuff, but from what I've observed, the capstan should be a bit faster pulling things out.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

On the rope - it can whip to the side about the length of the broken piece so I wouldn't strictly count on standing to the side as being entirely safe..


You can also pretty dramatically decrease the force required to move the logs by putting the front end on skids.

There are modern wheeled ones like the below..., and log haulers of various sorts like this rig.. (not claiming it's a good one as such but the idea of being able to hoist an end up w/o having it attached to a hard point is nominally derivable from that setup) https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/products.php?mi=44641&itemnum=75065&redir=Y




We used wooden ones that are a lot like the front end of a bobsled with a pivot on top like this rig. These let us pull some pretty heavy logs out with horses that they otherwise couldn't have moved at all.

 

[Ted Calver]

A skidding cone might be helpful too.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

A skidding cone might be helpful too.

You don't enjoy the abrupt "oops a tree, or was that a hidden stump" stops? They're so much fun though...

 

[Frank Fusco]

I always envisioned Jon tucking one under each arm and carrying them around that way.

Then there was the time a hog escaped from my station wagon. The story is.............nebber mind.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Then there was the time a hog escaped from my station wagon. The story is.............nebber mind.

Ah, pigs.. yes I have a short story about pigs. At the time we lived where there were no roads, not close anyway. The way you got into the ranch was either drive to the top of the mountain in good weather when the ferry was in (summer only) and you could walk or skid boat behind a team down a VERY steep mountain side for about 6 miles, or alternatively you could take the cable car over the river and walk or ride horseback (if you had penned the horses up on the way out or someone brought some over for you) 6 or so miles on the trail through the pass in the mountains.

Someone (I'm not sure who) decided it would be a good idea to get some spring piglets and raise them for pork over the summer. Now spring was the time when the ferry was most definitely NOT in due to ice and what not coming down the river so it was cable car and walk or horseback, We didn't figure the little piglets were up for 1,400 feet of elevation change up and down on a 6 mile hike so the decision was made to put them into pack boxes and put them on a pack horse.

Most of our pack horses were only half broke and spent most of the winter running basically wild, so they were especially spicy in the spring and were often used for impromptu bucking horse rides (riding a half percheron while it's bucking is kinda like sitting astride a brick outhouse pushed out of an airplane... but that's another story).

The horse was wildly not impressed with having a pair of little oinkers in the pack box on either side of him.

Dad packed the piglets into the boxes with as much burlap padding we figured they could stand and still breath, and tied a tarp on top good so they couldn't get thrown out. Snubbed the pack horse up to the saddle horse and away we went. Nothing actually got loose and no horses or piglets were lost, but there were a few moments where it wasn't a sure thing.

Good adventure. Pigs survived with only a few bruises. The pack horse looked askance at every pack box for a year or so, even if most of them were just salt for the cows.

And that fall we got to figure out how to turn the pigs into bacon.

 

[Darren Wright]

I’ve been plugging away at the mounting plate for the hydraulic motor. Still waiting on a countersink bit and 3/8” countersink bolts to keep the mount flush and bolts out of the way of the capstan wheel.



The 1 1/2” cutout should make a nice retaining washer for the capstan.

The countersink and bolts should arrive later this week.