Scoot Hardware

[Baystatetom]

Nice hitches, I can’t wait until mine can pull more then a log at a time. I have been pulling hemlock logs every weekend now and am completely addicted to working my team in the woods. So many little challenges make it interesting.
~Tom

[Scott G]

Very nice, George! You are definitely dialed in and operating at a high level my friend …

I like how you are bucking your firewood right off the scoot. One less time you have to handle the wood. Anytime you can accomplish that you are far ahead in the game. Making a go of it in logging, regardless if it is a draft animal or mechanical operation, is making every move efficient and count for something productive.

[mink]

george i like your pics, could i ask how long your scoot is overall and bunk to bunk? i like the 2×6 ‘s you put on to stand on while you ride back empty. thats a good idea in my mind. thanks mink

[Does’ Leap]

@mink 31561 wrote:

george i like your pics, could i ask how long your scoot is overall and bunk to bunk? i like the 2×6 ‘s you put on to stand on while you ride back empty. thats a good idea in my mind. thanks mink

The bunks are 7’4″ on center made to accommodate 8′ log (minimum) with some wiggle room. Runners are 12′. I ended fastening down a piece of 3/4 plywood on top of the 2x6s for extra strength and so I don’t get a foot caught in the spaces between. I broke a 2×6 when a pole I was using to deck logs levered inside the runner and the 2×6 took the full weight. If you make a deck like mine make sure you pin the center of the 2×6 so your runners can move back and forth. I used “timberlock” screws for this purpose.

George

[Does’ Leap]

I hooked the bridle chains on my scoot yesterday for the first time with a big load of hemlock. With the uneven terrain, it was a little herky-jerky with the runners moving back and forth. Is this common? The chains were certainly digging in. My next load, I did without the chains and the horses dropped their rear ends right down and skied on all fours holding back the load. The horses seemed more comfortable with this than with the bridle chains. Any thoughts?

George

[mitchmaine]

hey george, don’t want to beat a dead horse, but the harness should be snug, and from the photo yours looks good. also, low britchin will take a horse off his feet, but again, yours looks good from here.
a scoot is a different critter than a set of bob sleds. i think i know what you mean by herky-jerky, and it sounds like your scoot is walking on the bridal chains. you could try taking a twelve foot peice of chain and laying it in front of the runners, hooking each end into the front stake and pulling forward over the chain. it should come taught about a foot or so behind the front bunk. it is in a better position back there to keep the scoot steady. its under the load rather than in front of it. and connected to each other so it works on both runners the same. might work. its what i do here on what hills we can find. you can also hook that same chain, when you are on flat going, to the rear stakes the same way and tow it behind the scoot and it sweeps the snow back into the tracks and helps to pack your woods road. i also use the same chain under my stoneboat when i go in with the twitch horse and my gear, to help hold it from running up on her. worth a try. hope it works for you. mitch

[Tim Harrigan]

Hey, Mitch, I sort of do the same thing with my stoneboat when it gets icy because it can run up on them even on level ground. I run chains from the front hole in the head all the way along the bottom and hook the ends to stake pockets on the top in back on each back corner. That gives some resistance going forward and also sideways if I get on a side slope. It will chatter sometimes though.

[mitchmaine]

hi tim,
putting the brakes on. amazing how that little bit of chain stops that load. i try and ride the stoneboat when its not to steep, mostly for the weight. helps keep it put, but i get a little lazy now and then and enjoy the ride.
i was twitching some good size pine the other day and used our team, and was surprised to see how much the young one has grown. dragging the evener on the ground empty, he was clipping his heels on his single tree. new heel chains. seems like i am always adjusting harness. is it the same with the steers? i just picked up a nice pair of milk shorthorn heifers in a trade. not bred. two years old, and i was reading an article by a fellow who talked about driving a team of unbred heifers. slow and steady. i’ll probably beef them, but who knows. everything has a price. we just got our first plowable snow up here, so it looks like i can finally put a proper load on the scoot. best wishes, mitch

[Does’ Leap]

@mitchmaine 31633 wrote:

hey george, don’t want to beat a dead horse, but the harness should be snug, and from the photo yours looks good. also, low britchin will take a horse off his feet, but again, yours looks good from here.
a scoot is a different critter than a set of bob sleds. i think i know what you mean by herky-jerky, and it sounds like your scoot is walking on the bridal chains. you could try taking a twelve foot peice of chain and laying it in front of the runners, hooking each end into the front stake and pulling forward over the chain. it should come taught about a foot or so behind the front bunk. it is in a better position back there to keep the scoot steady. its under the load rather than in front of it. and connected to each other so it works on both runners the same. might work. its what i do here on what hills we can find. you can also hook that same chain, when you are on flat going, to the rear stakes the same way and tow it behind the scoot and it sweeps the snow back into the tracks and helps to pack your woods road. i also use the same chain under my stoneboat when i go in with the twitch horse and my gear, to help hold it from running up on her. worth a try. hope it works for you. mitch

Mitch, thanks for the reply. I believe I’m hitched in nice and tight and that my britchen is positioned correctly (just bellow the pin bone). I thought about one long bridle chain, but I am concerned about it catching a stump or other stuff. My bridle chains are positioned about a foot or two behind my front bunk, just forward of the middle of the sled. John (aka Longview Farm) was here yesterday and we chained up the scoot for a couple of loads of hemlock and it wasn’t “walking” so badly, but man do they dig in and increase the draft on the intermittent flats between the steep sections. He also mentioned that Carl sometimes will use one bridle chain on his sled. I tried that and it seemed to work well – not to much draft, but enough to help hold back the load. I also thought about a few sections of 5/16 chain that I could attach with a clevis to my bridle chain u-brackets that might not bight as hard. Lots of learning to be done, but I am enjoying it.

George

[mitchmaine]

good deal george, sounds like you are slowing your scoot down. just the opposite here. we got 6″ soft snow and 2″rain yesterday and i worried about the ice, but it made a thin crust that packs down under the weight of the scoot and man, is it slippery. loaded the scoot with about a half cord and away they go. couldn’t be better. i remember seeing bridle shoes that went on the big wood sleds up north. iron bar that rode under the sled runners with a short peice of chain on each side hooked into a hook on the top of the runner. and still they would have to snub the loads down over some steep runs with heavy rope run out and turned around a treetrunk. i should have said something about the chain under the scoot. its just like an evener or single tree jumping over roots and stumps. deives me crazy. i try and cut the roads pretty clear of stubs. you can’t snub your horse up too many times before he stopsw beleiving in you. good luck and stay safe on those hillsides. mitch

[Carl Russell]

@Does’ Leap 31665 wrote:

Mitch, thanks for the reply. I believe I’m hitched in nice and tight and that my britchen is positioned correctly (just bellow the pin bone). I thought about one long bridle chain, but I am concerned about it catching a stump or other stuff. My bridle chains are positioned about a foot or two behind my front bunk, just forward of the middle of the sled. John (aka Longview Farm) was here yesterday and we chained up the scoot for a couple of loads of hemlock and it wasn’t “walking” so badly, but man do they dig in and increase the draft on the intermittent flats between the steep sections. He also mentioned that Carl sometimes will use one bridle chain on his sled. I tried that and it seemed to work well – not to much draft, but enough to help hold back the load. I also thought about a few sections of 5/16 chain that I could attach with a clevis to my bridle chain u-brackets that might not bight as hard. Lots of learning to be done, but I am enjoying it.

George

Remember that the reason the scoot is such a good tool is that it makes moving large loads easy, so no need to take all the fun away. I use just enough bridle to slow the load from over-running the horses.

Sometimes on frozen ground and ice the chains will grab then slide, then grab again. They work best on ice. Frozen ground can be a lot like concrete.

Try to get the bridle chain to ride about 1/3 back under the load. Depending on the length of the loaded logs, the sled may teeter over a centrally located bridle chain, allowing the front part of the runner to over-ride the affect of the chain, also causing the herky-jerky-ness. 1/3 back keeps the chain in front of the weight, so you’ll have consistency.

I also disengage the chains on any section of the trail where they are not necessary, even short sections. The more work gravity does for me the less the horses need to do. That is one reason why having an easy disconnect mechanism is so important.

Also one bridle chain on the inside of a turn will help turn the sled….

Carl

[Does’ Leap]

Carl:

The position of my bridle chains sound about right as I positioned based on your recommendation from the workshop in MA. The “intermittent flats” I wrote about are only about 20′, so I don’t bother to drop the chains for that small distance. I just need to be careful where I stop my horses (i.e. not on the flats), so they can start the load more easily. I think part of the problem is the ground is not frozen, just slick with snow. What do you think about engaging just one chain irregardless of turning?

George

[Carl Russell]

@Does’ Leap 31697 wrote:

Carl:

…… What do you think about engaging just one chain irregardless of turning?

George

Sure, if one will do it, definitely only as much as needed to keep the sled from pushing them too much….. nothing wrong with them learning to hold the load back some too. I never needed to, but I suppose you could experiment with smaller gauge chain to provide some drag, but less drag.

Carl

[mitchmaine]

not sure if this has been said before. i looked around and couldn’t find any evidence of it, but it was common, up here, to bolt on pulp bunks above the log bunks if you were moving any four foot wood. pretty simple. two eight foot long five inch diameter spruce poles laid length wise on top of the bunks, three foot on center, bolted through the log bunks, with stake pockets at each end. unpeeled to give some tooth to keep the wood from sliding off the load. usually required a chain and binder as well to keep everything put.

[Pete Jesse]

I was hoping to open this link: http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?3774-New-Scoot
Says Page Not Found.

Any idea on how to find it?

[Author]

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