FWD Blue Ox skidder

[Reddog]

A post was made a bout a Blue Ox skidder in another thread and  I got to looking to see what it was.

FWD " BLUE-OX " LOG SKIDDER MODEL BX. - Designed for skidding pulpwood in woods operations. Specifications: 4 wheel drive. Gasoline engine, 6 cylinders, 131 hp. Diesel engine also available. Transmission 5 speeds fwd., 1 rev. 2-speed auxiliary transmission. High range: 1st 6.5 m.p.h. (10.5 km/h); 5th 48 m.p.h. (77 km/h); and 6.7 m.p.h. (10.8 km/in) rev. Low range: 1st 3.3 m.p.h. (5.2 km/h); 5th 24. m.p.h. (38 km/in) and 3.4 m.p.h. (6.4. km/in) rev. Overall width 87 in (2.21 m.); overall length 179 in. (4.55 m.); ground clearance 14 in. (36 cm.).

Tires 14.00 x 20 front and rear. Chassis weight with loaded rear tires, winch, cable, wing plates and counterweight front bumper 10,200 lb. (4,630 kg.).

The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, Clintonville, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Look at the top speed, you could pass folks going down the road.

[treetech]

You could drive that old doll to work in the morning! :D

[Bobus2003]

6.7mph seems slow... My 440 will do 17mph

[Reddog]

5th 48 m.p.h.

[Bobus2003]

5th 48 m.p.h.

Oh holy Crap, i mis-read that the first time.. no need for a transport on that baby

[Dave Shepard]

Must have been designed by a leftover Minneapolis-Moline engineer, they all do two or three hundred miles an hour. :D

[barbender]

I wonder what year that was made?

[Reddog]

Some more digging found this.

Its main period of use was 1956 to 1960

[Bobus2003]

Some more digging found this.

Its main period of use was 1956 to 1960

looks really safe with no roll-over protection or a guard if the cable breaks

[timberfaller390]

I want one!

[barbender]

I think you could build one out of a 4x4 2 ton truck, it kind of looks like that what they did Actually, the one in the first pic with the canopy and wire mesh protection looks like it would be dandy for a small scale firewood machine, I think. The other pic looks a bit scary with no cab, etc., but remember, that was from the era when all of the skidding was done with open cab crawlers.

[thecfarm]

Nice pictures guys.Could you put them here? https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,13313.0.html

Not trying to pick it apart.That 14 inches ground clearance is not much.My tractor has more than that.The first picture,those tire look like tuft tires.Good size motor in it.I think I read it right,low range MPH 3.3,seems a little fast if that's the slowest it will go.But I bet it can twitch out more than my tractor in a day. I never saw one like it.

[Ironwood]

Kinda looks like an elongated Coleman tug w/  out the cab (and a bigger engine). Guess I am not crazy thinking I skid w/ this

[tjdub]

A little bit of Wisconsin history here.  This company (FWD) was founded in 1909 and was the first company in the world to build a successful four wheel drive car.   They're still making fire trucks in Clintonville (I think).

http://www.seagrave.com/

[mudfarmer]

For those that find this post in a search, here is a picture of an FWD Corp Blue Ox. I have added the picture to the "Timber Harvest Methods and Equipment" thread as well and am not sure where further discussion of this beast should go

[Dave Shepard]

Welcome to the Forum! This is probably as good a place as any.

[mudfarmer]

Thanks Dave. Here are some more pics. This guy has an International 6cyl gasser, FWD corp transfercase, Carco winch and 14-20 tires. I was told it will really pull some wood for its size, and it was often used to haul sap for a 6000 tap (all buckets) syrup operation

[Dave Shepard]

I bet it would do pretty well with some good tires, or chains. Does it run and move now?

[mudfarmer]

Well it didn't move under its own power, we pushed it on the trailer with a kubota  :D

When the guy drove it home last year from his son's house they had to put a pipe wrench on the clutch arm to shift it (I need to address this, obviously) -- it does have a new hydraulic clutch master and slave cylinder but the arm is frozen up. brake band in winch also slips from what he told me.

I put a battery in it last night when we got it home and it would crank and fire but pretty sure the carb is all gummed up. Did not bother trying ether yet. It has a 30somethin gallon maple syrup barrel as a fuel tank and I am going to drain all the old gas out of there as well as clean the carb tonight after work. They already put a new coil/wires/plugs and some other stuff on it to get it home last year

It did come with the two chains on the front, and got a line on two for the rear for $0 so hope that works out. That is the "counterweight" front bumper on there that is mentioned in the brochure, it is approx 3"x6" solid steel. They were going to sell this poor guy for scrap, surely would have got more than I paid but would have lost this great piece of history  :'(

[sprucebunny]

This is a very cool machine 

I'm itching to know more about the engine and transmission.  smiley_angel02_wings

Please change the fuel and filters and post lots of pictures   8)

Thanks for saving a nice old odd ball !!! I hope it does what you want !

[Woodhauler]

Back in the 80s a guy had a very similar looking machine that one the skidder compition at fryburgh fair in fryburgh maine!!!!  Thing would almost smoke the tires taking off!

[barbender]

You won't even need a woods pickup, you can just drive the beast home at night at 48 mph ;D Good score!

[thecfarm]

wildwoodfarmstead,welcome to the forum. Good save!!!!!

[treeslayer2003]

lol, short dog is what we called those here. white owl motor company made one almost the same, but guys home built them out of army trucks all the time in the 60s.

[luvmexfood]

Kinda looks like an elongated Coleman tug w/  out the cab (and a bigger engine). Guess I am not crazy thinking I skid w/ this

If it works for you and does the job then thats a good piece of machinary for you.

[Maine372]

my head is still spinning thinking about 6000 buckets to collect..........

[mudfarmer]

This is a very cool machine 

I'm itching to know more about the engine and transmission.  smiley_angel02_wings

Please change the fuel and filters and post lots of pictures   8)

Thanks for saving a nice old odd ball !!! I hope it does what you want !

This is my first International Harvester engine, and my first inline 6. This brochure http://forums.aths.org/InstantForum2010/Uploads/Images/d4af3979-fd2c-4bc1-b523-3cb2.jpg says it is a BD240 and I found this page that lists specs for that engine: https://oldihc.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/bd-and-bg-engine-specifications-2/

I do think the brochure is for a different, maybe earlier model as mine has a 2speed transfercase (hi and low range) whereas the brochure lists single speed. It does claim it will go up a 70% grade and that is good, we have about 100 acres of steep ledges

Back in the 80s a guy had a very similar looking machine that one the skidder compition at fryburgh fair in fryburgh maine!!!!  Thing would almost smoke the tires taking off!

Very cool, thanks for sharing that it made the wife and I both smile!!

You won't even need a woods pickup, you can just drive the beast home at night at 48 mph ;D Good score!

For now it will be used at home to help me clean up our 100acres that was high graded twice in the last 40 years. I would like to restore it somewhat, it is a piece of history after all. The pics don't show it well but when looking at it you can see that it was all a light blue color (frame, axles, sheetmetal, cage, wheels) and can see the remains of "FWD Blue Ox" lettering on the hood

wildwoodfarmstead,welcome to the forum. Good save!!!!!

Thanks!

lol, short dog is what we called those here. white owl motor company made one almost the same, but guys home built them out of army trucks all the time in the 60s.

That is funny, I have most of the makings to build something similar and ended up with this guy in my lap instead!

my head is still spinning thinking about 6000 buckets to collect..........

Man, tell me about it. Especially climbing up and down into this skidder all the time. He said when he started to get old he stayed in the skidder and made somebody come with him to dump the buckets 


Here is another forum post about them: http://forums.aths.org/135807/What-Am-I-for-Saturday-91011?PageIndex=1

Last night I took a half hour and tried to get it started. The problem is it wasn't firing consistently. I believe it is the points gap being way too wide but that is just by eyeballing, I did not think to bring feeler gauges down to the landing from the house. It fired about twice but not more than that.

There is good spark at the wire from the coil to the distributor but no/weak/occasional spark at the plugs. All the ignition components look brand new which goes along with what he told me about replacing them "last year or the year before". I did not mess with it much because one of the screws that needs to be loosened to adjust the points is stripped real bad so I couldn't tighten the gap up.

Will probably not get a chance to work on it until the weekend but will keep you all informed on the progress. Glad to see a warm response to this old beast!

[sprucebunny]

Thanks for the links  8)

I have a couple of things from the mid 50s. Love having the electronic spark conversions in them. It might be hard to find for that engine but the distributor may have been used in something more common if you are interested in going that route.

Hope you will keep us informed on your progress with this machine 

[chester_tree _farmah]

Yes very cool and interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[oldseabee]

Back in the early 70's I was testing a tree harvester built by Clark, at Eddy Forest Products in Ramsey Ontario Canada they had a couple of these around as yard tractors. With the Armstrong steering and a strong back by the end of the day you were ready for the cook shack and the bunk

[mudfarmer]

It runs real nice. It is an IH "BG241" tilt-valve inline 6cyl. Have not been able to ID transmission, it is an IH and the "binder" guys say it could be several I would have to check gear ratios to find out.

The clutch master push rod was too short. They have bypassed stock m/c in favor of truck style mounted to firewall.

The water drain plug was left out of brake side of winch, there was about 10lb of mice nest in it. Still doesn't feel like it is shifting right either but I did not start it, the alternator doesn't work.

The transfercasr is a "Fuller" and axles are made by FWD corp

[ozarkgem]

Kinda looks like an elongated Coleman tug w/  out the cab (and a bigger engine). Guess I am not crazy thinking I skid w/ this

That would make a great skidder. What engine and tranny does it have? any place for a pto on it? What does it weigh?