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Old forwarder/skidder

Started by Wisconsintimber, October 28, 2018, 11:08:03 PM

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Wisconsintimber

So my family and I went on a Sunday afternoon drive today to take a look at an old soderhamn forwarder. It has a 3-53 Detroit and a winch mounted directly below the loader.  This thing has been sitting for 4 years since the lady's husband passed away and no one who's looked at it had tried to start it.   I took battery and some starting fluid and with some tinkering, got it started. The clutch worked and the transmission engaged but the hydraulics did not work so I couldn't try to drive it. The hydraulics pump was spinning but I think it was out of oil... The tires all hold air and three of them are really good, one has a gash/boot in the side wall. There are some welds/repairs, it needs some hydraulics hoses, and some pitting on a couple of cylinders, and what else???
It was listed for $4500 but she said she'd take $3800.  I wasn't activly looking for one but have secretly wanted one and it could be very useful on the farm with a sawmill and cutting firewood. (I haven't seen a forwarder with a  winch before and that could  be a real plus) However not exactly budgeted for but...

So, has anyone had experience with one of these?

mike_belben

id be on that like flies on stink. 
Praise The Lord

nativewolf

yes, what a deal.  Scrap value can't be much less.  
Liking Walnut

moodnacreek

If you don't already have something with a picker on it you might think about it more. If it is useable it would be worth having even just as a yard machine.

Plankton

Little bit of tinkering and sounds like it would be a great machine for around yard and home lot woods.  If I was in your shoes I'd go for it, cant go wrong with that price

Satamax

Well, from a scrounger's view. 

The crane is worth a good thousand dolls, or more if it has a grapple.  The winch, depending on what it is, a good 500 to 1500. The engine, 500 ( i know it's low, but hard to ditch i bet those 3-53 as there is plenty around) Axles, at least 200 a piece. Transmission, i guess it wouldn't be complicated to get 300 for it.  Three wheels in good shape, 300 a piece?  300 in scrap metal? You are already at the price she was asking for, or thereabouts.  300 for the blade and rams. So, i guess, 3800 is not a bad price. 

May be if you winge a bit, say that the hydraulics gonna cost such and such. She would let it go for 3500?  It's no good to rip off an old lady. But i think it would be a fair deal. Instead of letting it rot away. 
French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

Wisconsintimber

 



Ok, finally got a picture up, she's not much to look at, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Like I said, I got it started, but the hydraulics did nothing, no groaning, no steering.  The pump is belt driven off the engine and was spinning.  I didn't have a light, but I stuck a stick down the reservoir and it was pretty much empty.
Trying to figure out what I can sell to apply towards this :) 

So the dilemma is that it's easy to want/justify a purchase but weather to buy something that doesn't immediately/directly make money especially in the stage of life of raising a family and trying to live debt free.

nativewolf

Gesh, you have kids right?  How much do they go for?  $7/hr?  Put em to work moving wood until you have enough for the forwarder.  They'll be so happy to have a machine do it they'll gladly go to school, then college, then grad school.   8)
Liking Walnut

mike_belben

That deal will never come along again in your life.  


Your kids might be paying their own way through school with it.  Make a deal and get it home before the next guy does.  Then teach the kids how it all works incase they dont actually want to go to school.  One way or other they need an education. 
Praise The Lord

Resonator

Did you add the cost of trucking to haul it home into the price?
Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

crowhill

Look at the price of an old farm tractor... compare the capabilities of each and I would be pulling this machine home!
TimberKing B-20, Kubota M-4900 w/FEL with tooth bar, hyd thumb and forks, Farmi winch, 4 chain saws.

barbender

While I'd agree on the possibilities of this machine, I'd be leery of what it could cost to get it up running, and operational. It must be based on a Timberjack?
Too many irons in the fire

moodnacreek

The kids could get jobs and pay board like I did.

nativewolf

Just a point on forum organization.  The sawmilling section has gotten cluttered with Logging related threads.  Is Jeff on his hunting trip to the UP?  Have to dig up his thread to see how that went.
Liking Walnut

reedco

         Get the next generation off to dental school, then you can buy gas and go hunting !!
Not many trees

Satamax

Looking at the state of it. The woman asked you 4500, but i am ready to bet if you offer twice the scrap metal price, she would let it go. I bet she finds it ugly where it is, and wants it gone. 
French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

WWright

 Thats a fair deal for that machine. Ive had one for twenty years for use on my farm. I just sold it to upgrade to a Timberjack 230A. There was not much on that machine I did not replace at on time or another. I am working on uploading a picture.

 

Corley5

A good old machine for a fair price or a bottomless money pit.  It's a roll of the dice.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

mike_belben

It all depends on your propensity to acquire and reutilize free-ish alternative components.  One guy gets it going on bubblegum and chicken wire he has in stock and another guy is calling in "his mechanic" for service.

Old machines are not for everyone.
Praise The Lord

Puffergas

There might be a valve that you use to direct the flow. Seen them upper left hand side.
Jeff
Somewhere 20 miles south of Lake Erie.

GEHL 5624 skid steer, Trojan 114, Timberjack 225D, D&L SB1020 mill, Steiger Bearcat II

Wisconsintimber

Thanks for the replies guys.  Yeah I'm a build it, rebuild it mechanical type of guy so I think the process of making it operational again(and putting it to work) would be fun.  Just don't want to buy an endless money pit.  No way to know for sure...

barbender

I almost avoid dealing with widows. You could offer her $500 less than asking price, get it and dump another $3000 (and your time) into it to get it operational. But you'll still have a reputation around town as "the widow whittler". Don't ask me how I know😂
Too many irons in the fire

Wisconsintimber

Puffergas,  you were referring to a valve to divert the hydraulics?  I was looking for one and couldn't see anything, then I thought it could be a separate pto driven pump so I put the transfer case in neutral and trans in gear, still nothing.  I'm pretty sure it's just the one main pump and it's out of fluid. Now the question is why...

Corley5

Look on the back of the engine for a pump.  Detroits have accessory drives there.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

azmtnman

Quote from: nativewolf on October 29, 2018, 08:00:00 PM
Just a point on forum organization.  The sawmilling section has gotten cluttered with Logging related threads.  
I think you have 2 different audiences/ways of doing things between the logging and the sawmill forums.
Some of us sawmill guys are forest-to-finish and require a different point of view. 
Case in point--there was a young man posted something about using an old 9N Ford for logging and the loggers answers were "get a skidder for skidding!" Sure! Let's spend $10,000 on a junky piece of heavy equipment that needs special hauling. The old 9N can be pulled on almost any trailer and be bought for $1500. It's not going to skid 10 cords a day--the logging focus. But it will get a few logs to the sawmill--the milling crowd. 
2 different perspectives.
1983 LT 30, 1990 Kubota L3750DT, 2006 Polaris 500 EFI, '03 Dodge D2500 Cummins powered 4X4 long-bed crew cab, 1961 Ford backhoe, Stihl MS250, MS311 and MS661--I cut trees for my boss who was a Jewish carpenter!

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