What machinery is best to move stuff on a slope

[aspenarb]

3 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Deepcut by the broken sewer? I wondered who did it but didn't walk that way much in the last year and now the boat is sold.

 

That`s the one, thats only the top in the pic it was a bit of a lump.There was a narrow boat waiting to pass and it had to be through there by 11.30 or park up for a day, some kind of limit/restrictions on boat movements through the locks atm.

 

Bob

[openspaceman]

29 minutes ago, aspenarb said:

 

That`s the one, thats only the top in the pic it was a bit of a lump.There was a narrow boat waiting to pass and it had to be through there by 11.30 or park up for a day, some kind of limit/restrictions on boat movements through the locks atm.

 

Bob

I see so it has happened again more recently. I would have liked some nice beech logs for next year, I have a m3 from the canal centre at the back of my logshed behind all the cedar which burns a bit fast.

 

There was a fallen beech at the same spot earlier in the year.

 

The canal always runs out of water in the deepcut section by June so you can only move around between there and greywall in the summer.

[andy cobb]

Although very late to the thread  I'd go for an old major with a double drum on it, 1 drum for haul in and 1 drum for haul back via a pulley, we've extracted hundreds of tons of hardwood from slopes harvesters wouldn't touch, hard work though

[slack ma girdle]

1 hour ago, andy cobb said:

Although very late to the thread  I'd go for an old major with a double drum on it, 1 drum for haul in and 1 drum for haul back via a pulley, we've extracted hundreds of tons of hardwood from slopes harvesters wouldn't touch, hard work though

Add a separate line tensioned with a tifor, with the pull in line running though a pulley, and everything  is lifted off the ground. A lot less issues with getting stuck behind stumps.

[openspaceman]

5 hours ago, slack ma girdle said:

Add a separate line tensioned with a tifor, with the pull in line running though a pulley, and everything  is lifted off the ground. A lot less issues with getting stuck behind stumps.

Yes I think a skyline as well is best but you can highlead with a pulley running on the return line and keep a bit of tension with the brake to keep everything up a bit. In fact I was hoping to modify my simple highlead carriage with a wire rope clamp which could be triggered by the choker man and then released by the pull in line resetting it but a health glitch in November meant the work went ahead without me, so the mod didn't get done. The trouble with a simple highlead is that everything falls to the deck when you release the carriage and pulling slack becomes a nightmare.

[renewablejohn]

I use a little alpine tractor (Holder A15) Ride up attach tree to hydraulics lift off ground then low gear and will pull nearly anything down the hillside. Small enough that you can steer tractor without being sat on it. Bigger stuff can be lifted off the deck with forward motion wheel jack.

[Globalforester]

21 hours ago, renewablejohn said:

I use a little alpine tractor (Holder A15) Ride up attach tree to hydraulics lift off ground then low gear and will pull nearly anything down the hillside. Small enough that you can steer tractor without being sat on it. Bigger stuff can be lifted off the deck with forward motion wheel jack.

Wow, I used to drive a Holder when I extracted timber over 40 years ago. Great machines but you have to watch the side slope!

[Slad]

So it's nearly six months since I first asked the question and all the advice has been really useful, thanks.

 

I tried the zipline thing. It sort of worked, but more hassle than it's worth.  The best piece of kit for moving wood and brush has turned out to be a Docma VF105 Red Iron two stroke capstan winch.  I have a couple of 8 ton snatch blocks so can pull large tree trunks. I've just moved a very large ash and some smaller oaks and birches.  It's an amazing piece of kit and with 100m of low stretch rope I can pretty much move anything I need to.  For domestic use, it's perfect.  For anything that needs lifting, a neighbour has an 8 ton excavator with tree grab 

 

I haven't completely solved the problem of moving stuff around though.  We have some gulleys used to pull trees down (by horse) in the olden days.  I've cleared them out and these could be used as a 4x4 track to get up and around the hills.  

 

So the next question is...what 4x4 could I get for a few grand that I can use to shift me, equipment and maybe a few logs around?    Anyone do any green lane-ing?!

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by Slad

[htb]

3 hours ago, Slad said:

So the next question is...what 4x4 could I get for a few grand that I can use to shift me, equipment and maybe a few logs around?    Anyone do any green lane-ing?!

Depends if its only on your site or needs to be road legal. If not road legal get a MOT failure such as discovery diesel, some off road tyres, bash it up, enjoy and run on red diesel.

[dumper]

7 minutes ago, htb said:

Depends if its only on your site or needs to be road legal. If not road legal get a MOT failure such as discovery diesel, some off road tyres, bash it up, enjoy and run on red diesel.

Not so sure about the red diesel