Haul All Side Draw
Florencia Abila
Flaman is proud to offer Side Draw Seed Tenders from Haul All Industries. These seed tenders are an economical solution when it comes time for seeding in the spring. Bring seed and fertilizer right to the field in the spring, then haul your harvest back to the bins in the fall.
Haul All Side Draw Tenders are equipped with easy-to-use and easy-to-service components. Featuring tried and tested simple design elements such as hand cranks and gear-driven gates. Anyone can control the flow of grain or fertilizer out of the hoppers and down the optional stainless-steel chutes.
The large gates on the V-shaped hopper allow for continuous flow into an air seeder cart or right into a grain bin. The quick unloading of grain saves time during hectic spring seeding or at harvest time.
Heavy-duty chemical resistant paint is standard on every side draw tender, creating a surface that can stand up to many seasons out in the field. Every trailer includes a heavy-duty tarp with a manual hand crank to cover the seed and repel the elements during spring.
Then I remembered my old front-tine rototiller that had been replaced by a new rear-tine tiller. The old tiller, idle or not, did have a worm gear, which could transfer the speed and power of a motor to a spool.
After the old tiller was stripped down to motor, worm gear housing and tines, it was obvious that a spool could most conveniently be bolted to the tines on one side of the housing. The tines on the other side, while seeming to be excess baggage, actually led to a neat discovery.
Only one small-diameter tube was needed, so the other one was truly excess baggage. Of the three tubes needed (two large-diameter tubes and one small-diameter tube), the curved ends of the tines were cut off so as not to catch on anything, and holes for bolts were drilled near the end of the shortened ends.
After completing the spool assembly, as shown in Figure A, by threading -inch bolt stock long enough to reach through the width of the spool and hold the two large-diameter tubes to the sides of the spool, the next step was to decide to which side of the worm gear housing the spool would be pinned. Because the idler pulley (which causes friction from the belt in the groove of the pulley on the motor to the pulley on the worm gear) was on the left side, the spool was pinned on the left side so the operator could stand on the left side of the housing to engage the idler pulley.
As shown in Figure B, with the left side of the spool pinned to the solid worm-driven shaft and with the right side with the small-diameter tube spinning freely (with a little oil) inside the large-diameter tube, the next step was to build a frame to hold not only the worm gear housing but the small-diameter tube on the outside.
In building the frame, stacking seven 2x4s on top one another gained enough height to get the side of the spool pinned to the solid worm-driven shaft off the ground, and another pile of seven 2x4s plus a short 24 and 44 for lag bolting the shortened tines of the small-diameter tube got that side off the ground. Then long bolts from a discarded telephone pole not only held the two stacks of 2x4s together but held 24 cross members that kept the proper distance for the spool assembly to fit between solid worm-driven shaft and small-diameter tube.
Since a pin connects the large diameter tube of the pulley to the drive mechanism of the rototiller, pin-in allows for retrieval of logs. With no pin installed, both large-diameter tubes bolted to the sides of the spool turn freely on both solid worm-driven shaft and small-diameter tube, and rope on the spool can be unwound, pulled down into the draw and tied to logs ready to be yarded uphill.
At the back of the yarder, a mast (or tower) to elevate the skyline is simply constructed with 2x4s and a bolt to hold an old wheel (which once turned the drum of an old cement mixer). The wheels off the old cement mixer were also put to use underneath the front of the yarder so it could be wheeled to several yarding sites needed along the rim of the draw to yard the logs uphill.
Moving the yarder to a new site is fairly easy. The rope on the spool is fed through a block (a pulley set in a casing) tied to a steel rod driven in the ground at the next yarding site and then back to the front of the yarder. Once the motor is started, the spool pulls in rope which yards the yarder itself (with operator walking excitedly alongside) to its new site. The back of the yarder simply slides on two skids, wooden blocks covered with curved steel plates from a discarded telephone pole to reduce friction with the ground.
At a new yarding site, after using cable clamps to tail-hold or anchor the end of the steel cable to a tree on the other side of the draw, the hand-turned winch on the mast (or a block and tackle attached to a rod driven in the ground behind the yarder works as well) pulls the cable up in the sky. A steel rod through a bracket at the back of the yarder and into the ground keeps it from being yarded downhill when poles are being dragged up. To stabilize the top of the mast, guy wires are fastened to the bolt holding the old cement mixer wheel and extended to steel rods driven in the ground behind the yarder.
How the yarder works is also simple. First the pin is installed to connect the worm-driven shaft to the spool. Then the motor is started and the idler pulley causes enough friction on the V-belt to make the pulley on the motor turn the pulley on the back of the worm gear and cause the spool to start reeling in rope. Because the rope is connected to the skyhook beneath the cable block it will try to move the cable block back to the yarder. But first it picks up the slack in the line which includes raising the front end of the logs which are tied into the line through the ground block. With the weight of the end of the logs on the hanging block, ground block, and carabiner, the pulling force from the yarder on the carabiner causes the carriage to be pulled along the cable toward the yarder. At almost the same moment, though sometimes delayed a bit, the friction of the end of the poles dragging on the ground causes equalizing forces on both hanging block and ground block to lift the poles farther off the ground. Eventually, the ground block will be pulled up close to hanging block and carabiner, and then the carriage will be coming speedily toward the yarder with several poles in tow.
When the logs land in front of the yarder, the motor is shut off and the choker is unhooked from the logs. Then the logs can be cut into four-foot lengths and loaded in a cart for the final move to the woodshed area. The pin is removed so the spool can turn freely and the main-line rope can be unwound. Again the choker ( attached to ground block) is pulled down into the draw and that completes the cycle of a slack-pulling skyline. (See sidebar)
And not only will I be getting firewood to fill an empty woodshed, but this grown-up boywill be enjoying himself hearing the roar of a motor while watching firewood being yarded speedily uphill on a skyline.
Thanks for the story. I have been thinking to build something similar on my steep block of land. Approx 30m drop over 60m. Need to work out the cable size needed for my project. Already have a portable petrol winch, so thats ok.
I started writing since November in 2014, and vigorously continued throughout this year. Sometimes I do get lazy and let two or three pages pass by. Some days are so eventful that I barely have space to write down everything, and I wish I was using an A5 size instead. The best part about this journaling habit is that I have an excuse to lounge at coffee shops and try to fill up the empty pages!
The A6 Hobonichi is such a portable size. It fits easily into any bag, and the Nylon cover gives the vulnerable Tomoe River paper good protection. However, because there are a total of almost 400 pages in this booklet, it really does get bulky throughout the year, especially if you are an avid washi tape user.
In my Hobonichi, I mainly draw and paint water-colour, while occasionally decorating the sides with washi tapes and stickers. Because printing out polaroid photos are super convenient in Taiwan, I ended up pasting many photos in my daily entries as well. I do practice caution and try to space out locations where I stick photos on each page so that no particular area gets extra bulky. On slow days, I would just draw randomness to fill up space.
The ability to flip it also makes it applicable for 1:1. Haven't seen data on the sheave size, but it looks larger than a RollnLock based on the pictures with the carabiner. Can assume 90% efficiency. Looking forward to the data sheet release.
I use a Micro-Trax only for hauling my gear pig, and upside-down on top of my main loads as a Far End Hauler so I don't have to faff around with a plastic bottle "knot protector". No knot = no knot protector required. I would never 1:1 haul a Grade VI load with a Micro-Trax; the pulley is too small.
For a 2:1, it doesn't much matter what you use to hold the weight of the pigs, because you're lifting with the other part of the system. Still, it is concerning to me to see a device only rated 2.5 kN a side with the cam engaged. That surprised me...
For my money, the Kong Block-Roll is far and away the best hauling device. It is a PERFECT fit to put a 2:1 over top of, and once you have drunk down the weight of all your beer, and you want to switch to 1:1, it's a great device for that too because of its big ass 3" pulley.
Would you use a 2.5 kN carabiner in your system? Would you rappel from it? Would you clip it to a bolt? These are things to think about...
A Micro-Trax would be my haul device of choice on a Grade V wall with light loads, or to haul my gear pig. But not a full-size Grade VI or big wall camping load - it just ain't burly enough. You guys know how hard it is to wrestle a heavy ass load up a difficult slab or what have you. Do you really want a Micro-Trax for that application? Don't you want something burlier. I like burly.