Down on the overloads
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,104
Likes: 138
From: Orcas Island Wa.
Down on the overloads
Loaded up the 2 ton jailbar yesterday with a mixed load of alder and cherry for the mill. While shuffling the deck from the passenger side with the forks I snapped off three 2x3 stakes flush, on the driver's side. Didn't lose any logs, but was pleasantly surprised there was no deformation of the rails on my precious script bed. Very well engineered to be light in weight and strong enough for that! You can bet I was being as gentle as possible while loading and I wouldn't let Swilly or Rygaard Logging anywhere near my truck. I wish I had a video of climbing my steep 1/2 mile dirt road with those dual straight pipes singing their happy song. The first couple feet of the exhaust is made from threaded pipe fittings welded to diamond flanges at the manifolds. The last ten feet I got my friend at the muffler shop to bend a couple lengths over the axle. Those bends are currently just making contact with the rear axle. Good thing I rubber mounted them!
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,104
Likes: 138
From: Orcas Island Wa.
About a year. We sticker it in the attic of the red shop which has a tin roof and is well ventilated all around. In the summer it's really hot and the heat pulls air through. Last batch we dried 2 years but have now just about used it up.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,104
Likes: 138
From: Orcas Island Wa.
Fortunately the stakes were cyprus, like the logs that Swilly dredges up. They were staves from giant pickle curing barrels. They were something I grabbed that morning, counting on the chains to hold the logs. Sort of like a shear pin in an outboard motor's propeller, they saved the bed, but that hadn't been planned.....
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,412
Likes: 23
From: East Wenatchee
Loaded up the 2 ton jailbar yesterday with a mixed load of alder and cherry for the mill. While shuffling the deck from the passenger side with the forks I snapped off three 2x3 stakes flush, on the driver's side. Didn't lose any logs, but was pleasantly surprised there was no deformation of the rails on my precious script bed. Very well engineered to be light in weight and strong enough for that! You can bet I was being as gentle as possible while loading and I wouldn't let Swilly or Rygaard Logging anywhere near my truck. I wish I had a video of climbing my steep 1/2 mile dirt road with those dual straight pipes singing their happy song. The first couple feet of the exhaust is made from threaded pipe fittings welded to diamond flanges at the manifolds. The last ten feet I got my friend at the muffler shop to bend a couple lengths over the axle. Those bends are currently just making contact with the rear axle. Good thing I rubber mounted them!
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Thread Starter
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,104
Likes: 138
From: Orcas Island Wa.
I'm into arm chair engineering, and better yet, bar stool engineering, but that guy should be horsewhipped......
Cargo Master
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,594
Likes: 72
From: North Central Arkansas
GB, It is a good thing you have the correct script bed on your truck. Any narrower and the side rails would cut into the tires. The wheels will go up inside the bed when these trucks are loaded. I love the truck!
Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 8,209
Likes: 12
From: Black Hills of SD
I always heard a year per inch of thickness but I've used 8/4 spruce after one year with no ill affects. Nice load btw, and good to see old trucks doing what they were meant to do.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,104
Likes: 138
From: Orcas Island Wa.
We have big logs in the pacific Northwest. My mill will cut up to 24" logs, but those go pretty slow with my honda powered band mill. I prefer 18" and under.