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Can anyone identify this machine?

Started by Taylorg, November 20, 2017, 01:25:38 AM

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Taylorg

Hello everyone, new to the forum and looking at learning a few things while I'm here. I'm interested in a machine but the owner cannot give me any real info on it. I have not gone to look at it yet and I cant identify it from the picture. What he can tell me is is has a 172 ford industrial engine and a 4 speed fwd and 4 reverse trans. Hopefully someone has come across something like this to give me a starting point for my own research. Thanks in advance.



 

bushmechanic

Looks to me like it started out life as a C4 Tree Farmer. Heavily modified by the looks of it. It may also been a C3 if it has the 172 Ford in it. 

thecfarm

I got the grapple in the front. But what is the front part for. Almost looks like a hopper?
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

47sawdust

Looks like a pain to get in to and out of.
Mick
1997 WM Lt30 1999 WM twin blade edger Kubota L3750 Tajfun winchGood Health Work is my hobby.

mike_belben

Im gonna say it was a skidder until the cab and dash were spun and the loader was built.  The curl back linkages look to be C channel.  The cab mounts are definitely shop built... Loader is pretty funky,  maybe off an old skid steer. 

The panels on top are wierd too.  I suspect the might actually be rail or debris shields for the cylinders and hoses.  Theyre probably not even attached.. Note the color difference.  I think theyre a set of basement bulkhead doors plopped ontop.

I dunno but i want it.  Flawless bucket setup.
Praise The Lord

mike_belben

Ask the owner if it has 1 forward speed and 3 reverse
Praise The Lord

Taylorg

I agree it sure looked odd from the pictures I saw. Also raised some red flags when the owner didn't know what he had. Looks to be handy if the loader works properly. I'm going to look at it on the weekend and will get back with some more information and pictures on how this treefarmer got modified. That being said, is there any weak spots for failure on these machines to look for?

lopet

Quote from: bushmechanic on November 20, 2017, 04:56:56 AM
Looks to me like it started out life as a C4 Tree Farmer. Heavily modified by the looks of it. It may also been a C3 if it has the 172 Ford in it.

X2     Sawmill outfit perhaps ?  Will be interesting to know anyhow.
Make sure you know how to fall properly when you fall and as to not hurt anyone around you.
Also remember, it's not the fall what hurts, its the sudden stop. !!

Iwawoodwork

I like it, looks easy to work on, would be great around a mill or for loading logs. if it runs and operates go for it.

Chop Shop

Garrett Skidder made all kinds of variations of the skidder/loader/shear/grapple/ect.

I swear Ive seen them in my old logging conference books in article/ads from the 60s.

longtime lurker

Clueless about the machine but if it works it works.

One of my personal bugbears... after 80 or more years of mechanical logging why haven't manufacturers figured that maybe a loader type front might be just a little bit more versatile than a decking blade on a woods machine. I have fantasies about a 527 with a 4in1 bucket on the front.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

teakwood

Exactly!

That is why in Europe every newer skidder has a crane mounted in the back of it. surely ten times more versatile than a "normal style" skidder with just the winch and front blade.

i liked this video, excellent operator, he knows were the strong points of his machine are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3QRzHeJW8c
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

BurkettvilleBob

There is always the Pettibone Mountain Logger. I saw one on NH CL with a bucket that slid on the forks.

mike_belben

Dang that was a nice stand of timber. 
Praise The Lord

OH logger

try that in our timber and you better have a buddy handy to help get your wheels on the ground again!!  ;D
john

coxy

I don't see what is so great about it  2 trips digging and pawing  cable would have been one trip even if you had to winch it out and less fuel and less time   jmop  ;D

mike_belben

Praise The Lord

Chop Shop

Quote from: coxy on November 22, 2017, 08:14:30 PM
I don't see what is so great about it  2 trips digging and pawing  cable would have been one trip even if you had to winch it out and less fuel and less time   jmop  ;D

But that would have required the fat lunch box operator to actually get out of the machine and WORK.  :D

barbender

I think those Euro machines would be awesome in a high quality hardwood thin.
Too many irons in the fire

longtime lurker

Quote from: mike_belben on November 21, 2017, 08:03:14 AM
Dang that was a nice stand of timber.

Soooooooo... educate me on why, because I know nothing about deciduous forest or pine for that matter, much less northern hemisphere ones.

Though I got to say compared with where I'm currently working it looked nice in there, like you could walk between the trees and stuff.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

mike_belben

Well, we dont get to see it very well but youll notice there is hardly a forked or branched tree in sight, theyre all straight and tall.  The size distribution is great.  Prime trees ready to be harvested, great looking mid sized stock eager to fill in the holes and clear lower canopy that isnt all choked in with vines, bushy scrub or deadfall.  When a canopy tree is removed the new sun will stimulate new seedlings there which will have a chance to grow, not be smothered by the shade tolerate bushy ground stuff. Theres nothing leaned over into mcdonalds arches, or tangled in ivy.  The spacing is great, room to fell the big stuff but still tight enough to keep trees growing upward instead of outward. 

Its basically what successive generations of great management look like.  Here where i am trying to repair high grading, if i were to cut every junky tree in one wave i would be left with a field and maybe 3 straight trees per acre which would either bush out or blow over immediately after.  And thats starting in a harwood stick farm thats too tight to drive a quad through without a saw.  The junky oak/hickory/maple/poplar that was too small or poor to harvest makes up the crown, the mid story is slow growing shade intolerant hardwoods that couldnt get to the canopy in time before it started to die, and the understory is a shrub thicket of shade tolerant species that grow 5 to 10x faster than the hardwoods im trying to favor.   The sourwood coppice sprouts i cut this time last year are up to 9ft high now.  There isnt an oak or hickory sprout thats made knee height yet.   So im growing a spike forest of sourwood coppice to make a sidelight curtain for oaks and hickory between them. Eventually i will cull the sourwood.


Anyway im beating a dead horse,  3 cuts of high grade on the same lot will leave behind a disaster that would do better to grow hay.  It wont see a timber paycheck in a lifetime of hard repair work.  I am describing the typical unmanaged overharvested middle tennessee forest.  Yet ive been on two here that look like the one in the video.  Only difference is the owners management.  Best and worst practice side by side will really open your eyes.
Praise The Lord

Skeans1

Quote from: teakwood on November 21, 2017, 06:46:13 AM
Exactly!

That is why in Europe every newer skidder has a crane mounted in the back of it. surely ten times more versatile than a "normal style" skidder with just the winch and front blade.

i liked this video, excellent operator, he knows were the strong points of his machine are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3QRzHeJW8c
Out here swinging grapple track skidder and wheel skidder were pretty common for clear cuts as well as thinning, most common was the 527 cat track skidder.

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: Skeans1 on November 28, 2017, 09:20:29 PM
Out here swinging grapple track skidder and wheel skidder were pretty common for clear cuts as well as thinning, most common was the 527 cat track skidder.
Please update your profile.  ;) Where is "out here"?
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Skeans1

Quote from: ljohnsaw on November 28, 2017, 10:05:01 PM
Quote from: Skeans1 on November 28, 2017, 09:20:29 PM
Out here swinging grapple track skidder and wheel skidder were pretty common for clear cuts as well as thinning, most common was the 527 cat track skidder.
Please update your profile.  ;) Where is "out here"?
Sorry about that I'm out in NW I thin for Weyerhauser so we see the clear cut crews a lot, then we do long log thins we have a high track skidder for the application.

mike_belben

Praise The Lord

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