Great ingenuity on that trailer. I think you made a great choice on the truck as well. Ford gassers are pretty solid. One does not need a gym membership, if they have a mill. You’re getting one hellva work out there.
Very nice! I’ve never seen one built without a pivoting arch. I would say simpler to build and looks like it works great! Are those 3500 axles on your trailer?
I did a fixed removable arch on mine as well, but I have connection points across the full length of the top bar. This helps fine tune where on the trailer the log is pulled to. The other thing I'd recommend is that you leave the snatch block in place on the arch. Once the front of the log is on the trailer, just run the cable back out 4' er so and grab the log again with the tongs. You'll be inchworming them on, but it's quicker ;)
To increase your pulling power of the winch add a anchor point on the arch and front of the trailer for the cable and use a suitable pulley on the tongs this will double your pulling power careful not to over load the anchors
