Low impact forestry services in Devon and the South West

[Big J]

10 minutes ago, monkeybusiness said:

Are you having to load on that sort of angle? Does the crane ever struggle for slewing power to bring the logs into the bunk?

Yep, and steeper. Slewing power is actually very good indeed. Much better than it ought to be for the size of the machine. I'm loading douglas 4.9s at 40cm TDUB on the slopes without much drama

[drinksloe]

Is that forwarder rear wheels just cage driven?

Can u put band tracks on it ok with the cages?

 

 

[Big J]

1 hour ago, drinksloe said:

Is that forwarder rear wheels just cage driven?

Can u put band tracks on it ok with the cages?

 

 

It is, yes. It's surprising what it'll climb though. The only time it's an issue is steeply climbing facing forwards. 

 

You can put band tracks on it and I have them, but all the work I've done so far with it has been long distance hauls, so they've not been used.

[Big J]

 

This the very steepest bit. My stomach was fluttering a bit as I went over the edge of the step. Totally stable though. That slope is 35 degrees (on 70 percent, if you prefer. Or a little steeper than 1.5 in one). 

 

It was fine to load up a few small logs whilst sat there

 

 

[Khriss]

But Jon ! Where is the rain 😉 looks a lovely site thou. K

[woodwizzard]

Poor machine, having to drive up and down a slope! It's the heroic cutters I feel for, up and down those slopes with all their kit. Deserve a bonus I reckon 😇

[openspaceman]

On 12/06/2021 at 09:20, Big J said:

This the very steepest bit.

Far steeper than anything I have forwarded with tractor and trailer, I have very little experience with purpose built forwarding.

 

Are there individual brakes on the rear bogey wheels or does it depend on the cage motor for braking?

[Big J]

51 minutes ago, woodwizzard said:

Poor machine, having to drive up and down a slope! It's the heroic cutters I feel for, up and down those slopes with all their kit. Deserve a bonus I reckon 😇

Haha 😄

 

Is this the stage where I point out that I paid you for a day we were rained off because of your aforementioned heroic cutting efforts? 😝 All credit though as you started and finished the site and didn't take a day off, cutting about 400t on the way.

 

7 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Far steeper than anything I have forwarded with tractor and trailer, I have very little experience with purpose built forwarding.

 

Are there individual brakes on the rear bogey wheels or does it depend on the cage motor for braking?

 

It's the cages that are braked on the back, but most of the traction and braking on the slope comes from the front wheels (which are chained).

 

I'd never take a trailer down there. With it being unfixed (ie, on a towing hitch and articulated, rather than fixed to the machine), you'd run the very serious risk of your trailer overtaking you.

 

It might have been a bit easier with the Komatsu in there as the machine being 9ft wide gives if more stability. You'd have wanted front and back tracks though, which wouldn't have worked for the extraction route.

[openspaceman]

17 minutes ago, Big J said:

I'd never take a trailer down there. With it being unfixed (ie, on a towing hitch and articulated, rather than fixed to the machine), you'd run the very serious risk of your trailer overtaking you.

Worse with an articulated tractor 🙂

[Big J]

19 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Worse with an articulated tractor 🙂

 
With the forwarder, you just have to make sure that when you do the steep bits that you are absolutely dead square to the hill and that you don't have to make any turns, as it'll seriously destabilise you. I never descend with a full load, rather picking up bits along the way so that I'm only full right at the bottom. 

 

For reference, the largest log I've loaded on the fairly steep bits was a 4.9m douglas, 43cm TDUB and 60cm base diameter. A smidge over a cubic metre. That's starting to become a little oversized for the machine, at about 850kg.