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Parts and opinions for CTL iron.

Started by BargeMonkey, October 20, 2018, 12:49:35 AM

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BargeMonkey

Full tree is great when it doesnt rain for 80 out of 93 days, ruts I need an excavator to fix. I've got a pile of my own wood bought, got approached to go cut for a buyer making fairly good money, supposedly doing a big cut for a solar farm semi-local. The timing wasnt right on that big processor I looked at last yr and honestly at 11'4" wide it was way to big. I've only ever seen 1x 4roller around here, from what I see the parts are around, but will it handle a steady diet of 16-20" hardwood and hemlock ? 
 Sitting at Pat's in the UP, same engine as my 425, about 7k hrs. 
 

 


 
Strictly to walk behind the buncher, go cut for 2-3 days, process and have the forwarder follow me. Are the 4 rollers that hard on hoses ? Down the road is the 2 roller conversion worth it ? 
 Ponsse took this in on trade, said it's very clean and just over 6k hours. H8 head which I dont have a clue about ? Will a dangle walk away from that 4 roller ? More money than I want to spend but wondering if it's worth it. Hows ponsse for parts ? 


 

nativewolf

Got nothing but watching and looking forward to responses.  From what I've heard the Ponsse support is phenomenal.  Curious as to the members responses.
Liking Walnut

Skeans1

No comment on Ponsse other then they are proud of everything. An H8 is a larger head then the Fabtek 2000, delimb should be roughly the same with the 2000 being ahead on parts prices. All the parts we ever had to find for our 4 roller were available from sources, take the computer they are dirt cheap how's 3500 4000 sound vs a whole control system? If a computer goes south on one you can still run the head because the head has no electronics all that's out there is diameter, roller length, independent length, and the bar return sensor. If you really want something that's going to go for bigger wood say up to 24" you'll need a larger head like a 622 something like that you can get different knives for the application like grapple style knife to make it easy to handle stems bunched in piles.

wannaergo

I'm going to give a slightly different opinion than skeans. Depending on how new the ponsse head is, it would walk all over the fabtek head. Not only will it be faster and more powerful, the hose consumption will be significantly less.   I also think the H8 is better than a waratah. I watched a couple 622s, and my H8 is definitely a better head.  If it says anything,  a local company here just traded a John deere 859 with a 622 in on a scorpion with an H7, because their h7 heads perform better than the 622.  Also, ponsse support here is second to none. 
2016 Ponsse ergo 8w
2014 Cat 564
Husky 385

chevytaHOE5674

That H8 will walk all over a 4 roller head and consume less hoses in the process. If cutting behind a buncher change out the upper knives to the ones that are designed for picking wood up off the ground. What little time I have thru a 4 roller was painfully slow and picking off the ground was a pain, the dangle head is super quick to pick with and is quick to process. Local guy was a 4 roller/2 roller fan boy forever but recently went to a Ponsse Scorpion with H7 and is on cloud nine, says he cant believe he waited so long. As for parts Ponsse would have everything for that head you could ever need.

As for buying from Pats equipment I would be cautious. He buys bank repos and auction gems and slaps paint on them and calls them woods ready. His lot of 25 minutes from my house and I stop in there when I'm bored and most of the stuff there makes the old junk I run look like new lol. Tried out a timbco/4 roller he had few years back and it was garbage, ran a buncher he sold it was garbage, etc.

barbender

Dangle head versus fixed is like "dangle" grapple (like a fowarder) versus a fixed grapple on an excavator. Which would you rather pile wood with?😁 Barge, I think that old equipment is for folks that don't want to work themselves to death. You don't seem to have an issue with that, you might as well get some iron that can keep up with you😉 Ponsse has lots of machines working in the UP cutting hardwood, the Ergo 8w with an H8 head is a popular combo. I know of another outfit in North Georgia that is cutting exclusively monster hardwood with a Ponsse Bear with an H8. If you have the markets the machines will definitely do their part.
Too many irons in the fire

Corley5

I'd be leery of any used harvesters.  They're being sold for a reason.  
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

mike_belben


QuoteDangle head versus fixed is like "dangle" grapple (like a fowarder) versus a fixed grapple on an excavator. Which would you rather pile wood with?😁 Barge
Can you expand on that for us noobs that dont know running a dangle from a dingleberry hone?    Which would you rather pile wood with and why? I have no experience and cant even guess at the strengths and weaknesses of either.  


A 4 roller looks like its just a pair of chain driven hubs on walking beams mated to a 2 roller arm set.  Does this help it walk over big limb flares and irregular shapes?  Where is the strength and weakness in 2 roller vs 4 roller?   What makes a 4 roller eat more hose.. Do they get caught in the works or something?
Praise The Lord

chevytaHOE5674

What makes a fabtek 4 roller a hose eater is all of the valves for each head function are on the machine with long hoses running the length of the boom and out into the head. So at the boom/head knuckle there is a lot of exposed hoses so they tend to get caught on things.

Where as that Ponsse head has a pressure, return, case drain, and computer cable running to it.

As for a dangle vs fixed the dangle is faster and more nimble. If you need muscle to force things a fixed head is the way to go. 

Skeans1

Huh? Our 653 with a Fabtek was all pipes down the boom and stick same with the 490's I've seen out here. As to the speed there was motor options on them, from what I remember the ones back there got the high torque low speed for the 8' wood.

chevytaHOE5674

Yes pipes down the boom hoses at all the pivot points. That adds a lot of hoses exposed out on the boom and head.

barbender

Mike, what I meant by that is the grapple on a wood loader, be it a forwarder, a landing loader, or a truck loader (or mill yard loaders for that matter) are all hung off a loose pivot, so they dangle and swing freely. You can get excavator grapple attachments that have a rigid connection, they look very cumbersome in comparison. 
Too many irons in the fire

Southside

Yes - 4 rollers eat hoses, just so many running together that they rub, snag, and do everything else to become inconvenient fluid change opportunities.   
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

Ken

Although I have no experience with a fixed head I've had experience with both 2 roller and 4 roller dangle heads.  Personally I find the 2 roller heads are easier to work in hardwood. 

Quote from: Corley5 on October 20, 2018, 02:17:41 PM
I'd be leery of any used harvesters.  They're being sold for a reason.  
I had a wise old logger tell me one time if I could afford to run old I could afford to run new.  The first harvester I bought was used and it would have ruined me if I didn't get rid of it.  As long as there is enough work to do new in nice
Lots of toys for working in the bush

Riwaka

Is this selective or clearcut or both?
Buying extremely used  is always a lottery.
How many use a processing head on either a tracked or wheeled machine  to fell and cut to length and stack for the forwarder?
or is the terrain too steep in places?

Buffalo dual (processing head is a bit small)  harwarder (harvester/ forwarder)
Ponsse Buffalo Dual - How to transform the loading area from a forwarder to a harvester - YouTube

Looking through the listings there was a cat tk 711 and the TC 822 11k hr both logmax 7000 heads. Most places are 50 percent of the cost of a new head to refurbish a looked after old head with new drive motors etc. Main thing is to check is the availability of spares (machine/ head) and not just a salesman word that there are parts somewhere.


leeroyjd

How 'bout the learning curve? I heard that it can be a while on a dangle head. I know first hand my Fabtek 4 roller fixed head was easy to learn, never tried a dangle head.

chevytaHOE5674

I was used to running excavators, forwarders, loaders, etc and didn't find the learning curve on the dangle head that bad especially if you were processing bunched wood and not felling. Start with the controls slowed down and get comfortable with it then adjust faster as you go.

barbender

I think having hand falling experience also makes a dangle head much easier to learn. 
Too many irons in the fire

Riwaka

Eltec (Element technology) have started making production levelling track machines after 3 years development. 
Similar to the Timberpro track leveller, but Eltec appears to keep the diesel tank up high. 
Eltec - cummins engine, linde pumps, rexroth track drives.(fairly widely used parts/ components)
tilt angles - 22 degrees forward, 18 deg side, 8 deg rear.
Downside - eltec have not made too many machines yet, could be a case of FIY - fix it yourself. (Though every new machine maker usually starts small)
An eltec leveller with a ponsse H8 head could make the old timbco leveller fbuncher a backup machine. (If the forwarder goes down, pull delimbed log length with the skidder and process on the landing)  (Probably do similar with a mythical good condition depreciated used levelling tigercat harvester/ processor if the cost of a brand new machine is too high)

H8 on ponsse bear
Ponsse H8 | On Ponsse Bear - YouTube




























Corley5

Buy a new one and keep trading it in before the warranty expires.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

BargeMonkey

New is way out of my reach for a while, I dont trust the wood markets or bid on enough softwood to throw down but trying to avoid junk, I'm going to keep looking, been wanting to drive to the UP for a while. Anything I buy with a dangle head would need to have a heal fabricated, I'm constantly moving myself with the head on my buncher now. Just looking for reliable, I see so many 4 rollers out there but only ever seen 1 work here local, it was a ragged looking 490D but it put wood out. 
I talked to Kip before I looked at that other TK, he had a sister to it with a newer head, said 21k hrs and I wanted no part of that. 5-7khrs i dont view as bad if it hasnt been beaten on, alot of our iron has 10-12k hrs and regular maintenance goes a long ways. 

Firewoodjoe

U need to find a row pine producer. Then tell him you will buy his machine when he's ready for a new one. When time allows buy a new head. The carriers seem to last it's the head guys around here have trouble with. One local company (pine) says the heads are giving trouble around 10k. Buy the way I've never ran one😊

chevytaHOE5674

First ponsse machine I ran had 23k hours and in a 40 hour week the machine was up and running 36+ hours. Second machine I ran was owned and operated previous by an OCD guy who was meticulous about things, it had 18k hours and ran 40 out of 40 hours. Third machine had 9.5k hours and was lucky to run 28 out of 40 hours and came from a strictly softwood contractor. Moral of the story it all comes down to previous owners and how they treated and maintained it. 

If your processing bunched wood I don't see the need for a heal because you won't have to be tracking all over like the buncher going tree to tree. Processor just goes down your row of bundles.

Lots of 4 rollers for sale because guys are trading up to dangle head machines. In the last 3 years I know of 5 or 6 local guys who ditched the fixed head machines and went dangle.


mike_belben

Is it just because the fixed head cant produce what the dangle can?  How often (if at all) does a fixed head machine get taken over by too big of a stem and not a fast enough release?  Is a dangle more efficient at ground picking .. Better dexterity in the wrist maybe?  Further range of motion so the carrier can stay in place more vs repositioning for a grab?  



Regarding the 4 roller eating hoses, it doesnt appear to me that a 4 roller has to have any more than a 2 roller if the secondary rollers are slaved to the primary set by chain like that one pictured.  Is the hose eating perhaps a consequence of a manufacturer putting the control valve on the car body instead of remotely solenoid actuating it on the head and not a direct result of how many rollers?  I wish there was a simulator app so i could play around with these things and see how they differ!

Praise The Lord

chevytaHOE5674

What makes a "fabtek style" 2 or 4 roller head a hose eater is the valves being on the carrier and not solinoid mounted on the head.

In my experience dangle heads are generally faster because of a combo of things. Most are on a carrier with a squirt boom for increased reach so you can process more without moving the machine. Generally a lighter head and boom so movements are quicker. The head can rotate around a tree for double and triple cutting without moving the machine also can rotate and fell trees in pretty much any direction relative to the machine. When crooked hardwood goes thru a fixed head the entire tree has to twist and move as the head really doesnt, where the dangle head floats and follows the stem which seems faster. Also the dangle is more forgiving and self aligning to whatever you are trying to grab be it standing or laying.

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