The logger I work for is looking at tiger cat for new equipment and wants to stay with one manufacturer for the whole spread.
What is your opinions of tigercat?
There's a ton of them out here from steep ground tethering buncher, harvesters, even a tethered 635, and a few 880's loading plus processors.
Operaters like them, does the company stand behind them, how well are they supported as far as parts and such?
The only piece of tigercat equipment I know of at all around here is a hydramulch unit, and the owner is plenty satisfied with it.
Brand new 610E working across from my house, they seem to like it. Another guy here just got out of his Cat 574 and into a new Tigercat 8-wheeler. I want to try an older C or D series 620/630, I hear a Cat/Deere isnt even close.
From what I've heard from the owners and operators they've been very satisfied.
Just for an idea here's a local guys system and his 635
https://youtu.be/2tuDhUytZ1M
Then another local guys 855 tethered
https://youtu.be/pDVt0xPDaME
Quote from: Skeans1 on January 07, 2018, 11:53:44 PM
From what I've heard from the owners and operators they've been very satisfied.
Just for an idea here's a local guys system and his 635
https://youtu.be/2tuDhUytZ1M
Then another local guys 855 tethered
https://youtu.be/pDVt0xPDaME
That is some wicked ground 👍 tied to a 330D all day for YOUR safety 😂
It's interesting to watch that's for sure what gets me is they were required to get to the stuff to keep working with no pay bump. Heck they're talking we have to do it for the thinning in the near future as well I'll see how many cheek marks are left in the new machine when it's required.
Very popular around here in the deep South.
I think the issue is: what does Tigercat think of supplying equipment to Alaska where they appear to have no dealers? Parts on a plane flight vs techs trained on the machine working on your machine.
Might first approach the Cat dealer to see how well they support their forest machines.
Son in law runs the cat shop here in town, so already checked on that, but the guy with the money is very interested in the tigercat equipment and apparently they have everything needed ready to ship. I don't think any of the Alaska techs for cat has actually been trained on forestry equipment, at least not in the interior and to the extent of them in logging country in the lower 48.
Probably not a whole lot of difference where this equipment will be located, it will be a bush plane flight for any tech. lol
If the logger went Cat, the logger would probably have to wait for all the greedy gold miners' equipment to be fixed first.
With that in mind one could set up their own moderate level of onsite service and maintenance capability to ensure the TigerCat's are at least serviced well at a basic standard by having the replacement filters, lubes, a few critical replacement hydraulic hoses etc on site.
We will be set up with a shop on site and have the capabilities to make our own hoses, no other way a guy could manage it.
Where we log here it is a 6 to 7 hour turn around to the woods, so just a hydraulic hose basically causes the biggest part of two days production usually, I can't imagine, flying one out on a commercial flight then transferring to a bush flight to get just a hose, filter or any number of small parts.
I have talked to cat about warranty service up here, actually they have a pretty good guaranteed response time and a maximum flight cost to get onsite for warranty work.
I am not sure what tigercat offers or guarantees, but am sure it is being discussed as much as this stuff costs these days.
Man thats a commitment. I could go have custom cylinders made while i go grocery shopping next door.
Mike, google icy bay Alaska, if all goes well and this deal goes through, that is where we are headed. Holding my fingers crossed for the next few weeks.
What size of machine is he looking at?
I understand originally Tigercats were designed to be serviced as much as possible on site with common available parts as they didn't have much of a dealer network. I'm not sure if that's changed. The bigger guys in the south seem to like them. If you youtube much look up Cotontop3. They have a spread running in MS. Their 635 skidder is bananas.
I can't tell you what size they are, I do know the skidders are 6 wheeled ones.
Oh that 635 I take it then well not many choices in companies building a bogie drive skidder other then tigercat. Ask him if they have considered a clambunk forwarder that might fit the needs just as well or better.
Crowley equipment out of Eugene, OR had this listed for a long time if something like this would work might contact them.
https://d2uhsaoc6ysewq.cloudfront.net/297/Forwarders-TimberPro-TF-840-9095204.jpg
http://timberpro.com/images/2016-slides/840C.png
Under what circumstance would that clam harvester be ideal? Small guy starting out who can only afford the one machine?
The clambunk skidder with loader is ideal when your not skidding behind a buncher and need to build your own giant drag of wood. If behind a buncher that can put enough wood in a pile for you then a regular grapple skidder is faster.
Clam bunk setups have their place especially in broke up ground or if you're wanting to a machine that can do multi options, I know a few guys that have these with heads on them for cutting if they need otherwise they yard with them.
Pretty nice looking rig, but wouldn't work in his operation.
These used to be a couple Tigercat Skidder's working in Western Maine. They look real well built, ad I know that they were pretty happy with them. With that said though, they didn't seem to be able to push out Cat and Deere, which are much more popular here.
One of my buddies has a real nice tigercat crane, which I know he is very happy with. Its a beast, and works super well.
I have seen one of the big ones, the TigerCat 635C (I think that's it) bogie wheel one, what a monster! That bad boy can move some wood in a hitch!
10 years ago when I worked for forestry machine reseller, we would install Logmax heads on tigercat track harvesters. They were the favorite harvester by far as they were made easier to work on and repair. It was possible to walk around the engine.
The story I heard from Tigercat is the company was founded by a few employees from TimberJack when TimberJack got bought by John Deere.
Tigercat was the machine of choice in the area for many loggers. One of few reasons they had a hard time penetrating the market against Cat and JD is they didn't have on site financing. Cat and JD are able to provide financing through their dealers, meanwhile to purchase a Tigercat external financing was required. It just made the sales process harder.
Even though we have Cat dealers up here I would stay away from Cat forestry stuff.. I have kin who are Techs at Cat shops in the lower 48 that have told us to stay away from Cat Forestry iron... If that's what the Cat mechanics are saying... better listen..
Tigercat history
A few of the key early Tigercat staff had a Koehring Waterous and Clark/ Valmet etc prior work history.
13 minute video at the 20 year gathering.
https://youtu.be/DmXmcMlFESA (Cat 20 year talk)
https://www.tigercat.com/between-the-branches/oral-history-tigercat/ (early company history 726 etc)
1st Tigercat tracked cutter the TC 853E sold through JD dealers with JD engine.
https://www.tigercat.com/between-the-branches/newcomer-on-the-block/
There used to be 3 new car dealerships in town....they are all gone, but we got a Tigercat dealer! They do well here. Banjo
Quote from: starmac on January 10, 2018, 12:20:35 AM
Mike, google icy bay Alaska, if all goes well and this deal goes through, that is where we are headed. Holding my fingers crossed for the next few weeks.
If it works out that you are headed to Icy Bay you are in for a treat I lived/ worked there for the Spring/fall for 9 years. We were there before they started logging the south side.
Yes, if all the stars line up, I will be headed there, one last adventure, and I tend to think it will be a good one.
Quote from: Dom on January 11, 2018, 12:29:42 PM
Tigercat was the machine of choice in the area for many loggers.
Still a good many loggers in the Maritimes with Tigercat harvesters. I think there are some machines with north of 60 000 hours on them. One of the only downsides to them from what I've heard is fuel consumption. That is certainly becoming an issue as diesel at the pumps is now around $1.30/litre ($4.90 US gallon).
All fuel will have to be brought in by barge here, so it will be an expensive issue, no doubt. I doubt there is a whole lot of difference in fuel consumption between any of the new equipment of comparable sizes..
Looking on tigercats website, they must have there financing sorted out, as they advertise 0% in the US.
Quote from: Ken on January 11, 2018, 07:02:47 PM
Quote from: Dom on January 11, 2018, 12:29:42 PM
Tigercat was the machine of choice in the area for many loggers.
Still a good many loggers in the Maritimes with Tigercat harvesters. I think there are some machines with north of 60 000 hours on them. One of the only downsides to them from what I've heard is fuel consumption. That is certainly becoming an issue as diesel at the pumps is now around $1.30/litre ($4.90 US gallon).
It's always amazed me how a wheel harvester will burn less fuel then a track machine with the same engine as well as the same weight.
Quote from: Ken on January 11, 2018, 07:02:47 PM
Quote from: Dom on January 11, 2018, 12:29:42 PM
Tigercat was the machine of choice in the area for many loggers.
Still a good many loggers in the Maritimes with Tigercat harvesters. I think there are some machines with north of 60 000 hours on them. One of the only downsides to them from what I've heard is fuel consumption. That is certainly becoming an issue as diesel at the pumps is now around $1.30/litre ($4.90 US gallon).
Wow. We thought the world was going to end when it was 5.15 ? Here for a while yrs ago ? The sad part is people don't realize how much it gets stepped on every time it changes hands, diesel is 2.1749 at the rack tonight in Albany + excise tax, about 3.19-3.21 here for on road right now.
Probably have to use a blend (diesel from oil from deep in the ground and bio-diesel) - but the Finns and Swedes? make diesel from wood residues.
Expect the Finnish Forestry equipment could be developed to run on wood sourced diesel? Certainly from an eco hype point of view - it might be cool to say 'we cut down our own trees with diesel made from our own trees etc)
https://youtu.be/BzhnKukH_ns
There is another generation of diesel engines coming in 2019 for Isuzu, Cummins and a few others?
Green is a big scam that will never, ever help the normal guy.
There are endless govt incentives and rebates for alternative fuel research and implementation.. I mean huge money grant programs. But anyone can swim in the grease dumpster and make their own diesel. DOT gets one whiff of french fry tailpipe and theyre gonna murder you for failing to pay road fuels tax.
I have called many govt departments many times in both boston and nashville, wasted a lot of hours on hold or leaving voicemails that go unreturned about how can i pay the state road tax on WVO fuel i produce.
YOU CANT.
They have well funded administrators for grant programs to encourage you to produce something, and a razor sharp enforcement weapon for when you do.
That grant money must be lining some friendly pockets over in "flex fuel" land. What a crock. Getting off "foreign oil" will never be more than a campaign slogan.
There were a couple closed paper mills in maine that were going to restart and make diesel from wood. They pretty much took all the free money they could get and ran
Can anyone show anywhere diesel is actually made with wood in the US. I read about a big one built in Georgia by grant money (millions) when it went bankrupt without ever making one drop of fuel, some of the same people bought it for basically nothing and applied for more government money to try and continue the scam under a different name.
It seems like it is basically the same story with most anything described as green energy.
"Green is a big scam that will never, ever help the normal guy. "
It is about time the collective brain power was put together to figure out how to help the normal guy and hopefully his next generation of kids etc.
As I pointed out it is more likely to happen in Europe first.
The US does have the trash to electricity like the Swedes.