Ponsse Skidder tipover

[Hoop]

The Ponsse salespeople will tell you its impossible to tip over a Ponsse skidder (many people refer to these machines as forwarders also).
Here is photographic proof they can topple over.

The operator is one of the best in the business.  He wasn't on all that steep of a hillside.  He was in the process of loading when he hit a hidden high stump.

Please use the forum gallery for photos (admin)
These photos actually show the 2 processors pulling the tipped over machine into the upright position. 

The 8 wheel Ponsse only had about 200 hours on it.  To keep the warranty in place, a Ponsse service technician had to show up & inspect things.  The only damage was a broken tool box cover (approx $1000) and a broken battery.

[Hoop]

 Please use the forum gallery for photos (admin)

Skidder finally upright and (after a rest & thorough checkup) ready for work.

[Doc]

The big question is....was the operator hurt?

That coulda been ugly quick!

Doc

[Ron Scott]

Scary! How was the operator? Did he ride it out? The machine seemed to come through it ok.

Never, trust the statement that  "they will never tip over".

[Doc]

Scary! How was the operator? Did he ride it out? The machine seemed to come through it ok.

Never, trust the statement that  "they will never tip over".

No doubt! If I hear someoen say something can't be destroyed I know someone who can.

I have an uncle who can tear up steel ball bearings with toilet paper!

Doc

[timberjack240]

i imagine that rattled his cage a little  im glad that wasnt me 

[beenthere]

The stumps looked pretty high in those pics. One appears to be at least waist high to the man standing near it.
Guess they were if he tipped that rig over on one. Probably another good idea for cutting stumps closer to the ground.  Maybe the tree fellers don't open big enough so they have to move up higher to cut them?
If the operator was belted in (as I suspect he should have been), he was probably pretty safe. If not, then he probably banged around a bit and ended up sitting on the side window (or on one of the control levers  ).

[Ron Scott]

Good observation on the "high stumps'. I was wondering about that also, if they were being excessive throughout the harvest area. We don't allow our stumps to be over 12" on sawlog trees and 8" on pulpwood trees. Most are cut lower than that.

[Quartlow]

Given the right operator you can upset anything, I had the pucker factor going on once unloading a Gen set with a 28 ton boom truck.  They told me after the dust settled that the back outriggers where 6 feet off the ground 

For what its worth I was picking it off of a truck right next to the boom truck, it wasn't completely lifted free of the truck yet, in fact I was fixing to set it back down and regroup when the store manager had the driver pull out from under it.  :

[Kevin]

One appears to be at least waist high to the man standing near it.

Isn't that the tire, or did I miss something?

[Jeff]

I'm not finding any extremely high stumps. I think Kevin is right about the tire.

[Gary_C]

I know those Ponsse salespeople and I doubt that any would make such a claim. In fact one of their trainers who ran a Ponsse Harvester in Europe told me of a job he did on the side of a mountain in Italy where one wrong move could send him down a 3 mile long slope.

All of the operator manuals regardless of the make begin with the standard cautions about rollovers, safety belts, and power lines, etc. I have a Valmet Forwarder and have felt the pucker factor many times because of stumps, regardless of the height.  Actually the higher ones are not the most dangerous because it is more difficult for a tire to climb on top . Some forwarder operators will put the transmission in gear and pick up piles of wood on the move. It is very easy to not see stumps and if that wheel is on the high side of the machine, you can tip over so fast, there is no time to react.

The good thing is those machines are built so tough, you can roll them back and go again with some minor sheet metal damage. I guess you should expect that for a $280,000 machine.

[Woodhog]

Glad no one got hurt....

The funny thing I see about that situation was all  the equipment sitting (and laying around),
compared to the bits of trash wood they were working on that had spilled off the machine when it upset...
There were 3 pcs of expesnsive iron probably close to a million bucks when all the loan interest is paid  to the bankers...
I see them going by my lot on faltbeds ever day being hauled from job to job...on one piece of 10 Acres there was over 500,000 in iron working on it near my little one man operation.

I sometimes wonder if something is wrong, are the operators making any money or just
generating a cash flow.

[beenthere]

Hmmm? I thought that was a stump. Unless someone reached in there with that machine and cut it off so we couldn't see it 'no' more.  ;D  Gotta watch those logger guys, they will trick ya when ya are not lookin', I hear.

After blowing up the photo, and massaging it a bit with more light, I can now see what now appears to be the tire too. 

But I do that when I am deer hunting too. If I am looking for deer, they seem to appear when they aren't really there.  :

[Hoop]

The operator was unhurt, except for perhaps a slightly bruised ego.  The  person in the photos, standing, is the operator, no doubt not very enthused about the prospect of  having to call his boss to tell him the like new machine is now "broken in".

Several of the stumps are indeed cut far too high.  I'd have to think this is an error on the part of the processor operator, one of whom is still in the learning stages.

The equipment DOES represent a sizeable amount of $$$.  The new Ponsse skidder sold for around $300,000.  The other Ponsse skidder is a 97, and would probably go for $100,000 or so.  The processors are used and would maybe go for $150,000 each.

The Ponsse salepeople did INDEED make the claim the skidder couldn't be tipped over.  I've   In my 8 years of working around Ponsses, it is the first time I have seen one tip over.  The oscilating nature of the machine certainly makes it difficult.  Things do happen.  Thats logging.

[theonlybull]

last time i saw one like that, the operator was belted in, but had put his foot out to brace himself, and when the cab hit the dirt, the door buckled, and alowed his foot to slide between the cab and the door.  then it pinched back down on his foot.....   

never had to lug the jaws that far back in the woods b4....  nor nealy as much blocking...

[SwampDonkey]

The images in the original post are missing now.  :'(

[Sawyerfortyish]

Who stole em >:(. Beter sic Jeff on em he'll find em

[chet]

This is why we like photos loaded into our gallery rather than a link. We have no control over a link, but we got us a big angry ole dog guardin' da photo gallery.