my old 660 franklin

[loggah]

Well after pawing around in my wifes picture files on her computer, i finally found a few pictures of the 1990 Franklin 660 skidder i owned.  The pictures were under "EQUIPMENT FOR SALE" !!!! no wonder i couldn't find them!!! you can see the small fenders i put on it, and also the treepusher i put on top of the grapple, i also welded angle iron on the sides od the rear frame to stand on while fueling. I just never got any pictures of it working. Some of you Maine guys may have seen it years ago i bought it off Jeff Davis in Rumford center.

[Peter Drouin]

Is that you standing next to the skidder?

[loggah]

Ya peter thats me when i was a bit younger !!! ;D its on my property on rt 3 in Campton where i was building a field, my sugar house and sawmill.shingle mill are over there now , its a fair sized machine im 6'3" and 285 ,well i was then !! :-[

[Peter Drouin]

Brad L over here said they called you a sasqush because you are a big man back when he was hauling gravel for you  :D :D :D

[loggah]

Well Brad aint no pigmy !!!!! ;D ;D ;D

[Peter Drouin]

No, he's not  :D :D :D but he's still ugly. :D ;D

[loggah]

 well i cant really say much about ugly !!! :-[ :-[ But when his wife was driving truck the scenery was a lot better,and i think she was the better driver !!!!! ;D ;D ;D

[Peter Drouin]

And she is till a cutie. ;D A month ago Brad had a barrel of coppers leave from behind his shop. Two weeks ago his brother Mike had a bunch of ATT wire got stole, Mike found where the thief brought it, but the police could not get them because Mike could not prove it was his . : scrap doesn't have a # number.
getting out of hand :
Other than that we are well in Sanbornton :D :D :D

[Dave Shepard]

Do you guys have a State Trooper at the scrap yard? Last time I went up to the big place up in the North end of the county with my batteries and old electric motors they had a full time ST there. I had to get my driver's license scanned in and interrogated. Almost as bad as going for jury duty at the court house. :D

[loggah]

Peter, Im glad i live 30 miles north, pretty bad when people are stealing junk everywhere !!!The junkyard i work part time at have the cops visit pretty regular, the good thing is he has cameras so he can look back and see who is dropping what off.

[Peter Drouin]

The cops know who it is.  Mike can say it's his just can't prove it. And the bad guys just smile. The law works both ways. They're moving your way because there nothing left here. >:(
93 can be a bad thing too

[HiTech]

That looks like a Beast of a Skidder. I'll bet that would pull. Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

[Ken]

Nice looking skidder.  There were only a handful of Franklins around here that I know of.

[BargeMonkey]

 If franklin still made newer machines, with the rear pivot and a deere winch and engine I would buy a new cable skidder tomorrow. I just sold my 405, I was impressed for being a smaller skidder she was like a mountain goat. How wide and deep is that pusher ?  The break in's and scrap theft has slowed down this way, the last couple they got around here where lucky that the locals didnt find them first. ;)    I have game cameras, that take awesome night pictures out to about 50yds. I leave my chains hanging just waiting for some meth head to make a life changing decision. 

[loggah]

If i remember right the main tube is a 12" x 12" and i welded a 3/4" plate on each side then welded the top plate on so im going to sat 14" where it attaches to the tube, it probably is 16" wide where it contacts the tree, where i cut a curve with teeth sticking out. you cannot make it to strong. If i were to do it again i would probably ,weld a piece of channel or a short piece of truck frame onto the  1" thick push plate. I was working beside a 648 John Deere grapple , you can see parts of it in the back ground, and the owner couldnt believe where the franklin could go without tipping over ,!! ;D ;D he wouldnt even run his John Deere i the same area !! The great thing about the dual arch is you can run the grapple all the way out and the weight transfer will let you back up some amazing steep hills to the bundles, those big pedno chains dont hurt either. !!

[treeslayer2003]

how does that compare to a 170? don't think I ever saw a 660.

[Corley5]

That's quite a machine.  Tulgetske's had a Franklin dealership in Rogers City.  There were quite a few of them around here and still are.  Although if I've ever seen a 660 I didn't know it 

[barbender]

What a beast! I mean the skidder, not the sasquatch ;D Was the 660 a bit bigger than a 648? What engine did it have?

[BargeMonkey]

 Until youve run an older franklin with the pivot its hard to explain how stable they really where. I wonder why jack or deere didnt pick up the design ? Anyone hear anything more about the bankrupcy ?  Ive been told they closed the doors with machines still being built, and that theres a few warehouses down there full of new parts.

[barbender]

So, did they have the rear oscillation point, instead of a front axle cradle pin? That's how my Pettibone is, the front axle is mounted solid to the frame and the pivot is in the frame on the back half.

[BargeMonkey]

 Yeah the rear would pivot instead of the front end like a deere or jack. Kinda unique, I was impressed with mine, just keep them greased well. We work woodlots around here that are rocky, rugged steep stuff and the 405 I had would eat my 440D alive. The only thing was once you had a decent drag behind you, and you ever hung the hitch up the cab was the pivot at that point, I learned that one day kinda quick.

[Firewoodjoe]

Ran a 518 cat that was the same way. I didn't like it. Pull good as long as it was pointed straight

[loggah]

The 660 was a bit longer then the 170 with heavier axles 20 studs on the hubs.With the grapple and winch and big rubber ,and the 7/8" pedno diamond chains it was close to 15 tons, had a 177 HP 5.9 cummins in it . The guys i sold it to cleaned it up and put a coat of Franklin green on it and it looked like a new machine. I ran it a bit part time after they bought it. When the front end comes up quickly you dont know which way the cab will go,resulting in banged up shoulders!!! ;D but it took a lot to get the front up !!! i only flopped it on its side once i had a big oak in the grapple and was pulling uphill and turning both uphill tires got on a rock and stump at the same time and flop,but with the grapple on a tree it kept it from going all the way over !!!! ;D

[BargeMonkey]

 I had a younger guy last summer running mine, I would hook and top for 2 skidders while they buried the landing loader. Told him, dont take 6-8 good trees and turn a sharp down hill corner, well guess what...  I turn around and you could just about walk under the front end, but the cab lays off to the right side and its steep anyway, making it look even worse. After he got her back on the ground and checked his shorts he got the idea. That was his last week cutting wood. I asked him what he was going to do when It got real rough....lol

[thecfarm]

Nice looking skidder,Go Big or Go Home.