The Plus and Minus of the BX

[Blue2Orange]

Completed for this firewood season hauling lengths to eventually be cut, split, and stack. Firewood for the '28 heating season at the earliest. Grapple claw makes the task quick and easy. Old trailer used on the NH is a bit too large a capacity for the little BX. Don't feel comfortable coming down the steeper pitches with a loaded mass significantly great than the BX. So back and forth just hauling a length. Logs were 16-20 diameter inside the bark of red oak.

The big Plus was the minimal space needed to maneuver the BX. An issue I don't miss with my old NH. The big Minus. The ride quality is not nice on a lumpy trail. Even with the box blade as rear ballast and a length of red oak grappled in the claw. Short wheelbase. But thinking it is the size of those tiny wheels and tires that are on the BX.
Life. Give and take. Just need to drive slower.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Yep. All of it!

You apparently understand how to burn wood. The key is not trying to burn wet wood!
(Hint to would-be woodburners: 6 months is not "seasoned"!!)

Have you looked into using IBC tote cages for storing wood? I've switched to this method, and love it. The BX hauls a loaded tote on a carry-all. Works great. Much less handling. It goes straight from the splitter into a tote cage, randomly. No stacking. Then the BX takes it to storage. When it's ready to use, the BX brings it to the house. FAR less handing and re-handing of the wood. No fighting with tarps that blow off, either.

In a perfect world, I'd have a tractor big enough to carry them on forks up front, and lift them high enough to stack them. But I live in a budget-limited world, so you do what you can.


Couple of questions for you:

How long were those logs?

What grapple are you using?

 

[lynnmor]

The ride quality is not nice on a lumpy trail. Even with the box blade as rear ballast and a length of red oak grappled in the claw. Short wheelbase. But thinking it is the size of those tiny wheels and tires that are on the BX.
Life. Give and take. Just need to drive slower.

There is no suspension on a tractor, only the tires can cushion the ride. Yes, larger tires can reduce the bounce. If you have industrial type tires with stiff sidewalls and high air pressure that may be something to look at.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I looked into getting a suspension seat for my BX23S, easy IF you don't have a sun roof.....
sigh, that means a bouncy ride for me.....

 

[skeets]

A couple things, 18 inch red oak is HEAVY to start with you dont say how long maybe 6 foot,, thats a bunch of weight, to start with hanging off the front end, going down hill. I dont know there Bayview is or how hilly it is, but if I may you might be better off dragging your logs instead of carrying them down hill and using the grapple to lift and cut I have been doing that for years with my BX, dragging is much safer to me. However if you dont feel safe going front wards, even with the FEL down as far as it will go to clear the ground you might try backing down, and if you have that much weight hanging off the front end you are not going to flip over backwards plus you can drop the FEL on the ground if you start to slip.

 

[Blue2Orange]

~50" lengths. Width similar to the grapple claw mouth. Average pitch isn't too bad at ~13%, but the trails tend to change back and forth from steeper to flatter sections. Property use to be the shoreline of glacial Lake Duluth that became L. Superior. Surface under a thin layer topsoil is variable from pure beach sand to gravel equivalent to pit run to rock. Dragging would tear up the trails. Do have a few 8-20 foot lengths too far off the trail to drive the BX. Need to figure out some system to winch those out. But 16 decent sized red oaks that didn't recover from our first and hopefully last infestation of spongy caterpillars are standing along the trail.

Right now enough season wood stacked and ready for couple winters plus the recent haul. I get lazy when I look at the stack that need to be cut, split, and stacked manually. It's the stacking I dislike. Usually end up with a small mountain pile of split wood that an hour here and there whenever I feel like gets stacked over time. Personal "record" was +5 logger cords in one season of "making wood". Lot of hours stacking. Maybe why I don't like stacking.

My box blade is my emergency brake when heading downhill. Bit clueless how the brakes on the BX operate. Impression is it is not a standalone mechanical brake. The old NH had the "split" assuming mechanical brake pedal to I guess help in tight maneuvering. There is one section of trail I don't dare take the BX on. A couple pucker moments on the NH were enough. And that was heading uphill going in reverse. Better to take the long way around and have clean undies.

Was interesting to observe the fuel gauge on the inclines. Heading uphill or downhill on one section that has a slight tilt down on the uphill side of the trail the gauge would read 1/4 tank difference. Knew the gauge was sensitive to pitch and tilt and not very accurate. I consider refueling when at 1/2.

 

[Shawn T. W]

The tiny SCUT tires is the biggest reason I got a bigger tractor, bigger tires, equal more comfortable ride, I have a very bumpy back field to mow ... Was spending a lot of time being bounced sore!

The outside turning radius difference was surprisingly small, in my opinion between my SCUT and Grand L ...

211" vs 258" - yes, that's almost 4', but my L is 14" wider to start out with, plus 21" longer wheelbase ...

 

[skeets]

Well you could use a skidding cone like this or even make one out of one of those orange road cones the real heavy ones, https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Winch-Skidding-Model-PCA-1290/dp/B004BT7SVA/ref=sr_1_2?adgrpid=1344703385140525&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1v-WN1BjbvkzJVD8VT9MwYccLWuUxVcySag03G1PzASbL0dhKSBcPR8OYfDjFjk9eizM6fimIEw8kQQOfs4c9XYN3ttOqo92djtGfMeUc0V1Ix_8AzixnxacddJMi7ekjRCoXiwNharpMKK32B8E_Tj9cxJREODxH-vLsUUqsg8bQY8C5tzjzFiLamYlN7aLFGwMny2mEScFoentu838VXV3NNN6823OzqMVa49ndtToCWZkcqrvgASA6YBkvzCsr9w4ObXNqHGnkCLwOUopfCvKr_ZKODj-JBlNi5TwtyE.e3fxyeStk_WG5i0G85lmoOxmXPp9FsqGBSLASSg8AbY&dib_tag=se&hvadid=84044195184982&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=95191&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-84044396504553:loc-190&hydadcr=24181_13539302&keywords=skidding+cone+for+logs&mcid=5cf7f8d9ede534bebaf3d6c379cda182&msclkid=84223e5fc628110f07a456b3fa101529&qid=1760312379&sr=8-2
Back in the day we used an old car hood chained the butt end on the hood and off we go, and my BX never had a problem up or down hills, here in the coal country. I would do that before using my grapple, but thats just me

 

[Mark_BX25D]

It's the stacking I dislike. Usually end up with a small mountain pile of split wood that an hour here and there whenever I feel like gets stacked over time. Personal "record" was +5 logger cords in one season of "making wood". Lot of hours stacking. Maybe why I don't like stacking.

That's why I like using IBC totes. I don't do any stacking anymore, except for the "snow emergency" stack on my deck. If we get a snow too deep to get to my wood for a few days, that's my reserve.