An idea for a pull pan set up

[wnydirtguy]

It is an idea I have kicked around for some time and with seeing so of the pans that have been made I figured I ask your guys option. What if you where to take a log skidder and take off the log arch and attach a pan. They are made to pull loads and are build well. So do you think it would work out?

[Deeretime]

lol what do you have to lose 20 grand to cut apart a skidder !
I think it would be reasonable depending on the sise of skidder to have it pull a 15cyd pan

[wnydirtguy]

we have seen people cut up nicer more expensive machines to do the similar thing. I am thinking a skidder would be a nice set up. wish I had the money and shop to build one for fun.

[surfer-joe]

I believe a skidder would be too light for the application. Skidders are not known for high horsepower either.

[Aussie Leroy]

A cat 545C has 219 hp and 19,198 kg's so weight is ok just not enough HP !!!!!!!!!! So drive line would be to soft aswell ?????Cheers Leroy

[stumpjumper83]

with the way the crazy skidder hands treat them you should be good. Skidder and scrapper hands are cut from the same cloth, they just tilted it a bit for the skidder guys

common quote. "she looks pretty steep, I think I can get twice as much going down that slope."

[Deeretime]

If you built a deecent neck for the pan instead of a drawbar i think you could get some traction out of it but i'm not sure what kind of weight you could put on your back axle.
If you have the skills to build that you would have enough mechanical knowledge to keep a green leaker going !

[Greg]

Why not just put a Cat in front of it? Then you don't need a pusher which I am sure you will need with the skidder. Seems to me like a he-- of a lot of work when you can go out and buy something that is already proven to work. I don't think the axles on the skidder would stand up under it and possibly the transmission. Scrapper is a pretty tough application.

[vapor300]

Yeah id say there transmissions arent setup for that much abuse, and the axles, pretty much the whole drivetrain. Ive seen axles from john deere 9630's shatter from the abuse these things go threw to load. And All the extra weight you are putting on the rear axle and the weight you are goin to have to put on the front axle to keep it down, i just dont know if it can handle that.

[Greg]

Another thought. Why go through the grief, agrevation, time, expense, bull sh-- and expense to try and build something that has already been built and perfected?

Welllllllllllllllllllllllll, I know a guy who does just that. No matter what he buys for equipment he always has to go at it with the torch and welder. Never likes anything the way it is. Got to change it. Or as he says "everything can be improved." Most of his improvements turn out to be one step foreword and five backwards.

To me this sounds just like more of that.

[Hollywood627G]

Why ruin a skidded and put a pan on it? Pans are like putting a drop center edge on a paddlewheel, wtf was that guy thinking?

[Greg]

Well Hollywook627G, just like I said above. Some people just seem to have to reinvent the wheel with everything they do. I also have a cousin that way. His latest is to put wheels on a pontoon boat so he can drive it in and out of the lake twice a year rather than use a trailer. Oh ya, the lake bottom is sand too so you can imagine what will happen there let alone the drag in the water, increased weight and center of gravity problem.

[Taylortractornu]

I ve seen it done with mixed results. Theres a man that used to be in the land clearing business that has a 648 JD with a 5yard Prime Pan with a single function control. One set of cylinders raise lower and dump it. He had floatation tires on it and it did fair in the right ground conditions. On a hard sometimes the rolling resistance gets the motor a little warmer. I worked on a job they ran it on and it was fair. It was in springtime and it got the ground to pumping.

He runs the pan off the circuit that runs the grapple with a set of quick couplers. He has a draw bar under the arch to pull the pan with. All it has to do to go back to logs is pull the pin and 2 qc hoses.

He uses this same skidder with an old pull type cable ripper on stumps. He runs it off the winch. With the weight of the rake on front it does great. He also has a drag scraper he made from an old drawbar and moldboard off an old grader. It does really good.

We have a 518 Cat skidder at the landfill for a back up compactor unit. We have some clearing to do so we ad a rake made for it with a trash rack. We are putting on a draw bar and build a few tools fo it.