cheaper alternatives to the iron horse

[offgridchris]

our quad bike and trailer setup in our steep sided woodland is very limited in the amount of wood i can move up hill to our house. the quad bikes problem is traction and stability ( ive rolled the thing a few times). the iron horse looks like the ideal solution. but the price is far beyond our budget. our woodland is 6 acres and we have access to around 100 acres all on a steep valley. a real horse would also be perfect but using one as and when i needed it would not be ideal ( for me and the horse). a small tractor would be a problem because of crossing a field we do not own to access our woodland would be a problem when the field is muddy.

 

i was looking at the small skid steer loaders which look similar to the iron horse and was wondering if anybody has used them for lifting timber and skidding logs or pulling trailer?

 

they are on ebay for around £2000.

 

all ideas welcome

[jpbeaver]

How about a tracked dumper?

[tree_beard]

How about a tracked dumper?

 

tracked dumper would get my vote... little skid steer loaders tend to have rather poor ground clearance for woodland work, and dont like slopes very much

[offgridchris]

any opinions on this?

 

CORMIDI UK | Affordable Cormidi power barrows, Cormidi tracked dumpers, construction narrow access high tipping mini dumpers, compact machinery, hydraulic tipping powered barrows, hydrostatic transmission, high tipping

[armchairarborist]

that looks cool, there's some good links on that site to other manufacturers. i use this old thing and its ace:thumbup1: really labour saving

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

How about a tracked dumper?

 

tracked dumper would get my vote... little skid steer loaders tend to have rather poor ground clearance for woodland work, and dont like slopes very much

 

Yep; I use a 2-3 tonner for exactly this - perfect machine for the job...

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

any opinions on this?

 

CORMIDI UK | Affordable Cormidi power barrows, Cormidi tracked dumpers, construction narrow access high tipping mini dumpers, compact machinery, hydraulic tipping powered barrows, hydrostatic transmission, high tipping

 

The best tracked power barrow imo is a Hinowa with a 9hp Honda petrol engine. Used to have a JCB single-cylinder thing, have used the hondas, kubotas but the Hinowa is the best allrounder...

 

Tracked dumpers - have used Yamaguchi WB12 and WB16 - steering a little faded on slopes but otherwise excellent.

[brassmonkey001]

How about one of these?

 

Ural 1

Ural 2

 

[armchairarborist]

How about one of these?

 

Ural 1

Ural 2

 

 

well cool, a 3x3

[Ty Unnos]

I like the idea of one of those walk behind tracked dumpers but don't quite get how you use them for logging.

 

When skidding a log out the controls seem to be where the log wants to be?

 

Or do you attach the log to the barrow and then operate in reverse while walking backwards?