Franklin grapple skidder info

[logman81]

Hey guys looking to pick your braines about a skidder. I have a guy that contacted me about trading my c5d for his franklin skidder. It is around a 83' 84' model year. It has a  453 turbo Detroit , 4 spd power shift with winch and grapple and supposedly every thing works. Machine is located in Maine and was for sale on CL. What can you tell me about them?

[smwwoody]

Tough old machines. What size is it. 170?  I have a parts manual for it if you get it.  I have had a lot of Franklins. Still running 2 of them today. Most parts are still easy to get. Some of the tranny parts are getting a little tough to find.

Woody

[logman81]

Yes it is a 170 either a 82' or. 83' runs it every day, he wants to down size. Any other info on them that you care to share?

[smwwoody]

I will PM you my phone number tonight when I get home give me a call and I can tell you a lot

Woody

[logman81]

sounds good ;)

[Mark K]

My C7D runs a clark 4 speed powershift with a torque converter. Pulling mule. Has a Duetz 6 cly turbo.  Mine is a mid 80's. Personally if your going to be doing small woodlots I would stick with the c5. More nimble in the woods. My TF is 10.5 ft wide. What rubber does it have? Make sure you have a trucker willing to haul it too. Mine was a hassle the first couple times trying to get it moved.

[loggah]

The Franklin uses its own 4 speed powershift transmission ,i owned and ran a 1990 660 franklin grapple skidder for close to 10 years and never had any major drive train issues, the engine was a 5.9 BTA cummins 177H.P. i had a few engine issues ,normal things like water pump,starters, exhaust manifold bolts, fuel injection pump. The Franklin with center oscillation is a lot narrower then the tree farmer with the front cradle ,my machine was just a bit over 9' wide with 30.5 x 32 rubber. Don

[Mark K]

I wish mine was that narrow. Im looking for a small machine for that reason right now. Keep my big machine for contract work. Little are few and far between around here.

[loggah]

the good thing about the franklin i had was a electric lockout on the front axle, you unlock it and it got around a lot better and wasn't disturbing the ground much. In a hard pull you just lock it in. Don

[logman81]

Thank for all the info!

[nhlogga]

Is the Franklin in Waterboro, Me?

[logman81]

It is in Maine not sure what town I was told south of Portland.

[logman81]

Nhlogga do you know the machine?

[logman81]

So the guy with the franklin has made a offer, one that I'm not to sure of! But any way is the power shift transmission a automatic never ran one before? I'm thinking about taking a look at it what are some things to look out for on franklins?

[loggah]

Its a automatic,but they work best by shifting manually,just move the lever nothing to it!!!!

[logman81]

How do you run those do you have to come to a complete stop when shiting?

[logman81]

Shifting! How about when going from forward to revers?

[loggah]

You dont have to come to a stop just move the lever!! you do have to come to a stop shifting from forward to reverse, they have two reverse gears high and low. The Franklin transmissions are really easy to work on if you ever have to the clutch packs are on the outside of the housing and simple to get to.

[logman81]

Ok thanks loggah, seems pretty simple.

[logman81]

Getting closer to maybe owning the franklin, trying to come to a fair agreement.

[logman81]

Are there any special things to pay attention to on theses franklins?

[logman81]

Still have not come to an agreement, I can't help but wonder why he is jerking me around? The last thing I offered was to give him my machine and I would pay for trucking to haul his skidder her and mine up there or vice versa.

[beenthere]

How is he jerking you around?

[logman81]

He's seem to be taking his sweet time and not returning my text, and is kind of avoiding answering my questions.

[celliott]

Are you text messaging him?
If I sell things on CL I will not reply to text messages of people trying to negotiate with me. I don't like negotiating over email either. A phone call works much better.
I would call him.

[logman81]

He started texting me first and have been doing that back and fourth. Think I will call him and figure this out!

[beenthere]

Is this guy giving you a price and you are trying to negotiate?  Or he won't state a price, and leaving that up to you to make an offer that he will accept?

[logman81]

Yes we are trying to work out a fair deal for both parties, but he hasn't been getting back to me at all so I think I'm going to just forget about it. Yes just yanking my chain!

[beenthere]

Yes... to which of the two questions?

Hard for you to work up a fair deal for him, and hard for him to work up a fair deal for you.

So IMO sounds like if he has a price, and you don't like it then you should walk out if he won't take your counter offer.

[logman81]

Yes are trying to negotiate a price. The last thing he told me was he wanted my machine plus two grand for his skidder. I didn't agree to that because I think our skidders are equal value. I made a counter offer and have not gotten a reply back.

[logman81]

I gave up on the franklin, didn't return any phone calls or text in over a week. If any one was or is interested in it I would stay away something is just not right with this guy!

[logman81]

So finally got a text from the guy with the franklin skidder he is still interested in mine . He is planning on coming down Sunday to look at my skidder. I'm still uncertain if this franklin is a good trade or not? It would be nice to not have to pull cable!

[logman81]

What should I do?

[logman81]

Are their any week points to pay attention to on this model and year franklin?

[redprospector]

What should I do?

Punt!  :D

No, seriously though.
Have you looked at the Franklin in person yet?
If he hasn't contacted you since October, he's probably not too excited. But then again he said he's coming Sunday, so maybe he is just a procrastinator.
My advice is to listen to your gut after you have looked the Franklin over real good.
If you feel uneasy about the trade after you've looked it over....well....once it's done it's yours.

I don't know anything about Franklin's or Tree Farmer's. Out here it's mostly Caterpillar with a few Timberjacks, and the occasional John Deere. So take my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Andy

[logman81]

No I haven't looked at yet, I was waiting for him to look at mine first and talk about things in person.

[Southside]

Where in Maine is the machine?  I have a lot of contacts up that way still.  Other than the normal pins, hoses, leaks, etc I can't say much about Franklins as I only bought mine a month ago, had a JD before that.  I did look at several before I bought this one and on a couple the drive shaft was missing for the winch which leads me to believe that may be one area to look at closely.  I will say I am very, very happy with my Franklin, of course it is 20 years newer than my JD was and twice as big, but to me it seems they built a very good machine that is not too over engineered and is reasonable to work on.  I did have an older Detroit engine 6-71 on a 50KW generator we generated 3 phase power with several years back.  It was LOUD, liked a lot of fuel, leaked from every single part possible, and was cold blooded.  As long as we plugged it in during the cold she ran like a top, and ran all day long with no issues, I was not all that upset when the generator head died and we found a CAT to replace it with, we generated 100 KW with that unit on less fuel than the Detroit did.  For the right application I would not be afraid to buy another one, just not sure I would want to ride around with it in front of me all day.  Did I mention it was LOUD?  A good friend ran several Franklins from that period with the Detroit in them, he was very happy with the performance of them, but the first thing he said was that they were loud.  I asked him about it when I bought mine.  Keep us posted on how it goes. 

[logman81]

It is in waterboro, ya they can be a little loud this one has 453 turbo. I'm used to it my tree farmer has a 353. The one thing I do like about the detroit is they are cheap to rebuild and are usually good on fuel. This machine is suppose to be 100% operational and used every day.

[Southside]

I have heard that about them being good on fuel - ours was not for sure.  I don't know anybody in that area.  Did he say why he was looking to trade?

[logman81]

Yes he did. It has kind of a unique grapple setup you can remove it by pulling two pins and disconnecting hoses.

[logman81]

well the guy couldn't come down to look at my skidder much to do before the storm I was told. :( But in the meantime I was wondering if anyone could tell me what I might pay close attention to specifically to these franklin grapple skidders, problem areas? I know the normal stuff like center pins, pins in grapple, odd noises from engine or blowby, checking fluids that sort of thing.