surfer-joe
Senior Member
All the skidder operators I know just drive balls to the wall. So did I. When you stop moving, back up a bit, turn left and hit it again........
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How do you operate a skidder?
- Thread starter Bellboy
- Start date
OCR
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2008
- Messages
- 1,195
- Location
- Montana
- Occupation
- Rancher/Farmer, Wildland Fire Fighter, State snowp
Tigercat videos:
Will they help?... I don't know...
, but they're sure fun to watch... :cool2
It's best to download and save... takes a while, but you can use Windows
Media Player. The quality is a lot better, at least on my computer.
I downloaded Tigercat's 2007 product line-up... Length: 11:20... (90 MB)
It's a pretty interesting watch... some amazing equipment.
My download speed was only 50 to 51 kb/second... as I said, it takes a while
http://www.tigercat.com/video.htm
OCR
Will they help?... I don't know...
, but they're sure fun to watch... :cool2It's best to download and save... takes a while, but you can use Windows
Media Player. The quality is a lot better, at least on my computer.
I downloaded Tigercat's 2007 product line-up... Length: 11:20... (90 MB)
It's a pretty interesting watch... some amazing equipment.
My download speed was only 50 to 51 kb/second... as I said, it takes a while
http://www.tigercat.com/video.htm
OCR
Vantage_TeS
Senior Member
Pedal to the floor and hang on tight. When you get to the top of a dropoff kick the winch into neutral and cart yourself off the edge. After you land winch your load off (don't wanna get partway down and then have your load catch up and kick your behind!).
Same thing for going up cliffs. Leave your load at the bottom, claw your way up and then winch your load to you.
Ran an old Clark-Ranger 666 open cab for a couple days when it was -30 out. Hell of alot of fun but MAN was it cold. That thing would go anywhere. Plus it only had like 100ft of cable so you had to get down in the holes to get the logs out. Pile yourself down off the edge backwards and hook up. Winch to the machine, neutral the cable and claw your way up a bit further then winch again. Repeat.
Same thing for going up cliffs. Leave your load at the bottom, claw your way up and then winch your load to you.
Ran an old Clark-Ranger 666 open cab for a couple days when it was -30 out. Hell of alot of fun but MAN was it cold. That thing would go anywhere. Plus it only had like 100ft of cable so you had to get down in the holes to get the logs out. Pile yourself down off the edge backwards and hook up. Winch to the machine, neutral the cable and claw your way up a bit further then winch again. Repeat.
Bellboy
COPPA
Good point, but I've never really started a machine. I've only ever been allowed to run a started machine. That kinda sucks. But I have started a small diesel loco, but that aint the same as something with pedals and what not. I've never been allowed to touch the start key on most machines.
I trust you aren't using the information learned here to run a skidder without permission?
Iron Horse
Senior Member
Well , in that case you are going to have to start at the bottom where most of us had to instead of in the middle . Go and get a job with a logging contractor , for free if need be . You will start off with a broom , work up to a grease gun and a steam cleaner . After a while you will be allowed to move the machines around the yard . Keep your ears open to what experienced operators are telling you and do'nt ask dumb questions like "how fast can a skidder go" . Watch the mechanics , learn how to fix machinery , you will learn at the same time how not to kill machinery . You will then be allowed to load and unload machines off of lowboys and the guys will give you a crack at driving out in the bush . It's no different than taking on a trade , you will start off at the bottom and 4 years later you will be running the gear . Start now and tell me how you went in 4 years
.
Bellboy
COPPA
NO! Its just something I'm generally interested in.
Iron Horse:
Thank you for the advice, but its not like I want to go and just become a skidder operator, its just that its something I don't know how to do, and something I would like to learn. As for the job with the logging contractor, most of them are quite far out of town, so I'll have to get a job with some one closer into town, like some of the civil engineers who run their own equipment.
F-1.08-F.G.
Active Member
Pure gold Iron Horse!!! Noone is going to hold your hand... if you've got the balls, get in it at lunch time (with your foremans OK) and haul a few to the dump. No piece of equipment has a passenger seat my friend.
Dane
Member
Bellboy, I find your Curiosity amusing, and humbling. I Suppose alot of us take it for granted, (the operation of equipment). I grew up around, and operating all sorts of equipment at a very young age. I think I was probaly about 10 years old when i started skidding Fire wood out with an Ford 8N, and manual log tongs on the 3 point draw bar.
The first time i loaded a bunk of a forwarder (another type of a skidder) i was 11 or 12, my dad told me "don't do ____, you will die. don't do ____, you will die. ect. ok i am going to the house for Coffey, when you are done unload it on the log deck of the saw mill." Wow i was so intimidated, but just did it. i had enough basic understanding.
after time i think a person just gets comfortable, and then earns the ability to just "make it go" it is not something you can really tell someone how to do, operating equipment is an art, you and the machine become one and it just seems to do what you want it to do. No thought required.
I have operated cable skidders, grapple skidders, forwarders, slashers, dozers, farm tractors, pay loaders, skid-steers, feller buchers, processors, excavators, too many machines to remember. All different but the basics are the same.
The first time i loaded a bunk of a forwarder (another type of a skidder) i was 11 or 12, my dad told me "don't do ____, you will die. don't do ____, you will die. ect. ok i am going to the house for Coffey, when you are done unload it on the log deck of the saw mill." Wow i was so intimidated, but just did it. i had enough basic understanding.
after time i think a person just gets comfortable, and then earns the ability to just "make it go" it is not something you can really tell someone how to do, operating equipment is an art, you and the machine become one and it just seems to do what you want it to do. No thought required.
I have operated cable skidders, grapple skidders, forwarders, slashers, dozers, farm tractors, pay loaders, skid-steers, feller buchers, processors, excavators, too many machines to remember. All different but the basics are the same.
John Deere Skidder
Get in.
Turn key till engine starts.
Red button on the dash above your right knee is the park brake switch. It has to be off for the machine to move.
Three leavers on your right hand side. Back most one is for your graple. Forward and back is for your boom left to right is for you arch. Buttons are for you graple close and open as well as for your grapple rotate.
The lever that has no buttons is for your blade forward is down back is up.
The last lever is the FNR. Depress the button on top of the lever and hold it down till ether in forward or reverse.
when the lever is in forward or reverse side to side movement shifts gears up or down. John Deere skidders start in 3rd gear unless some one has switched the plugs around.
The steering wheel is like your car. There is a accelerator(skinny) pedal and a brake pedal(wide).
What ever you do do not get in a skidder and try to start or run it because you have no clue and will wind up getting your self hurt or killed or any body that is around hurt or killed.
Get in.
Turn key till engine starts.
Red button on the dash above your right knee is the park brake switch. It has to be off for the machine to move.
Three leavers on your right hand side. Back most one is for your graple. Forward and back is for your boom left to right is for you arch. Buttons are for you graple close and open as well as for your grapple rotate.
The lever that has no buttons is for your blade forward is down back is up.
The last lever is the FNR. Depress the button on top of the lever and hold it down till ether in forward or reverse.
when the lever is in forward or reverse side to side movement shifts gears up or down. John Deere skidders start in 3rd gear unless some one has switched the plugs around.
The steering wheel is like your car. There is a accelerator(skinny) pedal and a brake pedal(wide).
What ever you do do not get in a skidder and try to start or run it because you have no clue and will wind up getting your self hurt or killed or any body that is around hurt or killed.
Muskeg
New Member
My advice to a novice. Most machines have an operator's manual. Use it first! If it hasn't a manual, buy one, first. This is a very handy book especially for a beginner to use as a guide. It should be consulted first and when necessary. Operation and safety rules, service safety rules, general safety rules, machine components, controls and instruments, gauges and instruments, differential locks, lubricants and fuels, periodic service, fire prevention maintaince, transporting, attaching cable to winch if used, grapple use if used, use of a frame locking bar, and various adjustments are examples of things usually discussed for you in an operator's manual. Remember that different manufacturers' products are made to be operated in specific ways. Even the engines used on skidders differ and may require specific operation and maintainace procedures. You should be familiar with pre-start inspection procedures for that particular machine. Many, but not all, use diesel engines, which may require running at idle for a few minutes before shut-down to prevent engine damage or they may employ a specific style of engine warm-up period before operating. The manual may discuss that particular machine's hydraulic system, too. Some systems require relieving the hydraulic pressure in a specified manner, for example, when parking the skidder.
Such information may help you keep a machine running and you safer.
Such information may help you keep a machine running and you safer.
2stickbill
Senior Member
At last somebody told him to read the Instructions.But like most do wait till all else fails.
2stickbill
Senior Member
Iron Horse
Senior Member
I can imagine the sinking feeling , doing a walk around that tractor and finding one of the inside tyres/tires flat .
2stickbill
Senior Member
That wasn't to bad.We cared the Tire Repairmans phone number with us.But it was no fun for him.That Machine run for a year like that with no flats.
I think somebody told the Operator if he had a flat he had to fix it.
DoubleBitTimber
Member
I have to keep remembering that being an operator is a serious skill, and you are pretty much born with it and it develops over your life. I asked my faller to move our 748G-II Deere, he came over 10 min later and couldn't get it. He's got 30 years in the woods.
I started in a sand-box and loaded my first load of logs at 6 to white faced truck driver. I was born into a logging family and had more opportunities then most. There's still that warm/fuzzy feeling you get when you can get equipment to work safely at their max capacity.
Bellboy, see if you can find a job at an equipment auction yard. When logging slows down in spring I head to the nearest RB auction and help in the yard. It's a load of fun and you get to "play" on everything. You get time to try things out, without have to worry about production.
Hillbillybjopkr
Well-Known Member
This is my old Clark 668C , it had a 504 V8 Cummins under the hood and sounded like a big block Top Fueler coming through the scrub , put the hairs on the back of your neck on end .
Id just brought it in so i could give it a quick coat of paint over the weekend . This machine holds a record of snigging a 13 cubic metre log , a D7 would be proud of that .
I ran a old Clark 666 for awhile years ago. not a bad lil rig. Watched one do a complete barrel roll in midair befor...was interesting
Hillbillybjopkr
Well-Known Member
Doublebit. You are 100% right. I've been readin this in awe wondering how someone couldn't understand how to start a rig. I grew up in the woods as well. Started skiddin with a a bald-faced D7G grapple rig when I was really young. After being around it all your life it's like breathing. So for some of us it's hard to comprehend how anyone could not know lol.
Bellboy. It's not much diffrent than starting a car. It's just a car you can smash cars with lol
Bellboy. It's not much diffrent than starting a car. It's just a car you can smash cars with lol
Oregon logger
Member
yep thats it.
Yreka? I grew up in happy camp, started logging from the day i was born.
I have a bunch of family in yreka. Small world.