Mini Forward Trailers

[Lee Winger]

County with roof mounted crane was even better value and one of the few things I've ever owned that went up in value

 

 

Haha you remind me of my old dad and the Landrover he bought new in 1975 and sold in 1985 for a profit..

[Quickthorn]

If I was confident I had the work for it, I'd be going for the Riko setup, with the fast tow trailer. If you didn't have onboard hydraulics on the towing vehicle, you can get the trailer with a donkey engine to work the crane, so it could be used on the road without the tractor.

 

The alternative is the alstor, which is very nimble, and has very low impact on the ground. With 8 wheels driven, it would perform better than a tractor pulling a trailer. It's disadvantages are that it's a dedicated forwarder, and therefore less flexible, whereas you could set the riko onto any other task you have an implement for. Plus, the alstor only comes with a petrol engine, so no rebated fuel use.

 

There was also the pedestrian operated iron horse from Jonsered. I don't know if they do them any more, but they were horrendously expensive when I asked.

 

This sort of smaller kit seems to be extremely dear for its size.

[Chris Sheppard]

Haha you remind me of my old dad and the Landrover he bought new in 1975 and sold in 1985 for a profit..

 

Now that's good going

[Chris Sheppard]

 

The alternative is the alstor, which is very nimble, and has very low impact on the ground. With 8 wheels driven, it would perform better than a tractor pulling a trailer. It's disadvantages are that it's a dedicated forwarder, and therefore less flexible, whereas you could set the riko onto any other task you have an implement for. Plus, the alstor only comes with a petrol engine, so no rebated fuel use.

 

 

This sort of smaller kit seems to be extremely dear for its size.

 

I priced up an alstor when I was shopping around for an alpine tractor - £20,000 ish for that money I'd have wanted a cab and a diesel engine at least. They are a good little thing on the right site though.

 

Yep, unfortunately the cost of the smaller kit does seem to put a dampener on it

[treedave]

This is what I used to run before I bought the County. The tractor was a second hand 50hp carraro that came from Steve Cabrol at RICO, and the trailer was a jms900 that I hired in as and when. Was a great little outfit on the right jobs, main problem I had was lack of ground clearance.

 

Chris ,

Where did you hire it from? I've just finished an expensive bit of extraction that a rig like that would have been better (and even possibly cheaper!!) for.

[Chris Sheppard]

It used to belong to a mate of mine but he ended up selling it on as he didn't use it enough. It's a shame Lee at lakes lumber wouldn't hire his demo one out.

 

The JMS ones are a really nice trailer but the Rexon (or however it's spelt) ones that Caledonian sell are available with driven wheels - got to be a good thing

[renewablejohn]

Thanks all for your comments Its nice to know they do actually work. Speaking to Lee the canadian outfit have issues with European CE certificates but he has found an alternative source and should be in the country next week for me to view. Have taken on board the low ground clearance with the alpine tractor so are looking at a john deere 955 to pull the trailer.

 

Do you think it would be worth paying the extra for the powered trailer option

 

As for using horses I did suggest to my daughters I could give their horses some useful exercise but they flatly refuse.

[muldonach]

If your timber is suitably sized then the logic THT 400 is an easily towed little trailer, we have one that we tow with a honda 450 and it will bring a good load out over very soft ground without any damage and is very easy to manoeuvre.

 

Obviously no good if you hae big timber but we are dealing with birch and sycamore thinnings up to 1km in from the road.

 

Not cheap I'm afraid but we have never regretted it since I bit the bullet and bought one new - Ouch

 

cheers

mac

[slasherscot]

we have 1 of these

http://www.vimek.se/13/620/

[renewablejohn]

Muldonach

 

Who makes the THT400 I have googled without success.

 

Would any of these trailers be road legal for towing behind an 814 Merc I am thinking of piping up the merc for the trailer crane hydraulics but using the trailer crane instead of mounting a crane on the Merc and reducing load capacity.