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Thunderbird Yarders, Loaders, and Etc from the Murray's in Eugene Oregon
- Thread starter Contract Logger
- Start date
Contract Logger
Senior Member
TY-90 on Washington 208 SP Carrier at Fred A. Moore Logging
72V- yes, you're right. Fred A. Moore was from Mill City. I was falling asleep last night when I posted and just got groggy. In 1993 I was considering purchasing the TY-90 on 208 Washington from Fred Moore, and we went to look at the machine -it was parked somwhere near Corvalis on the West side of I-5 about 5 miles. I rode there with a salesman and have no idea where we were. I also had no camera that day. The yarder needed attention, my job didn't materialize, and so the yarder and I never saw each other again.
It sold there in 1994 to a buyer in New Zealand. I'll never see her again, but I was emailed this picture recently and assure she was doing just fine....
I like the wrong-side-drive and ramp-style float trailer.
As you can see this Washington only had 6 guylines, not 8 like the Wimer and Bremmeyer machines.
72V- yes, you're right. Fred A. Moore was from Mill City. I was falling asleep last night when I posted and just got groggy. In 1993 I was considering purchasing the TY-90 on 208 Washington from Fred Moore, and we went to look at the machine -it was parked somwhere near Corvalis on the West side of I-5 about 5 miles. I rode there with a salesman and have no idea where we were. I also had no camera that day. The yarder needed attention, my job didn't materialize, and so the yarder and I never saw each other again.
It sold there in 1994 to a buyer in New Zealand. I'll never see her again, but I was emailed this picture recently and assure she was doing just fine....
I like the wrong-side-drive and ramp-style float trailer.
As you can see this Washington only had 6 guylines, not 8 like the Wimer and Bremmeyer machines.
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Contract Logger
Senior Member
Jeremy- I also screwed up Wimer's location- Albany not Sweet Home was thier home base.
Contract Logger
Senior Member
I wish I could remember more, I'm realizing now how much I never wrote down, and no doubt heard and didnt process lots more info over the years....
The tag on Browning's TY-90 is a misprint, or rather mis-stamp. That machine is a TY-90, and no TY-80 SP machines were ever built.
There were only 6 TY-80's built and all were mounted on Skagit trailers, like the one you posted (a highlead machine by the way- 2 were highlead and 4 were slacklines). The highlead versions had only main, haulback, and sraw drums- no skyline drum.
SP is for 'Self-Propelled' and have a different transmission/downdrive configuration (to get power to the driving axles), as well as hyd steering, air throttle, shifter, and brakes in the cab for driving over the road.
The trailers were much easier (and less expensive) without all this.
Funny, I spent near 17 years photographing that yarder and never noticed that ID tag........Good on ya' Jeremy for catching it there!:drinkup
Contract Logger
Senior Member
Thunderbird Yarders and Loaders on Display Indoors
The indoor pavillion at Eugene's Lane County Fairgrounds used to fill up with brand new Thunderbird equipment every year! Fortunately I did manage to take and save a few pics. Around 1990 they converted this to an ice-rink and then Ross moved thier display outside.
I took these pics in 1988 or 1989, at the end of a long display run. There was beer and whatnot being served there at all times and boy, it was fun!
Enjoy these pics of long lost Thunderbird machinery. Notice the TSY-50 on a Peirce Self-Propelled rubber-tire carrier- only 1 was built like this that I know of.
In the second pic is a TY-90 hoist on the floor (at left)- no carrier or anything.
The indoor pavillion at Eugene's Lane County Fairgrounds used to fill up with brand new Thunderbird equipment every year! Fortunately I did manage to take and save a few pics. Around 1990 they converted this to an ice-rink and then Ross moved thier display outside.
I took these pics in 1988 or 1989, at the end of a long display run. There was beer and whatnot being served there at all times and boy, it was fun!
Enjoy these pics of long lost Thunderbird machinery. Notice the TSY-50 on a Peirce Self-Propelled rubber-tire carrier- only 1 was built like this that I know of.
In the second pic is a TY-90 hoist on the floor (at left)- no carrier or anything.
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Contract Logger
Senior Member
Contract Logger
Senior Member
Contract Logger
Senior Member
Thunderbird TY-90 S/N 9043
Thunderbird TY-90 Yarder S/N 9043 was manufactured May 3rd of 1985 according to the ID tag. She was beautiful in her day.
It was the only TY-90 that was ever built with the optional 'slackpulling drum'. The drum was mounted high and to the front of the hoist, much like the Skagit 737 and 739 slackpulling drum locations.
The machine was built custom order for Art Fetter Logging, from the Buckley/Enumclaw area of Washington, and worked in high elevation big wood there for 10 years or so until Fetter retired. I saw it working in the area, and loading under the machine was a big early Link-Belt LS5800TL shovel. Both yarder and shovel were custom-painted in Fetter colors- burgundy and white trimmed in black and silver. They looked spectacular, and a large color poster of this landing/pair working hung in the offices of Ross Equipment at Chehalis Washington for years.
As you can see she was mounted on a Skagit T-110HD Trailer/110' Skagit Tower. 8 Guylines, as was standard on the T-110HD's.
Notice the tower tube has 'TY 110 Thunderbird' painted on it, for the tower height.
By 1995, Fetter moved off the mountain for good, and I took the first four pics in an old sort yard East of Greenwater Washington a few miles-toward Crystal Mountain off highway 410.
By 1999, the hoist had been pulled off the Skagit T-110 HD trailer and it sat alone in Coastal Equipment's yard at Marysville Washington. I was told the hoist went on a newer Skagit T-90 trailer and was shipped to New Zealand.
Maybe she will turn up on the forum here one day? I sure hope so.
I took the last pic at Marysville in 2001. Skagit trailer looking pretty sad.
I fear the scrapper has found her by now.
Thunderbird TY-90 Yarder S/N 9043 was manufactured May 3rd of 1985 according to the ID tag. She was beautiful in her day.
It was the only TY-90 that was ever built with the optional 'slackpulling drum'. The drum was mounted high and to the front of the hoist, much like the Skagit 737 and 739 slackpulling drum locations.
The machine was built custom order for Art Fetter Logging, from the Buckley/Enumclaw area of Washington, and worked in high elevation big wood there for 10 years or so until Fetter retired. I saw it working in the area, and loading under the machine was a big early Link-Belt LS5800TL shovel. Both yarder and shovel were custom-painted in Fetter colors- burgundy and white trimmed in black and silver. They looked spectacular, and a large color poster of this landing/pair working hung in the offices of Ross Equipment at Chehalis Washington for years.
As you can see she was mounted on a Skagit T-110HD Trailer/110' Skagit Tower. 8 Guylines, as was standard on the T-110HD's.
Notice the tower tube has 'TY 110 Thunderbird' painted on it, for the tower height.
By 1995, Fetter moved off the mountain for good, and I took the first four pics in an old sort yard East of Greenwater Washington a few miles-toward Crystal Mountain off highway 410.
By 1999, the hoist had been pulled off the Skagit T-110 HD trailer and it sat alone in Coastal Equipment's yard at Marysville Washington. I was told the hoist went on a newer Skagit T-90 trailer and was shipped to New Zealand.
Maybe she will turn up on the forum here one day? I sure hope so.
I took the last pic at Marysville in 2001. Skagit trailer looking pretty sad.
I fear the scrapper has found her by now.
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Stingray63
New Member
Contract Logger I'm amazed by all of your pictures of logging equipment. It's a shame that those towers are not used much anymore. I would like to have gotten my hands on that one. Keep the pics coming!
Aloha, Stingray
Stingray63
New Member
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for the update. I tried sending you a pm but the system wouldn't allow me to do it for some unknown reason.
Aloha, Stingray
JeremyM70
Senior Member
Just sent you a PM about the T-Birds for sale.
Contract Logger
Senior Member
Well, I have been in the NW woods taking equipment pics for nearly 40 years now, so I have a few pics, yes.
I used to be on a yarder landing East of Snoqualmie Falls, WA by 6 am, swing through Vail (had shovels working there usually), then wrap the day up with dinner at Tillamook Ore, before driving home for bed to do it again. Long days, lots of miles, but that's the gig, right? Many days I would fuel the pickup up twice or more.
There are more of those old yarders still working than you think. Actually, lots more.
Let's hope that keeps up!
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Contract Logger
Senior Member
Thunderbird TY-90 S/N 9044
Thunderbird TY-90 S/N 9044 was built, according to the tag, on 6-29-1985. It was a TY-90 SP (Self-Propelled) but the tag does not show that. This machine was mounted to a Skagit T-100 HD SP Carrier, and had 7 Guylines, pretty standard for the T-100.
What was not standard on this carrier was the steering axles- most of the Skagit T-90 and T-100 machines used Schuller steering axles with super-single float tires on wheels with a Budd 10-hole hub.
This particular machine had the big Anderson-Bolling axles installed- the axles used under the T-110 and T-110HD Skagit SP units. These used Dayton-style hubs and dual tires- bigger, heavier, and much more reliable. Each wheel/tire ran on its own bearings which allowed 2 dual tires side-by-side to rotate at different speeds- a huge deal on the big heavy yarders such as a BU-98, BU-99, or BU-199. Especially when turning sharp corners- the weight on the dual combo would be to much to allow scuffing and wheel studs would shear right off prior to this. This became a popular conversion for Skagit T-100 SP owners with bigger hoists such as the 739's.
Oops. That whole paragraph belongs in the Skagit thread! Oh, well.:beatsme
Anyway, Sapp Brothers of Alsea Oregon bought her new, and ran it until 2000 or so when Phoenix Logging brought it to Craig, Alaska, where it sits today.
This machine is one I see often, so I have alot of pics of it the last 3 years or so.
It was on the Thunderbird TY-90 Brochure cover through the 80's and 90's.
This machine is currently for sale. She needs some TLC and trans work.
Thunderbird TY-90 S/N 9044 was built, according to the tag, on 6-29-1985. It was a TY-90 SP (Self-Propelled) but the tag does not show that. This machine was mounted to a Skagit T-100 HD SP Carrier, and had 7 Guylines, pretty standard for the T-100.
What was not standard on this carrier was the steering axles- most of the Skagit T-90 and T-100 machines used Schuller steering axles with super-single float tires on wheels with a Budd 10-hole hub.
This particular machine had the big Anderson-Bolling axles installed- the axles used under the T-110 and T-110HD Skagit SP units. These used Dayton-style hubs and dual tires- bigger, heavier, and much more reliable. Each wheel/tire ran on its own bearings which allowed 2 dual tires side-by-side to rotate at different speeds- a huge deal on the big heavy yarders such as a BU-98, BU-99, or BU-199. Especially when turning sharp corners- the weight on the dual combo would be to much to allow scuffing and wheel studs would shear right off prior to this. This became a popular conversion for Skagit T-100 SP owners with bigger hoists such as the 739's.
Oops. That whole paragraph belongs in the Skagit thread! Oh, well.:beatsme
Anyway, Sapp Brothers of Alsea Oregon bought her new, and ran it until 2000 or so when Phoenix Logging brought it to Craig, Alaska, where it sits today.
This machine is one I see often, so I have alot of pics of it the last 3 years or so.
It was on the Thunderbird TY-90 Brochure cover through the 80's and 90's.
This machine is currently for sale. She needs some TLC and trans work.
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Contract Logger
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Contract Logger
Senior Member
TY-90 #9044, last round, unless someone wants more for some reason.
The last pic is of a set of the Anderson-Bolling steering axles (loose, bottom of the scrap pile) and you can see the lug nuts on 2 seperate and un-attached hubs I was takling about earlier.
The last pic is of a set of the Anderson-Bolling steering axles (loose, bottom of the scrap pile) and you can see the lug nuts on 2 seperate and un-attached hubs I was takling about earlier.
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Contract Logger
Senior Member
TorkelH
Senior Member
9044
This is the one from the front page of the sales brochure, isn't it? What a nice machine, but of course it should have earned some new paint. Look at Deans Mt. logging 099, it still look almost like new, so maybe Mr W. or Madill had a better paint than Mr M? By the way, I'll post some video of that machine (099) working later today!
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Stingray63
New Member
Yes, you're right! I agree with you 100 percent. I hope to aquire a few of those old yarders for my company in the near future. Contract Logger, what does the TY 90 weigh in the pictures you have posted, and that is for sale? And can the tower be moved in one piece on the highway legally? Thank you for the info.Well, I have been in the NW woods taking equipment pics for nearly 40 years now, so I have a few pics, yes.
I used to be on a yarder landing East of Snoqualmie Falls, WA by 6 am, swing through Vail (had shovels working there usually), then wrap the day up with dinner at Tillamook Ore, before driving home for bed to do it again. Long days, lots of miles, but that's the gig, right? Many days I would fuel the pickup up twice or more.
There are more of those old yarders still working than you think. Actually, lots more.
Let's hope that keeps up!
Aloha, Stingray
Contract Logger
Senior Member
I just looked around on the net and in just a couple of minutes I found 32 Thunderbird yarders currently for sale. Most of them are for sale by owners and currently working. You should ask to run one for 1/2 day prior to purchase. A serious seller won't mind this a bit. If he does, then run.
If you have ever moved a Skagit 737, 739, or equivalent yarder, this machine moves just like all of them. Same requirements. As it sits, my guess is it weighs at 145,000 lbs or there abouts.
What are you yarding with now? You ask questions that make me nervous for you.
Anyone can move this over the highway, that's the easy part. You'll need a service truck while moving it always, for the cab swings and steer tire swings. There is no gooseneck with this one, You would need that as well. Other than that, your mover will bring the jeep and booster with axles required for your county/area. Shermann Brothers can move it anywhere in Oregon you need, but ask for Pat as the driver. He move these alot.
To move it in the brush, and to log with it you'll need at least 2 dozers- at least one D8 size machine (2 is better), for tailhold and guyline work. If you try to road this between landings or settings without Cat assistance you'll blow planetaries all day long- people do it but it isnt the right way. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, right?
There is a Madill 009 for sale in Castle Rock WA for $ 18,000.00 on a Skagit T-100 trailer that would be an excellent starter machine if that's what you're after. You'll still have to have a D8 & dolly for moving it though. It makes for a much easier move than the TY-90's.
Contract Logger
Senior Member
This is a TY-90 (on Skagit T-90 Trlr) that was built early on and sold new to Griffey Logging in Oregon around 1986. I have the S/N around here someplace.....cant find it.
Things didn't work out and Ross had the yarder back by 1989, so it was repainted and sold to Jensen and Grove of Woodland WA that same year. J&G used it on Elk Mountain for Weyerhaeuser for the next 3 years or so straight, never moved off that hill. I took pics of it there on Elk Mountain in 1990 on a setting directly above Coweeman Lake- and got some fantastic pics showing both lake and yarder above- trouble is I cannot find them right this second. Loading on that landing was a Link-Belt LS98TL line machine (wood was big) and that newer yarder sure looked funny with the old shovel loading.
Herb Jensen and Rollie Grove decided in 1992 that they were done logging, and this machine was sold to Hamilton Logging and worked on the Olympic Peninsula for Hamilton, along with a second TY-90 they owned.
Hamilton slowed down a bit in the mid 90's, and Randy Wallace of Toledo bought the machine for dredging rock in a pit near the Cowlitz River. I believe the machine is still there, and for sale. JeremyM70 has all that contact info.
First 2 pics taken in 1989 at Jensen & Grove shop, before they used it.
Next 3 taken at Wallace in Toledo in 2006.
Things didn't work out and Ross had the yarder back by 1989, so it was repainted and sold to Jensen and Grove of Woodland WA that same year. J&G used it on Elk Mountain for Weyerhaeuser for the next 3 years or so straight, never moved off that hill. I took pics of it there on Elk Mountain in 1990 on a setting directly above Coweeman Lake- and got some fantastic pics showing both lake and yarder above- trouble is I cannot find them right this second. Loading on that landing was a Link-Belt LS98TL line machine (wood was big) and that newer yarder sure looked funny with the old shovel loading.
Herb Jensen and Rollie Grove decided in 1992 that they were done logging, and this machine was sold to Hamilton Logging and worked on the Olympic Peninsula for Hamilton, along with a second TY-90 they owned.
Hamilton slowed down a bit in the mid 90's, and Randy Wallace of Toledo bought the machine for dredging rock in a pit near the Cowlitz River. I believe the machine is still there, and for sale. JeremyM70 has all that contact info.
First 2 pics taken in 1989 at Jensen & Grove shop, before they used it.
Next 3 taken at Wallace in Toledo in 2006.
