What’s better than a telescopic boom loader around the mill?

[Chris Burchfield]

Bibby, taking the chance they're boy and girl, park them close together and maybe they'll have babies.  :D :D :D

[pineywoods]

Bibby, with all the hydraulic stuff you have, owning the means to make your own hoses would probably pay off. There is a huge markup on hydraulic parts. Example-Last week I needed a 1/2 inch swivel elbow in a hurry. Local shop had it in stock - $13 . Same part in the surplus center catalog is $3.45. Equipment to swage the ends on hoses is just a set of dies and a small hydraulic press. Bulk hose is a bunch cheaper than finished hoses. I buy most of my hoses ( mostly from surplus center) with 1/2 or 3/8 pipe thread ends and then use adapters to fit whatever I need. If the leaky hose on the terex is from rubbing in just one spot, cut out a few inches, swage new ends on both pieces and connect with a coupler.

[stonebroke]

If it came from Italy you have that great metric hose and fittings, very hard to run downtown and have one made up. I ended up putting a regular fitting on the metric hose and running new out to the tractor.

Stonebroke

[scrout]

Hey Bibbyman,
My bro in law Randy works for these guys,
http://www.pro-tec-toproducts.com/pro-tec-to-wrap.asp

Give him a call and he will sample you some product, slick stuff, just wraps right around the hoses and is very tough.

DaveInOC

[Gary_C]

With a harvester and a forwarder I deal with problems with hydraulic hoses all the time and have yet to buy a hose machine though I probably should. Last time I looked there were companies that would give you a hose machine, dies, and a power pack if you bought $4500 of hose and fittings.

With this Ponsse harvester I now have, my hose problem is much less than the previous Valmet harvester. Both machines were made in Europe but the Valmets use standard JIC fittings and the Ponsse uses BSP or British Standard. Ponsse has their factory owned dealers in the US and they can replace hoses at very reasonable prices. And because BSP is not used much in the US the normal hydraulic hose shops do not stock many fittings and especially not the four wire hose fittings on the larger hose. So there is not much to be saved over owning my own hose machine. So it becomes more a matter of downtime than cost. And with a better design and placement of hoses on the Ponsse my biggest hose problem thankfully is getting fittings knocked loose.

There is another option available that hose people do not want to tell you about. There are reusable fittings with two parts that screw on the cut hose and they do work. I have many of them on the loader of the forwarder. With those fittings you only need spare hose and an abrasive cut off machine.

If it came from Italy you have that great metric hose and fittings, very hard to run downtown and have one made up. I ended up putting a regular fitting on the metric hose and running new out to the tractor.

Stonebroke

Much of the hose in the US now comes from Europe and Italy is one of the prime supplier. So there is no reason to send to Italy for a made up hose. It could easily have been made in any good hose shop like NAPA. They might have to order the fittings, but that usually only takes a day.

[Bibbyman]

The good news is....  The hoses are fine.   8)

The bad news is...  the cylinder is cracked.   :'(

We've yet to hear if it can be repaired or how much a new cylinder will cost. 

The couple of young farmers that rent our pasture and hay ground have all the equipment and some basic supplies to make up hoses.  They have helped me on common agricultural type applications.  But I knew this stuff was out of their league and besides, they're in the field below our farm cuttin' beans hard and heavy.  Not a good time to ask for their help.







I've used the reusable fittings to repair the hose going to the clamp on our Wood-Mizer.  In fact,  pulled another yesterday afternoon and re-reused the same fitting.  Good investment!

[Gary_C]

Hydraulic cylinders can also be repaired locally. I've had new rods made and new cylinder bores made. For the cylinder bores they just cut off the end, machine any grooves necessary and weld the end back on the new bore. Much cheaper than new and just as good. In this state the Cat dealer (Zieglers) can make any hydraulic cylinder good or better than new. Also Catco can do the same. The only time they can't is when it is an odd size of tubing needed for the bore or an odd metric size for the rod.

Plus it's usually way faster than a slow boat from Europe, unless you want to pay for air freight or even a seat on a plane.

[beenthere]

Might just check with Eggimann's (sponsor on left). They do a lot of hyd. cylinder work in their Madison shop. Their services have been offered, but don't think many here take advantage of them.

[Bibbyman]

Mary is the one who talked to the shop.  I'll wait and see what the shop has to say.

My first instinct was to take it to the hydraulic shop that built the power pack for our mill.  They have helped me out a number of times with odd hydraulic repairs. 

[T Red]

Where did you purchase the reusable fitting?  And will it withstand the same pressures?


No one in my area will repair a hose that has a leak, liability issues including a little greed also I'm sure.  You have to buy a complete new hose.  On my 60' boom lift that gets expensive as some of the hoses are 100' long.

[Bibbyman]

Where did you purchase the reusable fitting?  And will it withstand the same pressures?

This one is holding up under 2000 psi.  I don't know any more than that.

I got this one from McMaster Carr but they later discontinued this specific item.

I did see some listed in the northern toolhttps://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=position"> Note:Please read the Forestry Forum's postion on this company catalog.

[stonebroke]

Surplus Center has them

Stonebroke

[Dave Shepard]

My former boss bought the equipment to do his own hoses. Not for economy, but for convenience. He has many pieces of hydraulic equipment, and some, like the truck mounted tree spades, use hundreds of feet of hose, and hundreds of fittings. He got set up I think with Lawson, and they  made a list of the fittings and hoses on his equipment and stocked a big cabinet full of the stuff. 

[ScottAR]

If I had much more hydraulic stuff than I do now,
I'd have a hose maker. 
It takes literally minutes when the materials are there to
make a hose.   Just source a brand that someone local
carries.  That way you can run up there and pick extras up.

Snag a catalog if you can, that way you can phone in your
order by part number.  Much easier and you can see an
adapter etc. that will fit your application. 

My supplier at work is Gates, I've seen their crimpers on Ebay
for $500 to $900 for the electric machine we use and several
dies.  Manual machines are some cheaper although the dies
are where the money is.  A private owner wouldn't need as many
dies as a shop as most machines use only one or two sizes of hose.

My backhoe for example is all 1/2" hose; the little tractor is all 3/8".

[Bibbyman]

We got the Terex back today.  The bill was pretty big but not bad considering we had them put two new tires on the front, service it, etc.

They had the cylinder repaired by the hydraulic shop that built the pump unit for our mill.    They only charged $227.00 to repair the cylinder.  They cut the tube off on a lathe and re-welded it.  They also replaced the spherical bearing and made a new pin.  The bearing and pin were damaged in an unrelated breakdown.  I thought that quite reasonable.  I was told that a new cylinder would have cost over $3,000.00.

Had we known that the cylinder was the problem and it could have been fixed by the hydraulic shop,  we may have been able to tackle the job ourselves.  But ... that's why they are in business.

[Magicman]

Sounds like you have all of your "babies" back in their nest.  I have a broken piston rod on my backhoe outrigger.....well that's another story..... :D

[slowzuki]

Have you tried out the bigger tired Terex in the mud yet?  Those R-4 tires on the small one are not know for good mud performance.

[Bibbyman]

We have at least a couple of packed acres of gravel to work on.  It's all around the mill and our main drive runs right through the lot.  So mud is not much of an issue. 

We do have the logs on dirt but can get to many of them from the gravel side.  When it rains a lot, there is mud on the back side of the log piles but I try my best not to have to plow into it while it's muddy.

So, the short answer is,  I don't really need the mud tires.

[Bibbyman]

I was finishing up sawing a couple of little cedar logs while Mary was unloading a log truck that had just came in.  Then she rushed past me at the mill.  I asked what was up.  She says she has to get the pry bar to bend the finder back up on the Terex - a log had fallen on it. I went out to help.



Well,  it did a pretty good job of smashing up the finder.



But an end hit the top of the cab first and bent the guards.



Here is the inside of the cab where you can see it bent in the beam going across the top of the cab.

I'm sure glad she wasn't using the small Terex that just has a windshield.

The truck was loaded very high.  Way higher than the bunks.  I wasn't there to see exactly what happened but I guess she took one or more off the side and as she pulled back,  one come tumbling off.  She said she tried to outrun it but she wasn't fast enough.

[paul case]

sounds like she is ok? glad no one got hurt. those knickle bumps on machines may make us unhappy but the bottom line is that sheild did its job, thank goodness.   pc

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Good to hear that  Marys OK Mate  ;) ;D thats the tricky thing with using std forks to unload log trucks you will get the odd one that will get outa hand and do some damage it looks like the cab copped a fair old whack  ;)

Regards Chris

[Bibbyman]

I'm glad it hit up on top of the cab where the bars are.  If it would have hit down in where the screen is, I doubt if the screen would have stopped it.





I just had Mary out looking at the little Terex.  It just has a window - I assume of standard safety glass.  I'm equally sure it wouldn't stop a log.  I'm thinking I should put some heavy bars across the window.  The top has bars on the inside that would likely stop or deflect a log. 

I asked Mary this morning just what happened.  She explained but it was still unclear.  Clearly a log tumbled off the top and came off the side of the forks.  She said if she'd been using the little Terex,  she wouldn't have done what she tried to do.

[ElectricAl]

Are you going to start using the grapple for the over loaded trucks?

I've had to unload a couple tall stake log trucks with a Toyota fork lift.
That was scary. 
I never had one come off the forks, but it could have real easy.

The skid loader could not reach high enough.

[Bibbyman]

Are you going to start using the grapple for the over loaded trucks?

I've had to unload a couple tall stake log trucks with a Toyota fork lift.
That was scary. 
I never had one come off the forks, but it could have real easy.

The skid loader could not reach high enough.

I don't know that the grapple would have helped in this case.  I think it was a log from above that came down.

The problem is the way the logger load their truck.  They load both bunks with short longs then pile on long logs on top - way higher than the bunks.  Some are butt first, some are butt backwards, some are long some are not so long, some are big.  So you about have to take one off at a time.  Sometimes you can't get the center of balance.  Mary likely had the ones on the forks centered but the one above came down and was not center.

One thing we could do is make sure the other side is clear and just push the top logs off.  Even that may not be safe.

[paul case]

that would probably convince them not to load them over the bunks since the logs that i have pushed over my truck by accident usually hit the truck as they fall off.  pc