Franklin grapple skidder info

[logman81]

He started texting me first and have been doing that back and fourth. Think I will call him and figure this out!

[beenthere]

Is this guy giving you a price and you are trying to negotiate?  Or he won't state a price, and leaving that up to you to make an offer that he will accept?

[logman81]

Yes we are trying to work out a fair deal for both parties, but he hasn't been getting back to me at all so I think I'm going to just forget about it. Yes just yanking my chain!

[beenthere]

Yes... to which of the two questions?

Hard for you to work up a fair deal for him, and hard for him to work up a fair deal for you.

So IMO sounds like if he has a price, and you don't like it then you should walk out if he won't take your counter offer.

[logman81]

Yes are trying to negotiate a price. The last thing he told me was he wanted my machine plus two grand for his skidder. I didn't agree to that because I think our skidders are equal value. I made a counter offer and have not gotten a reply back.

[logman81]

I gave up on the franklin, didn't return any phone calls or text in over a week. If any one was or is interested in it I would stay away something is just not right with this guy!

[logman81]

So finally got a text from the guy with the franklin skidder he is still interested in mine . He is planning on coming down Sunday to look at my skidder. I'm still uncertain if this franklin is a good trade or not? It would be nice to not have to pull cable!

[logman81]

What should I do?

[logman81]

Are their any week points to pay attention to on this model and year franklin?

[redprospector]

What should I do?

Punt!  :D

No, seriously though.
Have you looked at the Franklin in person yet?
If he hasn't contacted you since October, he's probably not too excited. But then again he said he's coming Sunday, so maybe he is just a procrastinator.
My advice is to listen to your gut after you have looked the Franklin over real good.
If you feel uneasy about the trade after you've looked it over....well....once it's done it's yours.

I don't know anything about Franklin's or Tree Farmer's. Out here it's mostly Caterpillar with a few Timberjacks, and the occasional John Deere. So take my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Andy

[logman81]

No I haven't looked at yet, I was waiting for him to look at mine first and talk about things in person.

[Southside]

Where in Maine is the machine?  I have a lot of contacts up that way still.  Other than the normal pins, hoses, leaks, etc I can't say much about Franklins as I only bought mine a month ago, had a JD before that.  I did look at several before I bought this one and on a couple the drive shaft was missing for the winch which leads me to believe that may be one area to look at closely.  I will say I am very, very happy with my Franklin, of course it is 20 years newer than my JD was and twice as big, but to me it seems they built a very good machine that is not too over engineered and is reasonable to work on.  I did have an older Detroit engine 6-71 on a 50KW generator we generated 3 phase power with several years back.  It was LOUD, liked a lot of fuel, leaked from every single part possible, and was cold blooded.  As long as we plugged it in during the cold she ran like a top, and ran all day long with no issues, I was not all that upset when the generator head died and we found a CAT to replace it with, we generated 100 KW with that unit on less fuel than the Detroit did.  For the right application I would not be afraid to buy another one, just not sure I would want to ride around with it in front of me all day.  Did I mention it was LOUD?  A good friend ran several Franklins from that period with the Detroit in them, he was very happy with the performance of them, but the first thing he said was that they were loud.  I asked him about it when I bought mine.  Keep us posted on how it goes. 

[logman81]

It is in waterboro, ya they can be a little loud this one has 453 turbo. I'm used to it my tree farmer has a 353. The one thing I do like about the detroit is they are cheap to rebuild and are usually good on fuel. This machine is suppose to be 100% operational and used every day.

[Southside]

I have heard that about them being good on fuel - ours was not for sure.  I don't know anybody in that area.  Did he say why he was looking to trade?

[logman81]

Yes he did. It has kind of a unique grapple setup you can remove it by pulling two pins and disconnecting hoses.

[logman81]

well the guy couldn't come down to look at my skidder much to do before the storm I was told. :( But in the meantime I was wondering if anyone could tell me what I might pay close attention to specifically to these franklin grapple skidders, problem areas? I know the normal stuff like center pins, pins in grapple, odd noises from engine or blowby, checking fluids that sort of thing.