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Giant Cable skidders

Started by loggah, January 16, 2013, 06:46:42 PM

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loggah

Well since i been posting about early logging equipment  i figured i should step into the future a bit!! ;D .These  Big Clarks were owned by the Brochu  brothers of Stratton Maine,These pictures were taken a few weeks before they were to be Auctioned off. They had 3 machines ,one was used as parts, I considered buying one just to have for display. needless to say i didn't.They were being used for site prep tractors and replanting ,before i understand they were used at Stratton ski area for the long hauls with smaller skidders hot yarding for them. The specs i remember ,14 ft wide ,34' long, 12' high,  66,000 lbs.  They had 300H.P. v-8 cummins engines, 34.00x38.00 tires and a 50 or 60 ton winch. They are the biggest cable skidders i know of ,anyone here seen any bigger??? Heres the pic's I'm 6'4" and 285 so you can compare in size. Don










Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

clww

From what I've seen and read previously, I am shocked that you didn't add one to your impressive collection of iron. :o :)
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

loggah

I really thought about it!  i don't know where they ended up ,i know there were some in South America pulling Big hardwood.I really liked the big clarks i had a 275B  7yd wheel loader about the same size as these it was  fun to dump 2 buckets and overload a tri axle dump.  ;D
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

ST Ranch

And I thought some of the tigercat 6 wheeled machines were big - the blade on the skidder in the top picture looks like it would fit an oldeer D8/D9 cat dozer.  Interesting that these were cable machines vs grapple - I can not imagine trying to untangle a drag of trees from a monster like this let alone hooking the chokers up in the first place. Don - were there any remains of the mainline and chokers on these beast and if so how big a mainline [3/4 +] and # of chokers? - Tom
LT40G28 with mods,  Komatsu D37E crawler,
873 Bobcat with CWS log grapple,

loggah

the mainline was 1 1/8"  they had another fairlead welded down low between the fenders and from what i understand they had a giant bogharrow, Rome maybe, they would drive ahead laying out the cable ,then winch it to them.It must have been huge if they just couldn't pull it. The winches were Carco if i remember right with power in and out !! The blades were 14' across and about 4' high.
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

loggah

from what i remember they said the trees would fan out behind these as wide as the ski trails ,big hardwood tops and all. I can imagine how the yardman felt when they dropped the hitch, anywhere from 20-40 stems !!!!! ;D ;D
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

rick f

Wow , my 664 clark is just a baby to those.  Nice pictures that you post, please keep'em comming.
664 clark skidder
1- 562 husky
1- 254xp husky
1 - 268xp husky
1250 JD farm tractor with skid winch
5040 kubota farm tractor

loggah

heres one more!! my wife said the pictures were taken in 2002!!! i thought it was just a "FEW" years ago !!

Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

PAFaller

Those things are impressive, dont think I would want to try moving one down the road too often. My 240 with 23.1-26s is a bit over 9 feet and its a hassle, let alone that thing. Or put fuel in it can't imagine they are too friendly in that department.
It ain't easy...

loggah

My Franklin 660 i had was a big skidder back in 1990, 10' wide with 30.5 x32 s  and that was  a pain loading it on 8' wide lowbeds.
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

coxy

VERY NICE PIC loggah   wouldent want to pay the fuel bill at the end of the month with them lol  i have a friend that finds all the good stuff like u lol i couldent find a sack full of money if it was in front of me keep up all the good pic love to see them thanks 8)

treefarmer87

I bet that clark will bring a drag 8)
1994 Ford L9000
2004 Tigercat 718
1998 Barko 225
1999 John Deere 748G
FEC 1550 slasher
CTR 314 Delimber
Sthil 461
Sthil 250

KyLogger

AAAhhhhhhh.............I am pretty sure it's almost as stout as my 440B  ;D
I only work old iron because I secretly have a love affair with my service truck!

Dave Shepard

Those are impressive machines. I didn't know they made such a thing.

Ever see a Clark/Michigan 380 rubber tired dozer? I used to run one at a ski area with a 19' blade clearing snow. Biggest thing I've ever run. We'd start the 12v71 and it would smoke so bad they told me that the fire dept. had been called twice by people driving by on the road. :D
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

snowstorm

if they were used on the ski mt it must have been sugar loaf there is no ski mt in stratton. sugarloaf is south of stratton a few miles

loggah

Yup Stratton Mt, i knew it was right there somewhere!! When i first got out of high school i went to work on road construction ,Interstate 93 for R.G.Watkins out of Amesbury Mass, they had 3 big Michigan pushers ,a 280, a 380, a 480 !!!!! the big 480 weighed 70 tons, 16v 71 detroit . 625 H.P. Arthur Watkins used to run it. I was dumping trucks for him,we were laying down the sand cushion. I asked how he wanted them spaced  ,he said just keep dumping them one after the other up tight. So i started dumping them ,DM 600 macks,  after i had about a dozen or so lined up  ,i hear this roar and here comes A.K. about 20 miles an hour ,ROOOOAR right thru the whole line never slowing down !!!!! he had the wipers going to keep the sand off the windshield !!!!!! what a beast!!! ;D ;D
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Dave Shepard

Wow, never heard of the 480. Hard to find info on them.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

loggah

Dave, I may be wrong but i think Michigan only built  8 of them, or maybe 30 and only 8 675 wheel loaders, either way not many. Its hell getting old and trying to remember things i knew 40 years ago .  :( Don
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Dave Shepard

That explains the difficulty I'm having in finding info on it. This machine was a pivot machine, had a big piece of 2" plate on the back on a pivot pin for another machine to push it, as it pushed a pan scraper. That must have been a sight to see! Sadly, the machine went to the port last year, and not for a sight seeing tour. :(
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

loggah

The 480 was a straight frame as was the 380 and 280!! the 380 you ran was a newer one ,they were big machines. Michigan was never afraid to put iron in their tractors. Watkins had a couple 988A cat loaders and they kept them in the gravel pits,they had a 275 Michigan loader and that went into the ledge cuts !! I believe the 480 was built in 1968. As far as i know the 880 Clark were the biggest skidders michigan built and they didn't make many of them. Maybe the big Letourneau cable skidders were bigger ,i'll have to look thru my letourneau brochures.
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Dave Shepard

I posted a Letourneau skidder video in the Internet fun stuff thread. They were a different sort of critter. They were some big, but I'm not sure how they would compare to those 880's. Fun to get a glimpse of these machine. Probably no Wagner's up your way are there? :D I think they were just PNW.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

deastman

Loggah, do you know what year those big Clarks were? I remember as a kid my father taking me in to Chadwick-Baross in Bangor to see one of those, they had it sitting out front in the parking lot so everybody driving by could see it, i think there was even a picture of it in the Bangor Daily News
Samsung 130 LCM-3 with Fabtek 4-roller and Cat 554 forwarder, Cat EL 180 excavator, Cat D3C dozer, Cat D7E dozer, '92 Ford LTL 9000 dump, Easy-2-Load 25 Ton tag-a-long, current project under construction: '91 Peterbilt 379 with a Hood 8000 w/extenda-boom loader

loggah

I never saw any up here,there design was a bit different with two sets of operator controls in the cab,you want to back up just rotate the seat!!! you dont know how many times i wish i had that in my Grapple ! ;D ;D
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

loggah

Im not really sure  1970's i believe. I have a spec book out  in my museum i will check tomorrow.
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

oldseabee

I was working in the Clark Engineering Lab and we built the prototype in 1970, The dozer blade had tilt capability for road building. The plate in the back was used as an anchor blade when winching in a large turn of logs. The Carco G80 winch would drag the machine backwards without it. There was a lower set of rollers and a sort of wishbone on the rear frame and a mating piece that was connected to the chopper hitch so if the machine hit a soft spot and started to get stuck you could drop the chopper, get across the soft spot then winch the chopper back to you. The last one that I worked on was at Crown Zellerbach in Bogulusa, La. Took the 4 speed trans mission out and put in an 8 speed transmission out of a 280 dozer. 307 HP 903 Cummins engine.

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