I'm interested in learning from anyone who has used their ATV for small scale logging. What ATV do you recommend? Did you use a log arch? What make? Thanks for any info.

 

Never did any logging, but have pulled long poles for fencing around. For really small-scale stuff, you can just cut the end of the log to a point so it slides & pull it with a chain. Since you asked about log arches, I assume you are going a little bigger scale than that. If I am guessing right, a log arch is a kind of 2 wheeled caddy to carry the weight of the front of the logs, right? Or do you mean the kind to carry the whole log? The 2 wheeled kind are easy to make. I made one once out of an old (bent up) farm wagon. Just narrowed down the rear axle & welded arches to it. Worked great for pulling poles. The pipe down the center of the gear (the reach) was cut off about 4 feet long, and a simple clevis hitch welded on. I quit using it long ago and stole the spindles and wheels off it to make an accetelyne cart. Yes, it looks funny, but it sure rolls over uneven ground good with 15 inch pickup tires on it. The frame has also been scavenged.
If you can weld, you could make one pretty cheap. Any old wagon would work, or anything else with an axle you could narrow down to ATV width.

PS I would recommend any 4x4 ATV you feel comfortable towing with. Liquid cooled, if possible, an oil cooler in the very least.

 

I haven't heard of a Arch either, but I'm guessing it's like a boom pole on a tractor. If so, this would make the front end way too light.

Check out Montana Jack's http://www.montanajacks.com/ for a log skidding plate. It is angled up like a sled at the front, with a chain to the ATV and another chain to hold the log on top of the skid.

I've never tried it, but it looks like it would work fairly well.

 

OCVT:
I haven't done any specific "logging", but we did have part of our property logged off here about a year ago now. The crew left a ton of smaller timber, as well as limbs all over the place. I've been cleaning the place up with my 'Cats for a while now, and couldn't be happier with their performance. I've got two AC 500 Auto's, and have towed/hauled/pulled more weight both in the form of logs, and gear than one would ever imagine, or think possible for an atv for that matter. They're like mini-tractors I guess you could say.

I personally went with the Auto for the ease of use, operation, as I originally wanted them for hunting and light work. However, when I started hooking up logs to them, dragging them all over hell and back, I quickly realized the auto on the 'Cat was built much stronger than I'd originally thought. For serious towing, I'd probably lean more towards the manual, if that is ALL you are going to do with it. However, if it's going to be used for a bunch of work, and a bunch of pleasure riding, the auto may be more comfortable. I've got about 760 miles on my Auto's now, which are mostly all extremely hard towing/hauling miles. To date, no problems what so ever, and the machines have performed flawlessly-I couldn't be happier. Among the many things the AC's have going for them, is that the 500's have more rated torque than any atv on the market, even compared to the big 600 cc Grizz. The AC 500's are rated at 31 ft/lbs., so that is plenty to get most jobs done.

About the only negative thing I can say about the AC's is they're not built for speed. Well, they're not the fastest utility machines out there. If speed is an issue, and you need to go fast a lot of the time, you may consider the Grizz, or the SP500 HO-I think they're about the fastest utility quads out there. Me personally, I do more work with my 'Cats, and most of the miles are in 4wd, low range, not going more than 5 mph tops, so speed is of no concern for me.

Anyway, best of luck in the decision, hope that helps a bit. Oh, about that arch thing, if it's similar to a skid type drag system, I had to fashion one up during elk hunting out of a smaller log, cut about 2' long, with the main log I was towing tied to it. The log was so big that it was digging a huge trench through the road, so I had to lift it up to keep from tearing up the road as bad. I assume that one made out of steel would last longer, probably be more efficient, but it still worked good for my chores.

Mike

 

thanks for your thoughts. most helpful!
OCVT

 

Kevin,

Thanks for that web connection.I'll check it out.

 

Mike,

thanks for all that information.... i like the CAT notion, because as I understand it, CATS have independent suspension a-arms or whatever on all 4 wheels... very nice feature.. right now i have a Big Bear 4x4 with hi and lo range and may move up to something bigger later, but it has a lot of torque compared to a 4x2 Polaris TRail Boss I just sold!!!! am going to try to work with it and see how i do... your concept of tying a bigger log to the smaller one - like a travis - makes sense... what did you use for the "arms" on that? justs chains or ? thanks again..

 

oh yeah,,, about speed... sigh, those days are gone for me... i was a young idiot on a motorcycle who, for reasons uknown, God let live. Now I like the scenery from the slow lane and I've moved to 4-wheels only!!

 

OCVT:
I'm sorry, I thought you were interested in which quads people had used, my mistake. With your Big Bear, you should be fine. One thing though, with my Auto I "as a rule" always tow anything and everything in LOW range. That's where you've got the most torque, and it's easier on the machine. I'd recommend using the same approach with your Big Bear and the low range, but that's just my own opinion. I personally like to get as much power to the ground as possible, and make it as easy on the machine as possible. That way, you won't be tearing things up near as fast.

Do you have a hitch on the back end? I had the standard atv hitch thing, which is basically a hole to mount a ball. I made a set of tab extensions out of 1/4" plate steel, then ground the edges down smooth, rounded the tip and painted to match the axle. I drilled 3/4" holes in each side of the set, and then put the ball through the atv hitch on the machine, with one new tab on top, and one on bottom of the ball. Now, I can tow with both my 2" ball, or use my tabs to attach my 3/4" x 3" clevis variations. I bought a couple-both strait and twisted for attaching straps with. This works great for towing logs with-you're always hooked up, and don't have to worry about it accidentally slipping off in the middle of a tow.

Like I said, the little log thing was really "rigged". I just cut a smaller log with the chainsaw about 2" long, then lifted the end of the large log I was towing over the top of it, and over hung it by a little over a foot. I used a heavy chain I had to strap the big log to the little one as tight as I could get, then used my choker cable to hook to the chain. I built a cable with a loop in one end that attaches to my clevis set-up, and a hook on the other end to loop around and hook back to itself. It has worked great for quite some time now. Well, till I just recently broke it anyway.

Anyhow, once you start pulling on the cable with your atv, the cable will pull the chain tight. As it slips forward a bit, it further constricts on the log, locking them together. Like I said, it was pretty well "rigged", but it did do the job, and allowed me to make it back to camp without tearing the roads up as bad as I would have done without it. It also saved my new cable from being thrashed.

I had a nice big choker cable -as described above- but while on a long tow back to camp down a gravel road, I didn't use the smaller log, just drug with my cable. Well, the gravel acted like sand paper, and ground the cable clear through. Didn't have any other way to get back to camp, so I kept shortening and re-wrapping, eventually completely destroyed my cable.

Keep in mind though, longer cable is nice for emergency type situations, but it also makes it a little harder to tow through trees with when you've got 16' of cable hooked to a 30' lodgepole-makes the maneuverability a little more tricky. If you can, I'd suggest getting a shorter cable-maybe 8-10' or so, and also a longer one for back up if need be.

One a side note, I have a old military mortar box mounted up front on my 'Cat which contains the following: 3 clevis's both twisted and strait, two ****** blocks, 100' extra aircraft winch cable, 30'x2" tow strap, 20'x2" tow strap, 6'x2" tow strap/tree saver, 15'x3/8" choker cable, 8'x1/2" heavy duty choker cable, small axe, first aid kit, rope and duct tape. Believe it or not, but I have been in a couple circumstances where all that combined was almost not enough to get out of a few situations, even with the 50' of cable on my winch!

Anyway, sorry to be so long winded, but hopefully they'll be something in there you can use, or maybe even spark an idea somehow. Best of luck with the working adventures!

Mike

 

Oh, forgot to add: The 300's, and I believe the 250's have the independant A-Arms all the way around. My 500 has independant front suspension, with a semi-independant rear axle. It's kind of a "floating" axle-I forget what they call it. (Ssshhh! hate to admit I can never remember the name they use) Anyway, it's a solid rear axle that uses a swing arm design which gives 7.2" wheel travel at all four corners. I prefer this set-up as it rides smoother than most solid rear axle designs, but because of the strait axle, it is stronger for towing applications-in my opinion.