I try to balance the load as best I can; clearly here it wasn't that great. These logs had been left in a big pile along with fir logs too twisted to mill into siding. I spent some time cleaning that up; the B5100 didn't have enough pull to disassemble the pile, but my 4x4 F250 managed with a long chain and a front hitch.. Once the fir logs had been converted to rounds and moved elsewhere using the trailer my son and I built for the tractor, I could snake the log arch in and pick up the cedar logs. I then milled them w/ an Alaska mill (chain saw accessory) w/ a ripping chain into rough cut 2"x14" slabs; my wife used these to make a series of raised beds next the house protected by deer fencing.
Once the log is balanced preferably nose heavy on the arch, the tractor will move it ok. Obvious not a rig for side hills; I built the log arch to fit in the woods, but it's a bit long as it takes 14' logs.
We now have a 7000 lb JD 110 TLB which could have picked up this log w/ the pallet forks... but not gotten it into the right place. My brother and I have some logging coming up on the land we inherited from our parents; a bunch of dead firs that need to come down. We do need to wait until the ground firms up; we've had a wet spring here in the San Juan Islands.
