Wallenstein Log Trailer

vendredi 25 novembre 2016

Okay, Okay, Okay...before I lose everyone on the Log Trailer part, let me start by saying that this thing is amazing at picking up hay bales...square or round.

I had a problem this summer, as I cleared my land in anticipation of converting forest into fields, my bulldozer would snap chockers every time the trees I was trying to twitch hit a rock, stump or root since I was dry-dragging them on the ground. I needed a way to get them off the ground yet was limited by my bulldozers lack of hydraulics, pto or 3 point hitch. When I saw this log trailer at a dealership, I saw potential far beyond a log trailer.

What a handy rig! It is ideal for the small farm. I have run it a lot, got some numbers figured out, and got the powerpack unit for it, which intensifies its usefulness 10 fold. For those that do not know, the Wallenstein is a Log Trailer with a boom and grapple attached to it. the log stakes can be removed and a dump body put in its place. The grapple can be swapped out for a small back hoe bucket, and it can also be used as a post hole driller too.

Log Trailer:
I was a little disappointed at this, I was hoping for some higher numbers as the machine can handle 5000 pounds (1 cord) but only has stakes for 1/2 a cord. I am going to extend the stakes a bit higher so that I can at least get 3/4 of a cord on it, that way I save a few trips out to the wood yard. With it however I can get 4 cords out per day cut at 8 feet. I get $80 a cord for my 8 foot pulpwood making for a decent work day pay off. As for fuel, I consume about 2 gallons of fuel doing so as everything is run at an idle. In that respect it is a very efficient mover of wood and I have pulled out 20 cords with it so far. Normally I pull tree length out at 1/4 cord per turn, in 5th gear in 4 wheel drive. With the trailer I can do so at 1/2 cord, in 7th gear (out of 8) and in 2 wheel drive.

I have also pulled out 12' spruce logs, many large in diameter at about 500 bf per twitch. It has done really well at this and the log loader, though small handles the big logs easily. Clean logs, making 3 trips to the yard per day instead of 10...$1200 in 3 days time using less than 5 gallons of fuel...what is not to love?

Backhoe:
This it surprisingly excels at. I have put in two culverts with it, and dug a waterline out to a new sheep barn. This machine can dig. Its a bit awkward because you can't dig straight on because your dump body is behind you, but it has such reach and depth that it is very forgiving, (unlike a tractor backhoes that can only dig in a 170 degree arc, this has 270 degrees. And it easily digs in tough digging, filling the bucket every time. Having the ability to dump the backhoe into the its dumb body is also nice.

Dump Body:
Filling the 1 yard dump body is slow, but filling it with the tractors bucket is fast. 4 passes and its filled. I used this to make a road into my woodlot where it was very wet. It really worked fast and well. I also moved gravel around from my pit 1/4 mile away to do some driveway work. Really fast.

Moving Big Round Bales:
This thing is super fast at it. Just pick the bale up with its grapple, toss it on the log trailer, grab the second one and you are off. Having the ability to pick the bale up and set it exactly where you want it by twisting, turning and rotating it makes it NICE. And stacking square bales...no more lifting!

Building Rock Walls:
What a dream. I used mine to pick up some big rocks and with its grapple, set them right in place with little effort.

Auger:
Honestly, it sucks at this and I probably will not put an auger on it again. Our soil here is gravelly loam and it is hard to auger with any machine. The backhoe would work much faster and is easy to put on.

The Powerpack:
This is what makes it nice. Everything I just described I can do on ANYTHING with a hitch. Since the little gas engines drives its hydraulics, it is not dependent upon a tractor. I can put it on my bulldozer, SUV, my car, even an ATV or tractor. Need to run a few logs to a buddies house? Just load them on the trailer and haul them over with your SUV, same thing with a load of manure, gravel or even big round bales. The powerpack was a $1600 dollar option, but boy was it worth it!

Future Attachments:
I plan to custom make the following attachments for it to make it even more useful. First a wood splitter. They make an upside down wood splitter for mini-excavators and for a reason. With a woodsplitter on the boom of my Wallenstein I can grab blocks of firewood without having to bend over and pick them up, and then swing it over my dump body and split the wood. After my dump body is full, I can drive over to where I store my wood and dump it in place. All this can be done without getting off the machine!

The second will be a boom mounted bush Hog or sickle bar mower. In this way I can use the boom to reach out around and over fences, ditches of roads, etc and cut brush that I can't drive my tractor into like a typical bush hog being dragged behind.

My only complaint is that this loader is the smaller version. I would go with the bigger model, but because the dealership had a guy order this one, then change his mind, then sat on it for two years, I got it at their cost. It is what it is, but with my dozer I could haul out even more with the bigger log trailer.