A guy on the machine builders site I watch posted this machines web page. It has some incredible videos on the site. These little rascals can almost climb vertical, with a load of logs as well. Maybe these have been listed before, but I never saw one.
http://www.alstor.se/index.htm
COOL MACHINE !!
I'm very impressed. Joe
That's amazing !!!
I never would have thought it could tackle such rough terrain !
Carries 4000 lb .... not too bad :)
Thats just flat out awesome.
That little dude would sure make it fun to go to the woods in the morning. Did anybody see any videos with a load on the back? What are the payloads on it? Joe
Yea, there is one with pretty much a full load of wood, still in rough terrain.
That'd be awesome for arthroscopic logging jobs. May even be lower impact than horse logging. I had to look twice to see it but the rear axles are actually drive axles too. Very Cool! Wonder what they cost?
LOGDOG
They are pretty cool but I bet they're not cheap :( :) :) :)
Yea, very cool machine. I was smiling while i watched the videos, can't imagine I would ever stop smiling if I had one. I watched some more of the videos at work today (Caterpillar annouced a $900+ million profit for the 3rd quarter today, I think they can afford me watching a video on a "slightly" longer lunch hour) and there is one where they almost take a dump bed vertical and pull up a huge boulder with the winch. They almost used it like a crane :o In another they use a remote hookup to the hydraulics to run a jack hammer. What can't you do with it? Well it only has one seat, the Mrs. would have to ride on the back to go to town. :D All that with a 16 horsepower engine. Looks like they run a belt driven snow mobile like torque convertor off the crankshaft. It's just a beautifully designed machine.
And it could be used for a lot of other things. It will be interesting to watch other companies as they come out with their own versions as well as homemade builders. Sprucebunny, don't you just got to have one of those? When ya gona start building? ;)
Here's one for use closer to home...
http://swingerloaders.com/
Kevin is this the one? ;D
Swingerloader (http://www.nmc-wollard.com/specsheets/swinger_2000ind.pdf)
That's the one.
Sure would like something like that in about 20 years on the woodlot. I bet I'd have to give the wood away and mortgage the house though. That's the trouble with a lot of machines is $$ versus primary forest product $$. I as a woodlot owner of 70 acres, using rational thinking could not justify the plunge. And the machine is not big enough the meet production required on a full time job. ::)
As usual as I watched I thought of the times I could have already used one. Next thought was the usual one, wish I had the money laying around to buy one. I don't know if I'm allergic to silver spoons or not, I haven't ever had one to chew on. :-\ :D
Don
one of the problems of today is that everyone figgers they need to buy something to be top dog with all the toys.... before i was born back in 1962 and even somewhat after folks used to build their own.... my grandad built a tractor out of an old model a car and farmed 50 acres with it for a few years before he got a "real" tractor.... other folks did the same like this little dump cart http://www.vintageprojects.com/farm-construction/mini-dump-atv.html and ive spent a passal of time downloading the pdf files from that vintage project site just to have around to think about and maybe get my 7 year old to try in a winter project type time frame one of these upcoming years if the economy dont bottom out and we lose everything or have to give up everything and go live in a tent somewhere!
okokokokok
I have been an advocate of the swede and fin machines for nearly 20 years[Valmet makes a neat forwarder doncha know], but they do want an arm, 2 legs and your first born it seems to get them imported and when they get here, the forest circus wont always let the new machines on to the sales..... and it is hard to pay for a production machine [though this little fella dont look as much like a high production machine as some of the ones Ive looked at in the past do] I know folks would rather spend 8-12 grand of money they dont have to buy a toy to haul some sawdust around the yard [or other items too] cause it looks fancy, but there is some satisfaction about building your own machine out of scrounged parts...... even if scrounging means having to purchase some of them!
William
Central Idaho
;D more Swedish IRON in this thread. ;D
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=23244.0
There is a variation of the swinger that has been aroundagriculture for a long time so some used ones may be available.
They are used to handle dry fertilizer and have rather large buckets.
I will see if I can find one to post a pic of.
That Alstor 8x8 would work perfect for me. I wonder how much they are. I looked on-line, didn't see anything for the USA. Not a lot of interest here or not as much for small scale logging. Too bad, we could use machines like that over here. That rig probably cost $30,000 or so. Did you look at the videos. At the end of the one with the engine, you can see they custom cut the recoil cover and run a belt to a hydraulic pump. Almost reminds me of a pump for a snowplow. I wonder if that one is for the steering and/or the loader? Quite an amazing machine though.
I dream of building something like that, too many other projects though
Ok folks, here it is. I emailed the company on this nice rig. Here's the damage;
Hello Mr Savage,
I am glad to here that our Alstor fits you needs.
Unfortunately we have no machine running in the United States .
But the price is from 352000:- SEK exclude freight. (approx. $58600 USD inclusive freight to the United States )
If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.
Your Sincerely
Lars Jansson VP
The machine does fit my needs, but Ouch!! That's borderline ridiculous! You can buy an older full size forwarder for same price or less. I'm sure that's probably not the machine they show with the full cab either. I wish I was smart enought to figure out how to build a rig like that. I can weld really well, but I don't know enough about hydraulics as far as sizing a motor and speeds and flow, etc. Otherwise, I'd say it would be a lot cheaper to build one. If anyone has any ideas, let me know!!
that price is beyond OUCH!!! just find yourself a good hydrulic's supplier and they can tell you what you need as from as pumps,motors ect,to build one.you,ll need to have a idea of how much it,ll weight,how fast you wanta go,ect
delbert
And just think, those woodlot owners over there have smaller woodlots than we do. ::)