Parts and opinions for CTL iron.

[CTL logger]

Updated my old Rolly 2 to the improved Rolly 3. Old head had close to 20000 hrs on it. Had the new one a few weeks now it definitely takes limbs off better they put a new style top knife on them. 

[BargeMonkey]

Woodland must love you 😂 One of the guys in a small group I'm in on FB has the 3 running behind a hotsaw and puts quite a pile out. The problem here with Rolly or even Timberpro is parts and service, im not close enough to CJ's, Anderson can get parts but they have to be shipped from Maine because of dealer territory. 

[CTL logger]

Woodland must love you 😂 One of the guys in a small group I'm in on FB has the 3 running behind a hotsaw and puts quite a pile out. The problem here with Rolly or even Timberpro is parts and service, im not close enough to CJ's, Anderson can get parts but they have to be shipped from Maine because of dealer territory.

I feel your pain on dealer support my Timberpro dealer is 100 miles away, Woodlands 800 miles from me I asked 2 dealers for prices on heads never called me back. Pretty bad you have to beg someone to spend a couple hundred thousand dollars. Woodlands support is great I can usually have parts in hand next morning. 

[snowstorm]

around here i have 2 choices for international truck dealers for parts. the big one in bangor that isnt likely to have much for a 10 yr old truck or the one a bit further east. they know ih inside and out stock a lot of parts. but George can be a bit ornery. i sent my boy there to get a brake valve . i told him to be polite or george would make him cry. i have seen it happen there before. if he likes you your all set if he dosent they dont come back. i have got parts from him that the other dealer couldnt even find a listing for. 

[mike_belben]

I wonder if you know my uncle charlie.  If its still open anyway, he was the starter and alternator guy on 1A in ellsworth.  May have sold it to partner by now, not sure. 

[snowstorm]

dont know him

[chep]

Barge

We are full ctl in southern and central vt. 6 full time crews running
We have 7 rottne forwarders. 4 cat/fabtek 501 harvesters, 2 barko harvesters and 1 rottne h20 6 wheel harvester. If you ever want to see any particular iron in action let me know and we can set it up.
Cheers

[nativewolf]

Barge

We are full ctl in southern and central vt. 6 full time crews running
We have 7 rottne forwarders. 4 cat/fabtek 501 harvesters, 2 barko harvesters and 1 rottne h20 6 wheel harvester. If you ever want to see any particular iron in action let me know and we can set it up.
Cheers

@Chep,
What is the favorite harvester?  Can the h20 handle hardwoods (oaks?).   
Thanks

[chep]

Luckily I still run a chainsaw! No hose jockeying for me... i get to cut the oversize, the cream and the steep banks...

The h20 is super impressive and can move some huge sticks of wood around. It's got the sp head on it . I think it's a 7000

I am working around a 501 right now with a brand new sp 661 head with a topsaw (first in n. America) that's been very cool to see also.

[BargeMonkey]

Barge

We are full ctl in southern and central vt. 6 full time crews running
We have 7 rottne forwarders. 4 cat/fabtek 501 harvesters, 2 barko harvesters and 1 rottne h20 6 wheel harvester. If you ever want to see any particular iron in action let me know and we can set it up.
Cheers

That's awesome and I greatly appreciate the offer. 👍👍👍  As much as I want to throw down on a newer dangle head on a used carrier it's not going to happen, more than likely be a 415/133/153 size machine with a 4 roller. The mud this yr has put a serious hurt on my iron budget 😂 

[chep]

We have harvesters from year 2001 to 2018 running. All dangle head 2 roller. No bunchers cutting ahead unless the job has really thick understory (only a few over the years). So they are all cutting off the stump with a steady diet of hardwood, hemlock, pine .
Like I said let me know and we will hook it up

[Skeans1]

Those SP heads are sure impressive, how's the feed speed on the 761?

[earache]

I ran machine for a crew that had a hybrid CTL setup just like described. Timberjack 608 hotsaw laid all of the stems down. Then a processor went behind it and processed everything. Then a Ponsse 8 wheel forwarder picked it all up and decked it at the landing.
The first processor used was a TimberPro 630 with a Rolly fixed head. Impressive power with the fixed head, but very heavy, wasn't real fast, and broke a lot of stems and limbs because it was fixed head (constantly fighting the angle of everything).
Then that machine was traded in on another TimberPro 630 with a LogMaxx 7000 danglehead. Production went WAY up, was way easier on the machine, easier on the operator, and bunch piles were still real good.
Then that machine was traded in on a Ponsse danglehead and never looked back. Production went way up, again.
The dangleheads can have way more roller torque and roller speed than the fixed head. They have also gotten very good at following crooked stems and the measuring system is almost unbelievable it is so accurate. And, they can handle 20" stems and still measure well.
So, for this system, the dangle is the way to go.
For a one man operation doing small jobs on sensitive ground around a lot of obstacles, I pick the Fabtek over any other CTL platform.

[nativewolf]

@earache whereabouts are you?  wondering what sort of forest you guys were harvesting

[earache]

@nativewolf Northern Wisconsin.  We Cut Aspen clear cuts, marked northern hardwood (selective), pine, balsam, 

[nativewolf]

@nativewolf Northern Wisconsin.  We Cut Aspen clear cuts, marked northern hardwood (selective), pine, balsam,

gotcha, still curious to see a new processor with a new danglehead in 20" oak.  

[snowstorm]

@nativewolf Northern Wisconsin.  We Cut Aspen clear cuts, marked northern hardwood (selective), pine, balsam,

gotcha, still curious to see a new processor with a new danglehead in 20" oak.  

what would be so hard about that?

[mike_belben]

Paying for it when the gremlins go on strike!

[Skeans1]

It's not that bad to work on the stuff especially the newer stuff, less wiring with self diagnosing computer between the harnesses.

[chep]

@nativewolf

20 inch oak doesn't slow down the dangle heads. The coolest part about a dangle is that the head can pivot around the tree. So they can make a face cut essentially,  then do wing cuts and back cut.  Once they get to the top I see them using the saw bar just like a chainsaw. Let go of the stem and kind of slash cut the crown down. Sometimes to whittle out some pulp, some times to just know it down. Hard to describe but not that technical in reality. A good OP can easily handle 20 inch oak all day long. The knives will take off up to 4 inch limbs. Sometimes a little trimming with a chainsaw is necc. On the landing  to smooth up logs. 
  Dangles can cut huge wood. It's just what they manage to do with it once it's on the ground is what makes the operator

[chevytaHOE5674]

When you get good with a dangle head the saw and boom become an extension of your arm. It is essentially a chainsaw on a stick so you can saw off limbs and tops when needed, turn the head around and feed backwards and buck at a fork or crotch, etc. Spin the head around and make a face cut, cut in from both sides a ways and then and cut/push from behind (all without moving the machine). We fed ours a steady diet of 20-25" hard maple all the time, cutting the occasional 32" tree when necessary.

[barbender]

Yep, yep, and yep. We cut hardwood all the time. Hardwood is definitely harder on the heads, that's just the nature of bumpy knobby northern hardwood. But dangleheads handle it just fine.

[JLeBouton]

There are also some modern fixed heads available that will give a dangle head a run for its money in hardwood.

JP Skidmore is building heavy duty, cutting edge fixed heads, and their subsidiary, FabTek LLC is re-manufacturing old four roller heads with upgraded frames, and converting them to two roller heads. Something to consider.

JP Skidmore Facebook

James LeBouton - YouTube

www.jpskidmorellc.com

[Skeans1]

There are also some modern fixed heads available that will give a dangle head a run for its money in hardwood.

JP Skidmore is building heavy duty, cutting edge fixed heads, and their subsidiary, FabTek LLC is re-manufacturing old four roller heads with upgraded frames, and converting them to two roller heads. Something to consider.

Update Your Browser | Facebook

James LeBouton - YouTube

www.jpskidmorellc.com

The cf22 and cf18 float now correct?

[nativewolf]

@nativewolf Northern Wisconsin.  We Cut Aspen clear cuts, marked northern hardwood (selective), pine, balsam,

gotcha, still curious to see a new processor with a new danglehead in 20" oak.  

what would be so hard about that?

just getting somewhere where they run new dangleheads.  Southern boys are allergic apparently.  At least I can't find any here in va.  Now there are a few bells, neat machines, but I want to see a new JD or Ponsse or Rottne, etc in hardwoods.