A log skidding horror story, many years ago my brother in laws father owned I believe the first Kubota Dealership in Vermont circa early to mid-70’s. Not long after this ownership started the service work also began to come in. I went with my brother in law and on a service call into the Vermont woods in January to look at a tractor the owner said broke, what I can remember with no more explanation than that, broke. Upon arriving at the logging site after about 45 min to an hour of walking we found the tractor, a large framed Orange beast for its day, I would guess about 35-45 HP, I do not remember the model. Yes, the tractor was broke, literally in half, hanging on 2 bent bolts and a guide pin between the engine and transmission housing. We stabilized the frame by placing logs etc. under the engine and transmission to keep the tractor from completely coming apart and left to return another day with more than a small tool box of hand tools.
The owner was skidding logs with the FEL, yes, hooking chains to the welded bucket hooks and attaching them to the log. It appeared and the subsequent conversation with the owner confirmed it. What had transpired, he was skidding full length tree logs 8”-12” in diameter for firewood. My recollection, this particular log was a 20-30 foot long and it got hung between some standing trees and the owner kept pulling trying to free the log, he said he had done it may times with no issue. To my recollection there was no damage done to the FEL.
Upon returning a couple days later with another tractor and a lot more than a small toolbox we used come-along, chain and binders along with a small I beam to pull the tractor back together and support its broken back. I do not remember how long it took bind and tow the non-running tractor out of the woods but remember being very cold and most of the day being shot. Fortunately no serious damage was done to the tractor as I recall beyond some slightly pulled threads and chipped bolt holes. A couple days of drilling the broken bolts out and re-tapping threaded holes, the tractor was put back together with no apparent lasting issue. I do not know if the owner of the tractor continued logging in the same manor after its return. This failure did give us the idea to make a small log winch similar to what you would find on a commercial log skidder of the day with success. We used a Woods PTO Hyd pump for power, but it was too expensive to manufacture or sell at the time so we owned and used the only one made.
I would guess the moral of this story is to use the equipment as intended, and if it looks like a bad idea, it probably is. And, just because you got away with a bad idea once does not ensure you always will.
