Ford County or Similar

[Stephen Blair]

i love those little skidders. mmmmmmmmm got me thinking now eders

[Will Hinchliffe]

That skidder looks really cool. I know someone who skids wood out with an old tracked fordson major fitted with a drum winch on a very steep and wet site. I have never seen it working though as the track was off when I saw it.

[Mr Ed]

Little crawlers like the old CD50 County, CAT D2 and inty BDT4 can move awsome amounts of wood. An old timber man I used to sub too had a little international BDT4, about 6 tonne weight. It had a big brash rake on the front, and double hydraulic winches on the back. It was amazing how much big hardwood he could shift with it, he used to stack all the cordwood on the front rake to forward it out, and he could blade all the brash and burn off in no time.

 

Trouble with a lot of these machines is they are reaching classic status. You used to be able to pick up a decent little crawler for £3000, not anymore

[Highland Forestry]

arrghhh way too many skidder choices!!!

[Highland Forestry]

here's another one..

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NzIH185cqM]YouTube - Woody[/ame]

 

 

I really like this, and would go so far as to say I'll be trying to get more information about them and costs etc.

[Mr Ed]

Matt -

1. How many poles are you shifting on this contract?

2. Do you have to winch them from tight spots, or can you get a machine right up to them?

3.Whats your extraction distance?

 

As a % of your business, how important is this contract?

[Stephen Blair]

now that was cool matt

[Highland Forestry]

Matt -

1. How many poles are you shifting on this contract?

2. Do you have to winch them from tight spots, or can you get a machine right up to them?

3.Whats your extraction distance?

 

As a % of your business, how important is this contract?

 

 

I am aiming to fell, make and peel and extract to roadside 200 poles a week minimum.

Currently we do approximatley 150 poles a week but will be increasing the squad, possibly doubling it when we start in-house extraction as we havealot of work to get through.

 

Some of them are in very tight spots and others you could get a machine right up to them, they are normally marked in the wood and are 'here and there' rather than normal thinnings, this is because they are looking for specific tolerences and sizes of timber and not every wood is ideal for poles.

 

As a % of the business as a whole I would estimate this contract is around 25-30% at the moment but would obviousley be more if we do our own extraction.

 

I am being offered the extraction and marking contracts so I can do the whole lot, which will be worth a fair bit more money as the marking and extraction are hourly rate.

[Highland Forestry]

Just to add to that last thread, the extraction length is very variable, some will be aslittle as 50m and others will be more like 400m - 500m or more.

 

It makes sense to me to take on the extraction as I only get paid for the poles themselfs when they go off-site on the lorry and all must be inspected individually before being loaded so the quicker I get them to roadside the quicker I get paid.

[Mr Ed]

Then you need a decent skidder. It will need winches. And given the value and importance of the contract, I would look at something decent and tidy.

 

Here's my suggestion - Try and find a decent mid 90's 4 wheel Valmet 901. Its quite common to pick them up for under £5k with no head. Have the wheels swapped round so it grips in 'reverse'

 

Get a double drum Igland, and have it converted to run hydraulic. Have this mounted on the 'front' of the machine. Have a butt plate fabricated. For an extra £500 or so, you can convert the winch to radio remote.

Put a grab on the crane instead of the head.

 

If you have decent fabricator that does'nt rip you off, you should be able to build the whole machine for under £15k.

 

You will then have a machine that will match that £180,000 HSM skidder in the video.

 

It will have complete 360 cab rotation (absolute lifesaver when skidding) and a crane to sort and stack your poles at landing.