Ford County or Similar

[Highland Forestry]

low loading kit is a ball ache matt, you have to leave kit lying about with stashed keys, the guys can be late so you are late, and if you have to shift a machine a few times a week it fair adds up. now if you had a machine that could do 50 mph, carry kit,carry lads, work a winch,chipper,carry chip, tow a trailer/crane then wouldnt that make sense mate.

 

Totally agree with you Stevie... the mog could do all the jobs we need machinery for.. I have reservations about it on a harvesting site though, mainly because i've never seen one on a clear fell or in thinnings which is what we'll be in, and never heard of anyone using a mog as a skidder..

 

 

Having said that.. nothing is impossible!

[Stephen Blair]

how many folk do you know though in the industry, being a head of the game is the name of the game. that wee skidder is fully belly plated. i am pretty tempted to go for it myself, but i have different plans just now, but if i went into extraction then it would be on my list

[MattyF]

we had a u900 used as a skidder worked great was in mature beech though but the terrain it pulled out sticks from was impressive...big deep bowls in the wood floor and it never struggled.

[RichardT]

Plenty of Mogs used as skidders in Germany, both fixed winch and hitch-mounted. Search Youtube for Unimog & Forst / Wald. Somebody (Werner?) even produced a dedicated machine with fixed axles and pivot steering. My old 900 with crawler box would pull anything and coped well with stumps mud & ditches, at least until a bit of brash broke the air line to the lockers, then it just sat and span wheels. So yes, belly guarding or at least rerouted services would help... Don't forget how tiny the round cabs are though.

[Stephen Blair]

the one in clasifieds is a 405 i think, bigger cab and a lot comfier i have been told

[Mr Ed]

If I had to go skidding, the last thing I would buy is a unimog. That skidder mog is just a toy, nothing else.

My 1184TW county on Extra large american skidder tyres would go anywhere, and do 33 mph on the road.

If i was going onto a skidding contract though, I would look at a dedicated proper skidder, preferably with winches AND a grapple. Timberjack 360 or similar.

Buy the machine designed for the job, not some adapted abortion. Even county tractors are adapted machines.

Edited September 25, 2009 by Mr Ed

[Stephen Blair]

are you sure it would be big enough for highland matts bt pole contract, some of those 50 foot larches can be girthy:lol:

[Buzz]

Got to back Ed on this one, I can't imagine anything worse than a Unimog based skidder in the woods.

 

I ran two Unimogs a 1000 and a 1200, i originally bought them for whole tree chipping works on conservation sites. I soon came to realise that moving one around in the woods is expensive, they don't have the necessary guarding so pipes etc get trashed and are a real arse to replace.

 

Maneuvering is also very tricky due to a lack of all round visibility.

 

All these reasons and i darn sight more are why i purchased my Valmet tractor based forwarder.

 

Matt I would buy purpose built equipment not some hashed together compromise, why can't you use a forwarder on this site ?

[Chris Sheppard]

We had an old timberjack 360 on one estate for a while - it was awesome; what it would pull, where it would go (oh and it sounded amazing - big straight six detroit diesel ) but it was still nothing but a skidder and nothing else and would still have neded lowloading everywhere.

 

Did like my old County - it was a plain old 1164 with jones cab and a smallish FMV roofmount, but it would grip and grip and grip even on worn tyres.

 

If you had the bottle to open if flat out in top on the road it would do something like 24mph but really did feel like it. Bit of a pig in a thinning and needs decent brakes as you spend more time screwing round on the independants than owt else.

 

I know they've gone up a fair bit in the last couple of years but it's still cheap horsepower - mine still cost less than 5 grand with a trailer and a nokka roller processor about 5 years ago.

[RichardT]

I bet you wouldn't sell / get one £5k now though....

Edited September 25, 2009 by RichardT