Leveler vs flat base?

[Hallback]

As someone who has had numerous leveling machines including the very first 855 tigercat in North America, multiple different tethering systems and a handful of yarders I can tell you that a leveling shovel does help in the very steep spots as a flat bottom is spending a lot of its swing power just to overcome gravity. Now a short boomed leveling shovel is not going to be your go-to for all out shovel logging as they just do not have the reach and therefore you add multiple swings to a unit. The best is a leveler for the nasty crap feeding a 568 Cat. Right now we are producing more with our '071 and Mexican crew then we did (yes, i have sold all my base machines) with tethered logging. Not to mention I paid $65,000 for that 071 with an acme carriage versus 1.4 million for my 855 and falcon base machine. They each have their place but you're never going to get away from guys on the ground out here on the Washington coast.

 

[Tugger2]

I wonder if the stress on the owner that owes the millions on these high tech machines is counted in the list of work place hazards. It seems that once you are indebted to that kind of iron in many cases it seems you have joined the race to the bottom.
Hope the tower work is going good for you.

 

[Hallback]

I dont wish the multi millions of debt on anyone especially with having to rely on todays labor pool to pay for it.