Skid-Steer Chain Saw Trims Trees

Skid-Steer Chain Saw Trims Trees WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Saws 27-1-27 When Merritt Symons, Gaines, Michigan, needs to cut brush and small trees or prune branches from larger trees, he hops on his skidsteer loader. Symons says he was getting a little too old to handle a chainsaw while standing on a ladder. So he put together a chainsaw attachment for his skidsteer. The first step was to find a hydraulic motor with the right speed and torque to power it. He made a quick-tach bracket and mounted a short length of 2-in. dia. sq. tubing to that. Then he mounted the hydraulic motor on a length of 2-in. solid steel bar. He mounted a chainsaw drive sprocket on the shaft of the hydraulic motor and then mounted a 34-in. commercial saw bar on it. On the bar, he uses a heavy 3/4 pitch chain. He wanted the bar and cutting chain to be able to stand up to any pressure the lift arms might put on them. He also added an automatic chain oiler, which he made by tapping one end of a small tube into the hydraulic line and mounting the other end to the bar post. "I drilled holes through the square tubing and through the 2 in. square bar so I can mount the chainsaw with a pin, like a receiver hitch. There are both vertical and horizontal holes in the tubing, so I can mount the chainsaw bar in either a vertical or horizontal position," he tells. To run the saw, he merely hooks the hoses from the motor into the remote outlets on his skidsteer. He can cut as high as the skid steer will reach. He can swing the saw from side to side and can cut anything he can drive up to with the skid steer. And with roll cage protection on the loader, he doesn't have to worry about limbs or small trees falling the wrong direction. The saw is reversable if pinched. And because you can swing it from side to side, it can be used as a brush cutter, too. Symons says making the chainsaw attachment for his loader was easy enough once he'd figured out how he wanted to do it. He found a new hydraulic motor that met his needs from hydraulic supply store. He bought the chainsaw sprocket, bar and chain from an outdoor power tool supplier. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Merritt Symons, 409 Symons Rd., Gaines, Mich. 48436-0960 (ph 989 271-8445; fax 989 271-8473).

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