How feasible for hauling wood?

[Danno77]

I know where Mt. Carrol is, i lived in Rockford during my internship and worked in Byron. Hamilton is right where Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri meet.

I was wondering how strong those headache racks tend to be on flatbeds. Could you throw an electric winch up there for dragging logs up a ramp?

 

[Highbeam]

I chose the whole buy one truck that hauls what I need, including the family, and daily driven to work 8 miles on way route. It really is cheaper than buying two vehicles if your commute is short. I like a big truck anyway.

The thing I like about the chevys is that the bed height is lower and allows you to load and unload easier.

You can always use a stout truck and a trailer to haul cords at a time.

 

[Flatbedford]

Mine is only a rack body, so the headache rack would not support a winch. I have dragged stuff onto mine with a come along chained to the sides of the bed. Don't know about others.

 

[moosetrek]

Unless it's a smokin' deal, I'd pick a gas over a diesel for a few reasons:
1. You won't be putting enough hours/miles on to really notice the difference
2. You'll find a much better price on a used gas, big block ford/cheyvy/dodge than diesel. You'll get one in better shape, with less miles, and probably more comforts. Tho only thing the diesel gets you is longecity (though most gas motors will last a long time if maintained), and slightly better mpg.
3. Another consideration is weight. Your Gross Vehicle Weight (total that the vehicle can weigh loaded) is the weight of the vehicle plus the weight of the cargo and passengers. Diesels tend to weigh a lot more (3-400#) than gas engines, reducing how much wood you can carry by that same amount.
4. Diesels, weighing more, tend to sink faster and deeper in mud (ask me how I know). You already mentioned 4WD is a necessary thing for most months on your wood lot. "Heavy duty" trucks are much different 4wd vehicles than a jeep; my little Toyota will go lots of places my Dodge diesel will, and should, not - of course, it won't haul a couple tons of wood out behind it either.
As for the gas engines, I'd rate them:
#1 - Chevy 8.1L (496) from 2001-2008, or Chevy 454 pre-2001
#2 - Ford V10
#3 - Chevy 6.0
#4 - Dodge V10
#5 - Ford 460

Good luck-

 

[rowerwet]

does a caravan come with awd?

I really don't want a van, but you really can't deny their usefulness. What do you do with 12'+ lumber, though? I guess that'd be a job for the trailer.

no they gave up AWD to put the wells in that the seats fold into, (it was less than 20% of sales anyway), 12' lumber goes on the roof rack, or out the back door. I hauled my 15' canoe, with a pick up truck bed extender on the receiver hitch, sticking out the tailgate, with one side of the rear seat folded, enough of the canoe was in the van to hold it there.

 

[JeffRey30747]

I had rather use my flatbed to haul wood than anything else I have. The bed is high but if I can load it with the tractor front end loader, that isn't a problem. If you want to go diesel, the Ford 7.3L Powerstroke is difficult to top and if diesel keeps going up in price, the trucks will get cheaper again just as they did the last time it went up. This load of Beech was loaded by hand and still wasn't too much of a problem.

 

[Rickochet]

4' X 8' trailer with 24" sideboards works well for me! It easily hauls more than 1/2 of a cord.

 

[wellbuilt home]

I would stick with a trailer . You probably burn 4/5 cord a year that's like 5 loads either way truck or dump trailer . I have all types of equipment and im a big sob and i cant load a full size truck of free rounds road side.
You just cant throw large rounds 4' in the air .
I still go home and get some young boys to help . little john is 14 years old 6' 1" 220 lbs . I hook up a dump trailer to my wife's Excursion and go for some wood . We roll the logs up equipment ramps . Most of the time i load the dump trucks with a skid steer .
I like to load log lengths on my flat bed 18' long .
Old trucks are a expensive proposition , I get truck parts at cost and still wont keep a truck passed 90,000 miles .
John

 

[Chargerman]

I live about 20 miles from my wood supply and this is one of the trucks we use in the woods and on the road. It is a 1988 Dodge W350 4 x 4 with a 360, NP435 4 speed, and 4.56 gears. The Ramsey winch will pull logs out in the open if needed and the contractors dump bed takes a nice load of wood. It is also used for snowplowing so it serves a lot of purposes.

I don't think loading it is that hard because we are in hilly country. Often times I find myself throwing wood down on to the truck anyway. I dump the loads 3' from were I stack it so that is convenient to.

2nd pic is my dad's 1995 Dodge 3500 4 x 4 with a V10 and a 5 speed that has a 10' Gallion dump box. That truck is way too nice to take out in the woods but it works well for stuff we cut or split out in the open.

 

[Danno77]

Chargerman, funny you post a picture of your old dodge. My dad said I can have his old dodge if I want it. He says it runs just fine. I'm not ready to take him up on the offer though, because the cab rusted through something fierce. (picture being able to stop it fred flintstone style.....If I had access to another dodge I'd cut some major floor out of the donor and weld it into his truck, but that's getting into the realm of "more work than it's worth. We're talking more than just some flat steel to fix a hole. Picture something more like two feet missing from driver door bottom inward. I took a couple of cell phone pictures, let me see if i can get them uploaded.

His is a 4x4 and is a Dodge PowerRam 350. I don't know much about older dodges, but i imagine that's just a run of the mill 1 ton Dodge truck from 1985 (i think that's the year he told me)

It was a service truck with plow, but both the boxes and plow now live on his mid 90s 3/4 ton Dodge with the Cummins engine in it.

 

[Danno77]

apologies for the crappy pictures of the crappy truck.

 

[moosetrek]

You might spend a few hundred $ on a trailer, or have the truck fixed up pretty well (floorboards, tuneup, etc.) for the same $ and be set either way.

 

[Chargerman]

If it were mine I would pull that whole cab and doghouse off that Dodge and find a cheap 2wd long box of the same vintage that was solid. You can find them for next to nothing. That way you get a box and drop the whole thing on that 1 ton frame and have a solid truck. In fact, I actually did that with one of my other plow trucks.

Depends on how much work you want to do. Mine took a weekend.

Or look for another one. Around here $1000-1500 would buy something pretty decent in a 80's Dodge 4x4 3/4 ton gasser for hauling wood. The '88 I just posted a picture of was $3,200 last spring. That is for a 70,000 mile dually one ton truck with a 8' Meyer plow, dump box, and the winch. Runs and drives great but it is a heavy work truck. If you want something that is more of an all purpose truck then something from the late 90's on would be best IMO.

 

[Danno77]

Charger,

what do you think? Offer maybe $2000? pretty low miles. See some rust starting at the bottom of the doors and around the wheel well. Wish it was a private seller, I bet the dealership gave him probably 1000 for it.

(broken link removed to http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=268639714&dealer_id=85525)

 

[Chargerman]

Charger,

what do you think? Offer maybe $2000? pretty low miles. See some rust starting at the bottom of the doors and around the wheel well. Wish it was a private seller, I bet the dealership gave him probably 1000 for it.

(broken link removed to http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=268639714&dealer_id=85525)

I would pass on that one. Who knows if that odometer has went over or not. Dealers and older stuff just turn me off. Like you said, they probably have a $1000 or less in it. I buy most of my stuff off Craigslist or locally. I bet you could find something better for much less, especially in this economy.

Here is a picture of one I just passed on. It is a former DNR 1988 Dodge W350 360 4bbl automatic that was rock solid and had a newer aluminum flatbed with sideracks. It was almost too nice for wood hauling and had no rust, new tires, and nice paint. That went for $2300 with 82,000 miles. I would have bought it but we have enough trucks as it is.

FWIW buying a 1 ton over a 3/4 ton makes a big difference to me in a older 4x4 80's Dodges. The one ton will have a lockout Dana 60 front axle and a 205 cast iron gear driven transfer case. Most of the 3/4 gassers have a Dana 44 front and an aluminum transfer case. Probably not a big deal for most people but I want the heaviest trucks I can get and they are are cheap enough so why not get the best. Every now and then $2500 will get a Cummins diesel up here with the same or less rust than that dealer truck has. The diesels are built like a 1 ton no matter what.

Good luck.

 

[Flatbedford]

I still say that if you are looking for a truck that will primarily be a wood hauler, a flatbed with sideracks will serve you better than a pickup. Either Ford of Dodge 1 tons come with pretty stout drivetrains.

 

[JeffRey30747]

I still say that if you are looking for a truck that will primarily be a wood hauler, a flatbed with sideracks will serve you better than a pickup. Either Ford of Dodge 1 tons come with pretty stout drivetrains.

I agree totally. If you use a truck to haul "stuff" instead of just being a grocery getter and ever get accustomed to having a flatbed, it will be difficult to readjust to anything else. They are handier than a pocket on a shirt.

 

[Chargerman]

I still say that if you are looking for a truck that will primarily be a wood hauler, a flatbed with sideracks will serve you better than a pickup. Either Ford of Dodge 1 tons come with pretty stout drivetrains.

I agree totally. If you use a truck to haul "stuff" instead of just being a grocery getter and ever get accustomed to having a flatbed, it will be difficult to readjust to anything else. They are handier than a pocket on a shirt.

X3

In case I didn't make that clear before.

 

[Chargerman]

Danno,

Here is one on the Peoria Craigslist.

(broken link removed to http://peoria.craigslist.org/cto/1490270392.html)

Might be good or maybe not. You never really know until you look. 1989 got fuel injection for the 360 too.

 

[Danno77]

Danno,

Here is one on the Peoria Craigslist.

(broken link removed to http://peoria.craigslist.org/cto/1490270392.html)

Might be good or maybe not. You never really know until you look. 1989 got fuel injection for the 360 too.

heck, for 800 bucks I could make a complete one with dad's dodge and still have that atv he speaks of. I forwded this to dad, who might be going to that area before I could.

 

[Wet1]

I have a 12v Cummins, a 7'x14' 14k GVW dump trailer, and a 12' landscaping trailer. Depending on the wood I'm grabbing, each has it's strengths and weaknesses, but the truck is always on the site! So if I could only have one, I'd obviously take the truck. About 1/3 of the time the truck might be the easiest way to get the wood out anyway.

I'll also say it's hard to beat the old Dodges for hauling wood!

 

[Chargerman]

Nice truck Wet1!

Hope we aren't getting too far off topic but I am a Dodge boy. Here is one of my other old Dodge trucks. This was my wood hauler before getting the dually with the flatbed. It is a 1976 W200 that has a 400 automatic and full time 4wd. It has a the heavy frame and Dana 60 front axle. I got it mainly because it has a hydraulic dump bed. It never worked real well for firewood because the splits would jam up back by the tailgate so I would have to jump in while the bed was up and force the pile out. I did ride the pile down a couple times.

I used it a lot last year when I was renovating my house. Now it pulls the lawnmowers, hauls leaves, and misc stuff.

This picture was taken with the Kubota diesel in the back with the box scraper on it and our lawnmower and trailer on. The springs settled about 3" and the Kubato weighs around 1500lbs. She would handle a load of wood just fine.

The Kubota tractor is what we use out in the woods with a old 16' trailer when the truck won't fit.

 

[raven]

i love my 42 yr old flat bed . i use both a pickup and my flat bed, ill take the flat bed hands down. easy to load and hauls a dam good load. when needed i hook up a 16ft tandem to the old Ford and she just walks on with a full load. honestly i dont think you can go wrong with a 1 ton flat bed
with a winch and at least a 11 or 12 ft bed... lol there every where,last week i was in the Up looking at land and got in hot water with the other half
because i stopped and looked at a 96 ford i ton dually 12 ft flatbed in great shape, dam nice truck for 2500... still may buy it. lol wont be the first or last time im in the dog house.

 

[Gooserider]

Eventually I'm probably going to have to get a truck of some sort, but the big problem I've always had w/ pickups and flat beds is that you have an open bed that is exposed to the weather, and offers an invitation to acquisitive passers-by to help themselves to whatever you've got in the back... (Yes, you can get tool boxes and such, but that cuts into the cargo capacity, and so on...)

What I've been feeling really tempted by is one of the Izusu style box trucks, probably w/ one of the 4-cyl diesels, and a 12-16' box - supposedly they will haul a bunch, (slowly, but so what...) with everything enclosed, and one can hook up a large trailer to them as well... Seems like a general win / win, but I don't have a real good feel about how to find a decent one in terms of sources, or how best to evaluate beyond the cosmetics...

Gooserider

 

[Wet1]

Nice rig Charger! I wish I had that little diesel, I occasionally need something like that... I just have a hard time justifying it where I live, and space is at a premium these days.

Goose,
I've looked into a couple of those little trucks over the years. A 4x4 version would be pretty nice, but they are a little large (overall) with the box and they seem to fetch a go premium for them, regardless of the brand. And as you mentioned, they are really slow. No big deal when hauling wood, but sometimes 60mph just doesn't cut it for me...