The Forestry Forum

Has anyone used KMC skidders before?  How do they work?  I imagine their more expensive to operate than a rubber tire skidder due to maintaining the tracks.  I have two skidders and one of them is usually used for a spare, just wondering if I should diversify by selling a skidder and getting a tracked machine so atleast I could keep working when the ground gets wet and minimize rutting as much as I can.  Good ground seems to get harder to find every winter.  I dont think I can justify one in my operation but I was just kind of wondering how they worked out for other people. 

I've never seen them in person, but I'd be leary of the undercarriage.  I've been around track machines and the undercarriage is extremely important.  If you're going to look at one have the dealer demo a unit in the woods for you and don't be afraid to run it as if you owned it( or if it was a rental machine or as if the dealer wasn't there watching)  I've had our bobcat dealer bring me a machine that was a R&D unit and tell me to put it in every condition imaginable.  Unfortunately it snowed and we couldn't burry it in a swamp and run it over stumps.  My point is if the dealer is afraid of the use then they never designed and tested it for those conditions and you shouldn't buy it.  I'm not advocating deliberately destroying a machine, but put it through it's everyday pases and a little oopses too.

The Cat 317 and 327 is popular around here for a reason.  KMC will do a nice job but is substantially more money to operate.

I've never heard of a KMC before, sure looks like a copy of the FMC. The FMC  will pull a mountain behind it but is expensive to run which means you have to have the wood for it.

One thing to ask when buying is are the torsion bars military surplus or newly made heavier units, that was one of the weak points as the military surplus didn't hold up well on rough ground and they always seem to break at the worst time.

The John Deere engine would be the engine of choice for economy and ease of mechanical and maintance.

It is a very nice looking machine, any idea on the cost?

I ran a FMC for several weeks while logging big Alder patches on Orcas Island, that bloody thing wouldn't give up for nothing, pulled like a mother and went through, up, over, under and around anything I threw at it. Turns were good and tight and they like to run fast and hard!! If you have the wood to cover it and the finance to back it, it is a good all season machine!!