quads for woodland work

[Gareth Smith]

Hi , we have new suzuki kingquad 700 auto on the farm and i use it all the time when working in the woods, carry all my gear on it (bungee my saws and cans down) and it`ll go anywhere. we did have an ATV LOGIC trailer for it which you can tow with quad on it then take quad off and hitch it up to the quad, they only have 350kg axles on but we just bought some 750kg ones from autow.co.uk and bolted them on and i used to stack it with timber in the woods and never got stuck. we have always had quads on the farm and couldn`t be without them, great fun in two wheel drive in the wet too (drifting everywhere).

Love this forum and thanks for making me welcome.

[Andy Collins]

Most of the loaders I've seen demoed have been painfully slow, in fact its quicker to load by hand. Of course this puts more strain on backs etc, so is a trade off. Nice bit of kit though

[Charlieh]

I found this ATV transport and timberextracting multipurpose trailer... what u reckon?

Would it do the job? Anyone tried it or seen it?

ATV Trailer Log Loader Woodlot Equipment and Logging Equipment Canada USA Ontario Alberta

 

I think it's pretty spot on....if it doesent end up beeing a poor performer on ALL tasks...

 

 

I have tried to contact them on several occasions and have never had the requested quote or as much as a return email suspect they dont ship outside canada,

[keith@honda]

atvs will go most places you will ever want to go,you can either use a trailer such as the logic stt400 which has floatation tyres and will carry up to1/3 ton or you can make a timber skidder so you can lift one end and drag the other most ATV's of around 450/500 cc will pull this ok

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

OK on reasonable level firm woodland/farmland. (Useless on eggbox terrain and boggy land)

 

Sites with much brash will cause problems. ATV's have no roll frame and I have seen several turned over whilst towing and snatching tree lengths.

 

There are now some diesel versions available as the petrol ones use fuel when worked hard.

[Charlieh]

OK on reasonable level firm woodland/farmland. (Useless on eggbox terrain and boggy land)

 

I had mine on a boggy wetland creation site all day yesterday did virtually no ground damage (go back in a week and i bet you wont even see where i have run) and I only got slightly bogged in one area, due to repeatedly using the same track through a stream bed. I would say they are very good on boggy ground if set up with the right tyres and driven sensibly

 

Sites with much brash will cause problems. ATV's have no roll frame and I have seen several turned over whilst towing and snatching tree lengths

 

I think if people are turning bikes over its due to poor operator judgement, most newer atvs will travel safely across some very very rough terrain even when snatching tree lengths out where they have been felled into boggy ground. Its more about operator experience (note i use the word experience and not training!)

 

 

There are now some diesel versions available as the petrol ones use fuel when worked hard.

my 500cc petrol was was pulling timber out over a short haul for the last few days anything upto about 1/2ton at a time, and i used less than 10ltrs of fuel each day which i dont consider to be a huge amount pluss the diesel atvs are very sluggish and noisy or the ones i have tried have been, and they cost significantly more to purchase new

[keith@honda]

if the trailer has a proper swivel hitch on the drawbar it will lesson the risk of the atv being turned over when towing also you will be surprised how many try to tow something by tying the rope to the rear carrier rack instead of the towball then moan when the atv rears up

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

I had mine on a boggy wetland creation site all day yesterday did virtually no ground damage (go back in a week and i bet you wont even see where i have run) and I only got slightly bogged in one area, due to repeatedly using the same track through a stream bed. I would say they are very good on boggy ground if set up with the right tyres and driven sensibly

 

 

 

I think if people are turning bikes over its due to poor operator judgement, most newer atvs will travel safely across some very very rough terrain even when snatching tree lengths out where they have been felled into boggy ground. Its more about operator experience (note i use the word experience and not training!)

 

 

my 500cc petrol was was pulling timber out over a short haul for the last few days anything upto about 1/2ton at a time, and i used less than 10ltrs of fuel each day which i dont consider to be a huge amount pluss the diesel atvs are very sluggish and noisy or the ones i have tried have been, and they cost significantly more to purchase new

 

ATV's were designed to be used on farms not in woods although are now being used in leisure logging. Mini tractors are much more suitable and can run on red with linkage for real winches. Boggy ground does cause problems as the ground clearance is less than most road going vehicles and large footplates to snag including on stumps.

 

The laden trailers will cause problems on steep ground as the machines do not have to weight to gain traction. (FC did a report on using them in woods) dragging a small trailer with a few sheep in a damp field is much different.

 

How much speed is needed in a woodland? The diesel versions can run on red and use much less fuel than a petrol and noise when working hard is much the same.

 

These are made in the UK and have less mechs to go wrong.

 

Farmrite Fabrications Diesel ATV

[Andy Collins]

Trad Logger,though I tend to agree with most of your comments, and I've said this before on other threads, it a case of using the right tool for the jobs. I've skidded timber out with a quad and arch where a tractor just cant get, mainly to get the timber to where the tractor can get. Its as different as using a hand saw to prune a limb, and an 088 to fell a large tree. Right tool for the job pure and simple. We use both tractor and quad to compliment one another, I'd never discount using either for jobs.

That farmrite looks like it was designed by a 5yr old in some 3rd world country and cobbled together out of recycled Trabants and powered by a 60's cement mixer engine.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Andy Collins

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

That farmrite looks like it was designed by a 5yr old in some 3rd world country and cobbled together out of recycled Trabants and powered by a 60's cement mixer engine.

 

Simple and basic tool that can be mended with a hammer:lol: