what would be you ideal tractor set up

[NI Tree]

was looking at tractors too day at the royal north spring show and woundering if you were buying a tractor from new what would you want it to have for forestry work

Edited February 27, 2013 by NI Tree

[woody paul]

Armored plating.

[NI Tree]

small forestry blocks we have i think mine would be

aprox 100hp

reverse drive

shuttle gear box

500, 750 and 1000 pto speeds

80l/min hyd oil min excluding power steering needs

good lights and mirrors

good guarding

front loader

front link arms and pto for farm work

air suspension seat

air con

no need for add blue

2.2m wide at most

external PTO switch and link arm control

i think tats it lol

Edited February 28, 2013 by NI Tree

[Stephen Blair]

No crane??

[Chris Sheppard]

I don't think there's any such thing as a perfect set up, but if I could only have one tractor to do everything then things I'd ideally want would be tyres with strong sidewalls, belly guarding, valve guards, smallish (read narrow) cab with brash bars & window guards. Ideally a fairly compactish 4wd tractor with 6 cylinder engine (so around 100hp maybe) and good turning circle.

 

It'd never be great on big stuff but should still wiggle into younger stands with a bit of thought.

 

If it was purely to use in the woods and never needed to do anything else or go down the road then I'd say my old County was pretty versatile, though didn't like side slopes or forwarding out pointing uphill plus was a fair bit wider than 2.5m

 

I've never used a reverse drive tractor thats not been an alpine but I've never really felt it would help that much except maybe when forwarding occaisonally and even then it would be more of a luxury than necessity.

 

If it was purely for smaller blocks of thinnings then I'd be looking at one of the smaller valmets or if I was feeling flush, a 95hp Carraro with 16" ground clearance.

[dent]

massey do a forestry specicific tractor which must come pretty close

compact cab all the bonnet and wheel arches are metal gaurding and i think toughened glass gaurded radiator bigger tanks etc but cant remember where to find it on there website

[NI Tree]

No crane??

woops i forgot to add the seat mounted joy sticks for a crane

[RichardT]

Top end alpine, guarded, reversible and dual steer, hyds and pto at both ends, easy on/off loader of the Biglift type. Loadsa spools.

[RDB logs]

Metal fuel tank!!! And big thick rad guard:thumbup:

[Chris Sheppard]

I quite like the look of this little skidder for first and second thinning

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JMnq989wec]Tigercat six-wheel skidders - YouTube[/ame]