Kubota BX and IBC Totes: 2nd Attempt
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Still trying to figure out the best way to handle firewood with the limited lift capacity of the Kubota BX 2380. IBC totes are a real staple for firewood management but I may have found a better way.
![Is My Firewood System Complete? [Incorporating IBC Totes With My Firewood Process]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/X5lbxu6GUrk/mqdefault.jpg)
![Is My Firewood System Complete? [Incorporating IBC Totes With My Firewood Process]](/img/tr.png)
Great video. I had a BX for 6 years. I just loved the machine it was fantastic. The reason I moved to a compact from a subcompact tractor was that I wanted more lift capacity, higher lift height and more ground clearance. You have come up with a great solution to enable your tractor’s capability to facilitate your needs, well done.
Thank you very much!
I use a sk500 mini skid with mostly all oak. Rating is 500 lbs. Those 250 gallon loosely tossed in is 1/4 cord. They have to be filled to the top. With the oak, she wants to teater, but I've learned quick its about machine positioning. I also dont cut them at all. Loosly in there you need all the height you can get. Those totes are stupid expensive around here. I get mulch die ones for cheap which is $35. To get the most out my buck, I cut the top off the plastic tub. Sawzaw some slits in the bottom wash them out and fill them off the conveyour. I've bolted a few to pallets as well. It's easier to stack and dump that way. I've started filling the plastic totes with chunk wood or kindling
So I don't dump those as often. Half cord storage $35. And they will last. The next best option I have seen is the firewood bags that will hold a loose half cord. $25.00 a bag. I bought a skid to move them. I've been told they will last 3 years depending on their use. I've lately just been using a combo of bags, tote cages, metal cages, stacking and now pilling up on pallets.
Great options! That mini skid must be nice for handling raw logs too. Thank you!
Great video Sam. I always wondered how much a BX could lift. Looks like a good plan. Less work now that you know what works. Thanks for the education and video. 😁👍🚜💨🍳
Thank you! I guess it's faster than chucking by hand? Lol
Get a bigger tractor. L3901 minimum. MX5400 better choice. Or get rear forks and try that. Or loose stack in IBC. Just throw it in without stacking. Less wood less weight. I moved up from a BX to L3901. My tractor can struggle with green unseasoned oak or hickory. Once seasoned no problem. I have 60 IBC totes and will never go back to any other storage method. So nice touching the wood one time and then into the boiler. Good luck.
And that's the real solution, isn't it? Get a bigger tractor. That may be in my future but for now, I need to figure out the best way to work with the BX. I've been researching the LX a little bit. With a cab and the options I want it's pushing $40k!!!
I was going to say an MX tractor would probably be the smallest a person would want to be able to move a fully loaded IBC tote around....the L series and LX series would struggle.
Loose stacking...err just throwing it in the tote would be a much better way to go, so much time wasted neatly stacking something you are going to just dump out somewhere anyways LOL. Curious though how much difference there would be in the amount of wood doing that VS stacking though.
I thought about the IBC totes at one point, but knowing the light duty lift capacity of my BX, its completely pointless. Custom pallet sizes I've found work best for the stuff I do...not firewood related, but if I want to palletize something I make the pallet to fit whatever it is I'm putting on it so the pallet isn't taking up unnecessary space....also keeps the weight down a bit too....no sense having a 50 pound full size pallet when a 30 pound half size pallet is all that's needed for example.
@@wildbill23c MX for sure. I had already purchased my L3901 when I transitioned to IBC totes. I stack all my totes for max capacity. Loose stack if you will, will yield approximately 1/3 less than neatly stacked, 16 inch logs with 2 rows. The 3901 has no problem lifting full totes of pine, hemlock, maple. Red oak and hickory, my tractor can lift 2/3 of a full tote. So I move to its assigned location and then fill while in place. The tractor has no problem lifting any species, full tote, after drying out for a while. When I'm ready to move totes to the boiler area no problem. Just remember you can always attack the lift problem from the rear of the tractor with a pair of forks. Three point hitch has more lift capacity and may help you with the BX.
You could take an IBC tote & cut it in half vertically (down through the pipes, across the bottom base, and up the other side). Now you have 2 - '1/2 totes' with a completely open side. BUT, like you said: pallets are FREE!.
Great idea! Really it is, but like you said. Pallets are free. I think the real key is to resign to the fact I have a small tractor and it has limitations.
Pallets used to be free, not anymore in my area....businesses don't throw them out anymore, and if they do they charge you for them. Mostly due to the pallet furniture and hobby craze, what used to be garbage and free, has now found a way to get money back out of them, so businesses now either return them to the manufacturers to be reused, or they put them out for sale.
@@samsdoinstuff That's exactly it. These sub-compact tractors don't have enough lift capacity to utilize full size totes, or even full size pallets for that matter. My BX2680 struggles to pickup the 300 pound roto-tiller that I have on a pallet which is only about a foot off the ground when its stored on a shelf....plenty of ballast in the back, not enough loader lift capacity.
I have an old BX2200D and I use IBC totes to move and dry my firewood, but like you I struggled with a solution to move them around once they were full. So I found that loose stacking I can move almost a full tote, which once stacked only equals 1/2 of a tote. So what I did was split directly into an IBC until it was 1/2 full, move it to where I want it to sit and season, then fill it to the top with another tote that was loose stacked and used just to move the wood around. So now I have a full tight stacked IBC tote that im counting on getting much lighter as it seasons. Now I have already had good success with moving the seasoned totes that are almost completely full with just removing a small amount with the forks, but what I really intend to do, is spin my forks around to my 3 point where I have greater lifting capacity and use that to move the full seasoned totes around from my wood yard to my garage as I need them through the winter. I dont need to lift it to dump into a trailer or a truck so that works for me. With all that being said, this year the goal is to get a larger tractor, much more capable of moving full totes around the property.
A larger tractor would solve my problems for sure... now all I need is $40k, lol. Maybe someday
i agree with you the pallet seems a lot better. Besides, cutting the front face of the IBC tote probably will make the sides start bending from lateral forces. Great video as always!
You're absolutely right. The sides are definitely weaker. I think this experiment really proves my original hypothesis that they're just not worth it with a small tractor.
You can get mesh wrap which will help the wood dry and mold free...
I will look into that, thanks!!!
The weight of some common types of wood that might be used as firewood are:
Wood Type Lbs. per cord - wet Lbs. per cord - dry
Apple 4850 3888
Ash, white 3952 3472
Basswood 4404 1984
Birch 4312 2992
Buckeye 4210 1984
Cherry 3696 2928
Cottonwood 4640 2272
Douglas fir 3319 2970
Elm 4456 2872
Fir 3585 2104
Maple 4585 3680
Mulberry 4712 3712
Oak, red 4888 3528
Pine, white 3600 2250
Spruce 2800 2240
Sycamore 5096 2808
Walnut 4584 3192
Willow 4320 2540
Thank you very much!
Lift capacity on a small tractor is key, not all sc tractors are created equally. Yanmar 325 lifts 1200 lbs +/-at the pivot
That's amazing! I know Kubota puts a little longer arms an the FEL, at least compared to the 1025r. I appreciate that when loading my truck or dump trailer, but it definitely decreases it lift capacity.
I was wondering if you could cut one laterally in half and have 2 racks, but I'm sure you considered that.
I actually had not. It's a very good idea. Unfortunately, I've already cut a notch out of one side. I'll look into it further but the pallets are still free and that's hard to pass up.
Cool!
Have you shimmed your relief valve? Probably wont get you to lift s full tote but will definitely help
I am shimmed to 1,850 psi. That's the top of the factory specs. I could probably add another shim but it won't help enough to make it worth it.
Won't even come close to lifting a full tote, it won't even lift 1/2 a tote. They're only capable of lifting about 400-450 pounds and that's with the majority of the weight all the way against the back of the loader quick attach area....in reality 300-350 pounds is about the max these tractors will lift and that's only if you have enough ballast in the back to do so.
A lot of the lift capacity is eaten up by the pallet fork frame and forks, long before you even add any weight to them, plus the weight of the IBC tote. Total waste of time with pallets or IBC totes.
How about sell it by the bucket load. $50 a bucket load....buy one of the skeleton buckets, I think they're lighter weight than the standard bucket...
My pallet forks are lighter than a bucket. They are Redline pallet forks specifically designed for subcompact tractors. A lightweight material bucket would be a good choice but that's approximately $1k . The pallet moves the most amount of wood for the least cost. $100 / face cord is pretty standard around here, so 2 pallets worth stacked the way I did it. Scooping bulk firewood is still an option. It takes longer, but I never have to get off the tractor which is a big plus. Thanks for the help!
@@samsdoinstuff I think stacking all the firewood on those totes is far more time consuming than loading it with the bucket LOL.
Wish pallet forks like that were available in my area...I have Titan pallet forks, they're heavy, but had no choice, dealer couldn't seem to get me anything, called Messick's and took what they had in stock.
Are your forks 36" or 42"? I have 42" forks but maybe 36" forks would work, IDK, but I'm not sure if forks would be interchangeable between different frames?
When I order my firewood, the guy delivers it in a dump trailer & dump bed on his truck....he's got all sorts of fancy conveyors and such so when he cuts and splits he's splitting onto the conveyor right into the trailer, no need for all the palletizing stuff for his operation.
Wonder if it would work cutting the IBC totes in half? Or build your own pallets to suit the sizes you need? I've done the build my own pallet method quite often as most times I don't need or want that regular sized pallet for what I'm doing, so I just build to suit what I need to palletize. The suitcase weights for my lawn tractor are on a 1/4 sized pallet, easy to pickup and move around when needed, but don't have a huge pallet sitting there taking up space.
Stacking palletized stuff is a bit harder if the base pallet isn't level but can easily be fixed with some scrap material to even things up.