Experience with wheeled feller bunchers?

[Kemper]

I'm thinking of buying a wheeled cutter. Leaning toward a used Tigercat maybe a 726 or John Deere. Wanting a decent sized head on it. My uncle got a Tigercat 726B and his production has went through the roof. Any thoughts or recommendations?

[WDH]

In the South the Tigercats are what you see a lot of the loggers are using.  They are very good machines.

[Maine372]

what are you cutting? on what terrain? whats pulling the wood?

[Kemper]

We cut only hard wood on mostly dry flat ground. I have a JD 640 grapple skidder with a real good skidder driver. Logs & decent sized pulpwood.

[WDH]

In the highly mechanized crews in the South, the skidders are usually the bottleneck to production.  What is your bottleneck?  If it is felling, then the wheeled fellerbuncher will help.  If not, it will only be an added cost.  Generally a wheeled fellerbuncher will handle two grapple skidders.

[instagator]

We have 3 on our job, a 08 and 09 553 Cat and an 07 2670 Prentince. Love the prentice hate the cat. If ur are buying one in my opinion u should buy something with less technology. Technology is a killer on todays machines with all the electronics.Something in the 03-06 years would be good to buy. The ground down here in Louisiana can get really bad in the rainy season and sometimes the machines will stay up and sometimes there just not going to no matter what u do. A good operator can cut 8-12 loads with one cutter.

[Ken 45lc]

What size of wood will these handle? How are they on slopes?

Thanks.

[instagator]

They will cut any size tree that u can get in the head, but as far as handling them ur not going to do it with great huge logs or ties. When we r in big wood the operator cuts the tree on one side then cuts on the other side and simply just throws the tree. When u r on slopes it just depends how good of an operator u have but the machine can do it.

[newstick]

Ive run the Tigercats they are very nice machines  The one I used was a 720C it had a Deere engine and axels and Joy stick controls (no steering wheel). I think it was very stable but that was mostly on flatter ground. It handled big wood very well. Wheel bunchers are way less maintnance than a track which is a big plus. The thing I liked the most about the WBers is in scattered wood ( they get around alot quicker.)

[1270d]

I've never operated one of these but watched a few run.   Last one was near luther mi.  Wow they can lay down some serious wood withan excellent operator (this guy was)

it looked like a neck brace might be a good investment aalong with the machine

[treefarmer87]

Alot of high production loggers around here are using the new k or j series john deeres. they say they are really good machines. tigercats make good machines too. that 726 is good for the bigger wood.

[barbender]

Yeah, they look like a rodeo to run

[MDLogging]

Ive cut with and worked around a 726 for the past 12 years working in hardwood clear cuts and select cutting.  It can cut a pretty huge tree.  Very seldom do we need to stump with a saw.  If we do its usually edge trees we have to push with the skidder.  Dad bought the cutter new in 2000 and it now has 16000 hours and still being used daily.  Great machine

[MDLogging]

One tip i do want to add is if your gonna be cutting big hardwood or pine dont get the bunching head with the deep pocket on the side.  Reason is when to cut a tree thats to big to handle it will fall back in the head and you will turn over in a heartbeat. 

[semologger]

i am cutting around 350 to 400 trees a day on a pine thinning. not plantation marked leave trees no rows here.  been running wheeled cutters for years now. mainly a tricycle 3 wheeler probly wouldnt be in business without one. Ours is a shear but looking to update to a saw head. Yesterday i was cutting and had a big pine i had nowere to go with. Couldnt turn sideways to steep couldnt go forward  big tree couldnt go back. i was thinking huh what to do now. so i just tilted head back fast and let go let the tree fall over the top of  me no harm done. but i did come closer to flipping it the other day that i have in 12 years scarry.