Mini diggers in woodland

[Baldbloke]

1 hour ago, richy_B said:

You can get a 'thumb' for the excavator pretty cheaply. Or a fixed grab is very good. I have a fixed grab from digbits on my 1.7t komatsu.

 

You could put a round strop when skidding the logs up a bank then use the grapple to load a trailer. Saves a whole lot of back ache! I can lift 200kg bits of log not bother.

Funnily enough I've been looking on the 'Bay at these things this afternoon. Never knew they existed  However the diameter trunks I'm collecting at the moment are large enough that they can be trapped by the bucket for logging prior to loading onto the trailer.

 

I tend to log on site rather than creating saw chips at home. I also welded in a support to take a tow hitch to drag my logs.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Baldbloke

[richy_B]

DO you find the Digbits grab a bit undersized for the machine- I had one for my old 1.7t digger and ended up welding 1” M16 bolts on to the tips of the grab so that when grabbing larger timber it could still grip it even with grab fully open. Made a massive difference in productivity.
 
 

It is smaller than the competition but I've got on well with it. A larger grab could see me on my side I fear! When grabbing piles of brash a bigger grapple would be advantageous though.

I mainly used it for grabbing rings when I was processing arb waste. I could sort through a big pile of rings into rough sizes or I'd chainsaw it into smaller lengths whilst in the jaws. You can lift them onto a strong table for someone to then split as well. Only 40-60kg rings but an absolute treat compared to lugging them by hand. Getting them from ground to the splitter table height was a back breaker.

[richy_B]

Funnily enough I've been looking on the 'Bay at these things this afternoon. Never knew they existed [emoji23] However the diameter trunks I'm collecting at the moment are large enough that they can be trapped by the bucket for logging prior to loading onto the trailer.
 
I tend to log on site rather than creating saw chips at home. I also welded in a support to take a tow hitch to drag my logs.

Sounds sensible.

Would a small logging trailer help at all? I have a small ATV logging trailer from tcf. I think it was around £700 quid.

You could load tow it with the digger easy enough.

[Baldbloke]

34 minutes ago, richy_B said:

Sounds sensible.

Would a small logging trailer help at all? I have a small ATV logging trailer from tcf. I think it was around £700 quid.

You could load tow it with the digger easy enough.

I have thought about a small trailer but my present wood access is quite steep in places. I don't know that it would be too safe doing the hills with a heavy trailer behind. I've been fortunate in being able to open up a drag line that lets me bring up dead elm that's approximately a foot to perhaps 18" in girth at the base and maybe up to 50' long. I've left some sacrificial trees on the drag line route to ensure I don't debark or knacker the roots of the trees that are remaining. By lengthening or shortening the strops and chains in the tricky sections I can ensure that I'm only pulling heavy loads when the digger is relatively level. I'm probably only doing (to log stage) 6 trees a day as I'm getting on a bit

[scbk]

Not had a chance to try it out yet, but I wonder if a set of timber tongs would be much use on the end of a mini digger?

Edited March 12, 2018 by scbk

[rowan lee]

I would love a mini digger timber trailer setup like the one in this clip.

 

Even with just a thumb you could make light work of extraction, though it would make loading that trailer more difficult. Downside I suppose is speed, although currently I use an old massey which creeps around in low gear, but it can't knock hung up trees for me, sling brash out onto the haul mat, lift wood up to waist height so it can be easily snedded, and logged up - the list goes on.

[william127]

8 hours ago, scbk said:

Not had a chance to try it out yet, but I wonder if a set of timber tongs would be much use on the end of a mini digger?

Only done it the once so far, yes it does work, I'll be doing it again.

[Baldbloke]

On 12/03/2018 at 21:36, scbk said:

Not had a chance to try it out yet, but I wonder if a set of timber tongs would be much use on the end of a mini digger?

I'm sure it would be much handier and quicker than scrabbling about with the bucket. However, when I have been too greedy with dragging too many stems up a bank the bucket is handy for putting a tine through the strop, blade down and the arm will then pull the load up, whereas with towing it can just spin the tracks if you ask too much of it.

 

Great clip Rowan Lee. I particularly like the way the operator just picks up the lightweight empty trailer rather than maneuvering it for the turn

I do find that my two wheeled trailer is too weighty for that, and that if its full of wood it will fight reversing. 

Edited March 14, 2018 by Baldbloke

[drinksloe]

Must admit i'm not really a fan of rubber tracks on greasy/wet or steep soil, esp if u have tracked over it a few times.

I never think it takes much to get them spinning, althou to be fair i really could do with a new set of tracks.

 

Have u never tried setting a block up a tree at the top of the hill and just pulling the butts out with a long rope with ur digger at the top of the hill pulling from dry ground?

I have been doing something similar with some big windblow stems, area round them was a swamp so pulled tem from the hard track using a block as a redirect (until some b******rd stole my  long chains that i'd left ontop of a stem)

[richy_B]

I was in a natural clay pond yesterday and I agreed about the rubber tracks and steep, wet conditions. I had the blade all the way down and was still sliding all over the place. I'd have been stuck without my trusty waffle boards. If you've not got some do - one of the best £60 I ever spent.