grapple skidder

Maineloggerkid · November 28, 2008, 03:57:47 PM

that could be a problem. How much is the asking price, and what condition is the machine in?

Also, how much would it roughly cost to truck a skidder 1800 miles? A buddy just got a skidder from Pennsylvannia and it cost $3200.

KyMasterLogger · November 29, 2008, 03:31:59 PM

price is 16K. its in fairly good condition, it has a few hyd leaks here and there. the center pins show some wear. will need a new seat in the near furture. cold oil pressure at 70psi, warm at 40psi. hours are unknown. it just finished a job with 580K bf of hardwood and 400 tons of weighwood. it pulled a little over 30K bf last week. 40% tires

a very, very rough estimate for trucking is 3 bucks a loaded mile. maybe a little cheaper now that fuel prices have droped.

Kodiakmac · November 29, 2008, 06:45:47 PM

Just a thought: US Dollar is WAY higher than our Canadian Loonie. Maine isn't very far from New Brunswick, Southern Quebec or Eastern Ontario.

Federal and Provincial Acts and Regulations are killing the Forestry Industry in Canada. Mills are closing right, left and centre (Mostly becase of the left). You can pick up used skidders in wonderful condition for $8 - $12K Canadian...do the math.

Just go to google.ca and enter (brand) skidder, skideur, or debsqueuse...you'll see what I mean.

Kodiakmac · November 29, 2008, 07:12:24 PM

Sorry, that should be ' debusqueuse ". Just a note about googling Canadian sites for skidders. Just like 'Skidoo' in Canada is used as a name for any brand of snowmobile, Cats, John Deeres and Franklins might be found under the headings of Garrett, Treefarmer or Timberjack.

Maineloggerkid · November 30, 2008, 08:06:52 AM

I'll have to look into the Canadian angle, thanks for the idea.

16 thousand is alot cheaper then they are going for up here, thats not a bad price.

Kodiakmac · November 30, 2008, 08:55:23 AM

Yup, I picked up a used JD440 in great shape for $12,7500 Canadian. That would be about $11,000 US bucks. Prices seem to be real cheap in that area of Quebec north of the N.B border. I've seen several 230 TJs and 225s that appear to be in decent shape and C4s and JDs as well.

Here are 2 sites you can checkout:

http://www.lespac.com/recherche-iz/vehicules/machineries-commerciales-agricoles/tout/1237/12/49/0/1/debusqueuse.html

http://www.publiquip.com/Forest.asp?IdC=344

Good luck...

AlexHart · December 03, 2008, 08:26:11 PM

For whatever its worth I bought a Franklin 132 forwarder that was in Rockford Illinois and it cost $3800 to truck it out here to Connecticut. That was I believe a little bit over 1000 miles and it was a legal load both weight wise and width wise. Of course any 440 will be easily legal also.

And this was in early May so fuel was a little bit worse then than it is now.

Kodiakmac · December 16, 2008, 06:16:59 AM

Yup, floating can be costly. It's running at about $100.00 - $110.00 per hour up here for a highway tractor and a low-boy. Nice thing about the small skidders like 225s, 440s and C4s is that you can legally get them on most trailers that will haul a backhoe. So that's easier on the pocket book. Fellow down the highway has a tandem gravel truck with a 10-ton trailer that he uses to move around his little dozer and he's happy with $65.00 CDN per hour...that's about $53.00 USD.

Maineloggerkid · December 16, 2008, 07:39:02 AM

Well, this guy that I can get the grapple from will move it here for $75, and it looks like I might be getting it today or tommorow.

Maineloggerkid · December 18, 2008, 07:03:51 PM

The grapple came today, and it runs pretty good. Everything works, no major leaks that I can see ( yet), and the heater is toasty warm. I pulled a couple drags to get a feel for it, and I think this arrangment will work fine for the time being. I have a lot of pine and thin stands of spruce/fir to cut. The only quam I have is that it is not as quick to operate these models with the 2 sticks to operate the grapple, versus single stick w/ buttons.

John Woodworth · March 01, 2009, 02:43:22 PM

With a good faller and directional falling, thats one of the uses of the blade on a skidder is to push up turns. Sure it's nice to just go out and pick up a ready made turn of logs but in hand falling it doesn't happen. I do the same cable or grapple start pushing butts straight back till I have my turn, some times a side push. I run 4 to 6 cholkers depending on wood and you can fill them fast, with a grapple it's easy.