Hood Slashers.

[BargeMonkey]

 I keep seeing more and more of them for sale, the 24k-28k models with the saw and bunks mounted on the chassis and self proppeled. Are they stupid money to maintain ? I've been looking at 437C's but by the time I add a new saw and change the trailer your right in the $$ of one of these hoods. Anyone spent much time in one ? And how do they handle a pull thru like a "stripper" ? How bad is the maintenance on a circle saw ? We had a Frick sawmill yrs ago but my circle saw knowledge is limited. I'm going to chase some of this pipeline work that's coming out and after feeding that big grinder I know I'm going to need a bigger loader.

[Firewoodjoe]

I was just thinking about this today. A lot of u guys run loaders on a trailer  and stack wood in every which direction! Get a self propelled and cut some wood. In just a few minutes you can move from your 40 or better cord pile and keep right on slashing. We have three. A new barko a older serco and an even older barko. All circle saws. The hoods are around here I've never run one. But I would think the saw table on the chassi would be nice. Ours are all pull behind saws. As far as maintanence there's isn't any really. Grease it and change teeth occasionally. Depending on operator and wood you can cut thousands of cords on a set. Production wise they are the way to go in my opinion. Ours cuts 100-150 cord a 8 hour day. He has worked two weeks with only one truck hauling off this job and he's got about 800 cord in the pile.

[deastman]

I had a Hood 24000 with a Hood 60" circle saw slasher for a lot of years and loved it. Mine was on a truck carrier and not self-propelled but I liked the concept of the self-propelled unit. The circle saw slasher is a must in my book, high production slashing with very low maintainance, I had the replacable carbide tips on the shanks and they worked great, could replace them right on the saw without taking it off. If I was gonna buy another crane I would definitely go with a self-propelled unit with a front drive axle, a lot less hassle than having a truck carrier to take care of and would get around better in slippery going.

[Firewoodjoe]

Ours are all truck frames. Tandem drives with the trans and they have a hydraulic motor on the trans then the truck steerable on front. When u hook to the semi tractor the steer is off the ground and u put the trans in nutreal.

[BargeMonkey]

 My barko is on a self propelled chassis now and it's beyond handy. Can't get out of its own way in the mud but we just yank it around. I haven't had to many jobs that I can keep moving,  I just try and haul before I have to handle 2-3x more. I'm trying to reduce the amount of iron I've got and be efficient. I found one for sale not to far from me, I think it's a repo. Having the saw and machine as 1 unit makes alot of sense, but I ask around before I jump. I don't want to cut alot of softwood, but I do get alot of hemlock pulp and limbing by hand is pointless behind a timbco and grapple. Is it true about the circle saws being known to fling stuff 1-200 ft ?

[Gearbox]

I don't know about 200 feet but only stupity would let someone in line with the saw .

[BargeMonkey]

I don't know about 200 feet but only stupity would let someone in line with the saw .

I don't mean so much "someone" standing in front of it, I was asking like a small chunk of wood going sailing 1-200 ft and tagging the neighbors house, mine will throw a small piece but I've heard a disc will really launch it.  :D

[Firewoodjoe]

They will if the operator begins the cut to fast or is cutting small chunks then your saw hits that small chunk to fast. It's a lot of operator error. U can do a lot with a 60" saw. Some are 72". Just don't put a rookie in it.

[Woodhauler]

My brother in law has 3-4 hoods/slashers all truck mounts . They are the go to machine in the maine woods.

[loggah]

the guy i used to work with had a hood s-182 slasher for years,originally mounted  on a r 600 mack,then we put it on a trailer which worked out better,you could pile wood all the way around it ! ;D the only problem we had with the circular saw wasthe bolts on the saw gearbox loosening up. The little loader worked well with the stripper i had,because they have 2 swing motors. The hood slasher package was a great machine.

[BargeMonkey]

I appreciate the replys, keep looking and kicking stuff around. I'm not ruling out going to set rip/wrap -shot/rock with it, feed another grinder, storm clean up, which is why I'm going bigger. It's just a matter of time till the next flood or hurricane, I missed out on big money not going down after Sandy because we where not quite set up for it, that's why I asked about them throwing stuff. Most of the parts for these are off the shelf stuff ? 

[tj240]

i have ran 24000 and 28000 hoods with pull thru delimbers the 24000 is much faster for slashing, but the 28 will pull alot. hoods are oil leakers but nip it when you see it. They are the ones i ran the most and they are tough, i have wrecked a few delimbers cause the skidder guys were lazy. the hoods will work just take care of them like any other equip, and you will be fine, like i said the 28000 have alot of power, but you may want to look at a tigercat, they are real animals, limited experience, but the dealer is close and the one i ran had unlimited power. good luck.

[BargeMonkey]

 Equipment finance company just north of Troy has it, the guy called me back tonight. Wow, a machine withing a few hrs of me, this is a first.  :D. He bought it from an older guy going out, and cleaned it up. Supposedly has 7k hrs. I think I'm good this yr for tax purposes, but always looking. I appreciate  the imput, I've had limited experience with CJ's for parts, dealt with loggers / ny truck alot, and my hood loader has always held up. The pull-thru is the seller for me, I'm not a fan of moving this delimber I've got, and I could move just 3-4 machines into a job.

[tj240]

The parts are easy to get, if the saw is mounted on the frame you shouldnt have much debris or pig throw, as long as the saw area is kept clean. the circle saws turn fast and will throw pigs a long way. like was mentioned before usually operator error, just keep around the saw cleanish, nothing the blade can hit, good luck.