Having mulled/developed a manual pole saw replacement plan for quite a while, I finally started. Warning, like most of my retirement projects, this one will probably be drawn out and may end up not working at all.
There are 3 varieties I see:
* Battery/ electric chain
* Hydraulic chain
* Hydraulic circular
Since I started mentally doodling before I had a third function, I decided to pursue the battery option first. Besides, I have already modified my Ryobi 40 volt chainsaw with a relay and jack to allow remote starting. In the end, I think multiple tools could be mounted on the mast.
Some folks nearby had adapter plates for not much more than on-line price, so I picked up a couple of 5/16" solid ones. These are from Landhonor (Chinese version of Land Pride?) and fit my SSQA correctly. There's a lot of stitch welding which I may use welding practice to complete. For the mast, I chose EMT conduit. 2-1/2" trade size is 2-7/8" o.d. and 3" is 3-1/2" o.d. Both are 0.072" w.t. and come in 10' sticks. This is cheaper and more readily available for me than mechanical tubing. I bought a stick of each for ~$130, and decided to use the 2-1/2" for this project.
I had thought that the mast would be mounted perpendicular to the plate, but before proceeding I mounted the plate on the loader and took it out to eyeball how that would work. Turns out, I would have to disconnect the self-levelling linkage in order to curl the loader enough to get the mast get much above horizontal.
So I mounted it as shown in the first picture below. Those two angle brackets are left over parts I didn't need from the 3 pt hitch kit. They're bolted to the plate with 3 - 1/2" studs each (had to be studs to keep the back of the plate flat). The whole thing is mounted on the right side of the plate to keep the saw bar flush with the right side of the tractor. The mast is bolted to the brackets with 2 - 7/8" bolts, which should make it easy to disassemble.
The mast lugs are 1/4" x 3-1/2" flat bar. The end of the mast is flattened and welded to the lug at the ends plus a couple of slot welds. The upper lug is just welded to the wall of the tube for now. I'll fit a couple of reinforcement rings to strengthen that area.
I was running out of farm time, so took it out to check progress so far. The second picture is with the loader fully raised and curled. I think that is fine for max. angle.
Next trip I should have plans for reinforcement rings and upper implement connection.
There are 3 varieties I see:
* Battery/ electric chain
* Hydraulic chain
* Hydraulic circular
Since I started mentally doodling before I had a third function, I decided to pursue the battery option first. Besides, I have already modified my Ryobi 40 volt chainsaw with a relay and jack to allow remote starting. In the end, I think multiple tools could be mounted on the mast.
Some folks nearby had adapter plates for not much more than on-line price, so I picked up a couple of 5/16" solid ones. These are from Landhonor (Chinese version of Land Pride?) and fit my SSQA correctly. There's a lot of stitch welding which I may use welding practice to complete. For the mast, I chose EMT conduit. 2-1/2" trade size is 2-7/8" o.d. and 3" is 3-1/2" o.d. Both are 0.072" w.t. and come in 10' sticks. This is cheaper and more readily available for me than mechanical tubing. I bought a stick of each for ~$130, and decided to use the 2-1/2" for this project.
I had thought that the mast would be mounted perpendicular to the plate, but before proceeding I mounted the plate on the loader and took it out to eyeball how that would work. Turns out, I would have to disconnect the self-levelling linkage in order to curl the loader enough to get the mast get much above horizontal.
So I mounted it as shown in the first picture below. Those two angle brackets are left over parts I didn't need from the 3 pt hitch kit. They're bolted to the plate with 3 - 1/2" studs each (had to be studs to keep the back of the plate flat). The whole thing is mounted on the right side of the plate to keep the saw bar flush with the right side of the tractor. The mast is bolted to the brackets with 2 - 7/8" bolts, which should make it easy to disassemble.
The mast lugs are 1/4" x 3-1/2" flat bar. The end of the mast is flattened and welded to the lug at the ends plus a couple of slot welds. The upper lug is just welded to the wall of the tube for now. I'll fit a couple of reinforcement rings to strengthen that area.
I was running out of farm time, so took it out to check progress so far. The second picture is with the loader fully raised and curled. I think that is fine for max. angle.
Next trip I should have plans for reinforcement rings and upper implement connection.
