couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[Firewoodjoe]

Pretty good. Getting more use to it everyday. The front tires are crazy hard. Not sure if someone pumped them up to high or what. There 20 ply which is pretty normal but if it climbs a 10-12" stump part way and slides off it will land so hard that the heater nob comes off🤦‍♂️ I'm hoping the double Diamond ice chains will help it grip enough to not slid so bad. Good on fuel. I'd say it's almost if not the same as my valmet per cord.  I'm thinking because the valmet was actually working. Were this Deere just drives around effortlessly. Very relaxing and enjoyable to sit in longer days. Which is what I needed. I'm already up to about 50-60 cord in a good day. Not bad considering I still feel like an amateur trying to run the mini joysticks. But I'm pretty confident in it now. Should be reliable for at least a little while. Time will tell. 

[Firewoodjoe]

And we're going into a thaw also. I have to go plow 2.5 miles of woods rd tomorrow for truck. And Friday they're calling for 40! 

[Southside]

Have run a Challenger tractor loader with those mini joysticks, I have no idea why anyone would think that was a good idea, can't imagine running a forwarder crane with them. 

[Firewoodjoe]

Yeah the first time I was ready to chop the back window and throw a 5 lever on the dash! 😂

[mudfarmer]

Those mini joysticks and honestly all the modern forestry equip controls like harvesters/processors etc with a screen in the cab and all that scare me half to death, haven't ever even had a "tablet" - Finally getting used to electric over hydraulic in mini ex :D Should have played more video games!

Sounds like you are putting it right to work, good on ya

[Walnut Beast]

Absolutely love joystick controls! 

[barbender]

 The mini joysticks are the only way to fly, IMO. They require such a small amount of movement, it's a lot easier on the body.

Joe, get those chains on. When I ran a 6 wheel machine on snow last year without chains, I took a real beating. I felt like I was in a bobsled😬 People don't realize how bad forwarders beat you up, sometimes you slide off a stump and it hammers you so hard you want to drive out to the landing and go home!

I've been running a brand new '23 Ponsse Buffalo part time, it has a cushioning system in the cab that helps tremendously. Smart crane that runs the extension for you...it definitely spoils you!

[chep]

@barbender 
What do you mean it runs an extension for you? As in auto something?  

[barbender]

 Chep, yes Ponsse calls it Active Crane. John Deere has a similar system, Intelligent Boom Control I think they call it. 

 All you do is control the vertical and horizontal position of the grapple. Say you are swung to the side of the machine, and you operate the right hand control to lower the grapple. The machine automatically operates the extension as necessary, without you touching the extension. 

 Same thing if you extend the jib boom horizontally, the extension goes out automatically. 

 I was skeptical when I first tried one, but I've ran two different machines that are equipped with the Active Crane. It just makes them easier to run. You don't have to concentrate as hard, so you don't tire as quickly. 

 This new machine also has an Active Seat, which follows the crane movement. Kind of like a John Deere forwarder with the rotating cab, but just having the seat move instead. I'm not sure about this feature yet...I do like it following the boom, but the foot pedals remain on the floor. I prefer to "creep" and keep moving as I load, but I can't reach the pedals as the seat moves around. Ponsse has an update that will give you the ability to control the drive from the seat, that would make a big difference.

 The other thing I didn't like was the seat spins around slowly, or at least slower than a seat that just has an airlock, going from the drive to work position. So say you get loaded and you're heading for the landing. You see one pulp stick laying along the trail, you have to push a button and wait for the seat to turn you around to the working position. Pick up the stick, then press the button and slowly spun back to the driving position. It takes as least 2x as long as a normal seat in that situation.

[chep]

That is bananas! 

So it senses distance to target? What about reaching through/past trees ? Could it donkey punch a leave tree? I have certainly done that with  unintentional sq. Boom movement 🤦‍♂️

[barbender]

 I haven't got into the system to see exactly how it works. I know it has position sensors on the booms and extension. 

 It doesn't know distance to target. What it is doing, is make the crane movements single lever. For instance, the left joystick when moved in or out, will move the boom tip on a horizontal plane in relation to the machine. Where typically, without the automation the boom tip would go out, and up if you didn't extend the extension. So say you are on flat ground, and the grapple is off to the side 4' off the ground. If you move the left joystick out, the grapple will travel away from you, staying 4' off the ground. You can see the extension going out, and the main boom is also moving, even though you aren't touching the right hand control. 

 I find this kind of hard to explain. Try another way, the machine automates all boom functions, so the left hand controls horizontal boom position, and the right hand controls vertical position. 

 So vertical position, without the automation say you had the grapple right next to the front stake. If you just push the right control away, the main boom would go down, and the grapple may hit the machine, or go under it due to the geometry. With the automation, the computer controls the main boom, jib boom, and extension so that the grapple goes straight down (do you know how hard it is for me to write grapple instead of bucket?😂) from the starting point.

 It is so smooth and intuitive, and you are having to pay attention to so much less. You find yourself being so much more accurate, you don't have to readjust just as your getting to a pile. 

 I have 13-14 years in a forwarder, I'm not claiming to be the best out there but I'm at least not embarrassed to run with them. I was among the higher production operators at the company I worked for, with 10 forwarders running. I'm not saying this to pat myself on the back, but to make the point, that this crane system despite all my experience made me a better operator the first day I used it. Well, maybe not better but faster, without any extra effort on my part. It's pretty cool!

 I haven't run one in a thinning yet, but I don't see any problems. I thought before I ran one, that it would be hateful in thinnings and I'd be fighting the automation all the time. The thing is, it operates the extension exactly how I would, if I was doing it. I told another operator it's like having another operator run the extension, and he's really good and never makes a mistake😊

 You can go back to a full manual crane with the push of a button. 

 You set the Active Crane speeds up separately from the regular crane, there's two seperate sections in the computer. Up/Down speed, Slewing speed, and Jib/Extension speed and ramps are all adjustable on the Active Crane.

[Firewoodjoe]

It would be like a self leveling bucket on a front end loader. Except way more complicated lol

[barbender]

Exactly, that's why I'm surprised by how well it works!

[Firewoodjoe]

Got the new set of chains on. Just have to do the buncher now.


Anyone familiar with these chain connections? I'm not impressed with the dowel/drift pin deal. I'm expecting them to fall out.


On the bright side I've cut enough to watch the sun set.

[BargeMonkey]

 I'm trying to avoid boat posts, but I thought it was neat. Been into plenty of dry docks, never a travel lift. Got "Shanghied" to bring her over this morning, put it to sleep and on the hard. 
 

 


 
 

 


 
 

 

[barbender]

 Joe, those chains look good. They like a set I got to put on one of the forwarders, they were WAY heavier than the chains we got from Ponsse. In fact, the mechanic just wanted to lift them on the tire to assemble them, I'm thinking, "ok?". They were so much heavier we had to drag them on with a chain. 

 They only stretched about 1/4 as much as the other chains we ran I was really impressed with them.

 I didn't know what to think of those links at first, but I never had one fail. That's more than I can say for clevises.

[Wlmedley]

PeeWag I think was the brand of chains we used on large wheel loaders on some of the surface coal mines I used to do mechanic work for.They used a similar connection and worked fine.I had a punch ground to fit roll pins that I used in a air hammer that made it a little easier.The chains were made more to protect tires than for traction.

[Old Greenhorn]

Geez Eric, that's a pretty big travel lift. Not the biggest I've seen, but the biggest in a ship yard. Must have made the lift pretty smooth and easy. Much quicker than pumping out a dry dock, for sure. :D
 How long is this hitch and when are you back, or won't they tell you yet? >:(

[Peter Drouin]

Do you tighten the chains supper tight to reduce wear on the links? Do you use a chain tightener?

[Firewoodjoe]

Oh yeah these are 5/8 just over a thousand pounds. I have other 5/8 chains also but these are a little different. The connections and the outside has the small chain the rings all the way around the wheel. You just pull that small chain to draw in all the slack. We'll find out. And yes the screw clevis fail anyways. 

We used to tighten them real tight. Take the air out use a chain tightening tool and air back up. But it took so long and noticed if they start to walk they won't walk back. And they wear in one spot. Like 5/8" well if there loose they walk back straight and move around a little so they wear on a larger surface of the link. Like 1" or better in turn possible lasting longer. But in all honesty we only run them prolly 4 months. And I've never seen a set get so bad they broke. I have seen brand new ones that were tempered wrong and broke up daily. So now I just put them on as tight as I can and run them. Don't seem to have to fix and adjust so much trough out the season. Took me about 1 1/2 hours by myself to do these. Just use the forwarder crane set them on. Drive back and forth until they're square and link them together. 

[Firewoodjoe]

Barge I think they could fit a tad bigger set of props on there lol  Take some real power to run those. Neat. 

[teakwood]

Joe: Nice chains!

Eric: thats a big a... crane! how many tones is that boat?

[barbender]

 We had a mechanic that was a maniac about getting tracks and chains tight. I can understand really cinching them down on a big skidder tire maybe. But when you had a clevis fail, the deflated tire then tightened and reinflated chains couldn't even be reconnected without redoing the whole process. I told them to send a different mechanic when I was doing traction aids.

 Those heavy chains don't need to be super tight anyways, they "lay" in the tire and don't walk around like light ones. 

 Joe, we also ran a 2 piece bolt in flange that went inside the rim face, that attached to the chains at 4 points. It helped keep them from walking around when you're in greasy mud. You can have a chain walk off the side and cut an axle fast- like an hour or two. I remember member 1270d had that happen to a forwarder we had that happen a few times too. It was something I was always paranoid about.

 I don't think you'll have that issue with the heavy chains anyways, I just put it out there more for general info for the discussion.

[Firewoodjoe]

I've ran lots of chains. If the operator pays attention and catches them when they start to walk you tighten the correct spot then run it again. It will pull straighten back out. Eventually you're good for the season.

[barbender]

 The wide flat tires used on forwarder bogey axles are worse for having the chains walk around. And then the chains are pretty close to the axle, even when they are on right. 

 The common setup is tracks under the bunks, and chains on one axel under the cab on 8 wheel forwarders. You can't see your chains out of the cab, either, in that configuration.