bad luck before christmas

bull · December 20, 2007, 08:01:44 AM

Yesterday a friend of mine lost his whole tree harvester to a fire, it appears the only thing left is the head... The machine was deep into a woodlot about 1500 feet from the nearest road and it took the FD about 20 minutes to find where the could get to the machine.... over 700 ft of hose was pulled over a river and thru the woods to where the machine was sitting... Guy has been having a difficult fall, his dad has been his right hand man for years " operating the forwarder daily" and earlier this fall suffered multiple strokes. So he has been working alone. Thankfully he is fine ( injury free ) but at a lose for what to do next....... First thing that has to be done is get the machine out of the woods : any ideas

a old timberjack · December 20, 2007, 08:04:20 AM

hopefully it was insured

a old timberjack · December 20, 2007, 08:09:29 AM

. sorry to here all that. what brand, size, tires or tracks?? ( was it, it makes a difference on giving advice.) i have seen a cat 330 size excavator or a dozer d-6 or bigger drag them out before. sucks ,but that works

Al · December 20, 2007, 09:29:32 AM

Sometimes good comes from bad.
Certainly not from his fathers stroke but maybe from the fire.

If he is in a difficult wood market like many people are and if he had insurance [ or even if he did not and it was an older paid for machine] this might be a perfect time to get out and revaluate his choice of carreer.
It took getting fired 20 years ago for me to gets the guts to start my own business. Now 20 years later I'm waaaay better off than if I was still working for the old employer.
I sure didn't thank that mean old boss :( at the time he let me go but I have silently thanked him many times in the years since.

After all.... your life is what YOU make it.

Ron Scott · December 20, 2007, 11:53:37 AM

Sorry to see that happen to a machine. We've had a feller buncher on a job. It usually takes the largest cat available or a couple in tandem to pull them out ot the woods. Hopefully its on solid ground.

rebocardo · December 20, 2007, 01:39:57 PM

Find a 4x4 club that has a duece and a 1/2 with a massive PTO winch in NH (don't think there is any in MA like that) and have them drag it out if a reasonable construction company can't be found to drag it out with a Hough or something.

Dale Hatfield · December 20, 2007, 02:49:00 PM

When they hotwired our skidder and sunk it in the stripmine pond it took a trackhoe and Timberjacks biggest skidder Plus a new winchline and a boatload of chokers. Plus one very wet rope/cable puller (me) I hate swimming in the winter.

bull · December 20, 2007, 10:50:11 PM

315 Hyiunda on tracks, paid for no insurance.... Guy was doing pretty good finacially !! But wasn't ready to update the harvester....

sgtmaconga · December 21, 2007, 12:37:09 AM

get in touch with your local school or university that has a shop or engineering class. turn it into a class project. he may get it repaird for just the cost of parts if there is a vocational school in the area.

rebocardo · December 21, 2007, 02:21:12 PM

There was (I havent lived in MA for 7 years) a voch tech in Beverly MA that really got into fixing cars and took in projects and such as experience for their students. I think it was off Rantoul or RT1a.

kderby · December 24, 2007, 01:24:49 AM

This happened to one of my log suppliers last year. I was at the landing to pay him for a load of logs and said "Hey, how's it going?" He replied, "See that smoke, it is my feller buncher burning up." Ouch! :-\

Evidently a hose broke and the hydraulic oil ignited. Not much they could do. The insurance covered part of the loss.

The cutting head and part of the final drive were all that got salvaged. I saw another burned unit in town later in the year.

Sorry for your friends loss. My logger was back in action within a week on a different machine. Go! Go! Go!

KD

deutz4 · December 29, 2007, 07:07:23 PM

Sometimes there is a silver lining. We lost a Samsung w/Hytec head to fire a few years ago. It was an excavator customized for woods work. It didn't have enough cooling or hydraulic pump capacity but it was paid for so we put up with it. We were underinsured a bit but we replaced it with a Fabtek 153 with low hours. My brothers eyes almost popped when he realized how much power the Fabtek had. The Fabtek 4 roller head is also much nicer. If not for the fire we might still be putting up with the downtime and repair bills.

Ever Green · December 29, 2007, 07:45:15 PM

Hey Bull,

I just moved here from WNY...I live in Lakeville, Mass...I'm looking to keep busy...can I help? I dont need to make a million bucks...got my own saws and PPE, been thru GOL and worked with a retired forester for a few years before I left WNY...Hey, just tryin to help and stay happy if I can

Vince

bull · December 30, 2007, 10:06:57 AM

where's Lakeville ??????

rebocardo · December 30, 2007, 12:36:19 PM

Quote from: bull on December 30, 2007, 10:06:57 AM
where's Lakeville ??????

Plymouth / Cape area.

With all these hydraulic fires, you would think there would be a better way of preventing or stopping a fire.

bull · December 30, 2007, 01:13:58 PM

most new machines now have the option of an on board fire suppression system though it is very pricey!!!

Ever Green · December 30, 2007, 01:37:26 PM

Lakeville is near 24/140 exits 5, 6, 7 off 495...near raynham Taunton....buzz me if you need some help...

Vince (pm me and we could go from there)

jackpine · December 30, 2007, 08:06:31 PM

There is a fire resistant hydraulic fluid which is a mixture of water & glycol. Used in the foundry and steel industry but I do not know how well it would work in the cold. One manf. is Houghton. I went to their website to download some info. but it locked up this old computer instead >:(. One downside I do know of is that it requires special seal material, Viton instead of buna-n, which is much more expensive and all the seals on the cylinders, pump and valves would have to be replaced or they will fail in a short time.

Bill