S. Madill, Blacksmith, Founded in 1911 in Nanaimo BC

[donkey doctor]

That's the way it was done for a long time. When we started building grapple yarders and loaders they were shipped to Ladysmith by rail and the boom gantry and cab were assembled there. Eventually the E&N wanted to discontinue freight service on the island so pushed there rates up to kill usage and prove they couldn't make money and they could shut it down. At that point we started splitting the upper and lower and sending them down to Duke Point by lowbed and remounting the upper down there. We got pretty good at putting them back together. Pick the carrier off and set it on the ground. Line the second lowbed up with it. lift the upperworks then use the lowbed to pull the carrier under the upper. Set the upper down on carrier and cut one crane loose. Second crane holds back end until we get a half dozen nuts on then he is cut loose. Flash it up ,swing around to add some more nuts while the crane rigs up to pick the gantry. Gantry on, boom is still on flatbed. End of the boom is picked up and machine is walked into it. Pick up other end of boom and get rid of the flatbed. Set the cab and kiss the crane goodbye. Reave a length strawline through the topping blocks and use the pickup to pull the topping line through. then just a matter of finishing up the odds and ends. Torque the slewing ring, chain coupling on the angle drive box and wire and hose the cab. Usually didn't even get any overtime out of it. May have missed a step or two in here but it has been well over 35 years. d.d.

 

[Hallback]

Here's a question for any of you Madill guys, what's the best way to drive a hydraulic pump off of one? I'm going to be sitting ours on a hydraulic undercarriage and need to figure out a way to run a pump to drive them.

 

[Tugger2]

What type of undercarriage? Something like an excavator bottom?

 

[Hallback]

What type of undercarriage? Something like an excavator bottom?

Yes

 

[Tugger2]

That's the way it was done for a long time. When we started building grapple yarders and loaders they were shipped to Ladysmith by rail and the boom gantry and cab were assembled there. Eventually the E&N wanted to discontinue freight service on the island so pushed there rates up to kill usage and prove they couldn't make money and they could shut it down. At that point we started splitting the upper and lower and sending them down to Duke Point by lowbed and remounting the upper down there. We got pretty good at putting them back together. Pick the carrier off and set it on the ground. Line the second lowbed up with it. lift the upperworks then use the lowbed to pull the carrier under the upper. Set the upper down on carrier and cut one crane loose. Second crane holds back end until we get a half dozen nuts on then he is cut loose. Flash it up ,swing around to add some more nuts while the crane rigs up to pick the gantry. Gantry on, boom is still on flatbed. End of the boom is picked up and machine is walked into it. Pick up other end of boom and get rid of the flatbed. Set the cab and kiss the crane goodbye. Reave a length strawline through the topping blocks and use the pickup to pull the topping line through. then just a matter of finishing up the odds and ends. Torque the slewing ring, chain coupling on the angle drive box and wire and hose the cab. Usually didn't even get any overtime out of it. May have missed a step or two in here but it has been well over 35 years. d.d.

I Remember when Malkin&Pinton was the bolt supplier around town. A friend and i were running our machine shop in town in the late 80s.The M&P manager comes with 900 bolts ,i think about 1 1/4" X9" (correct me on the size it was awhile ago)that had been forged with a rough underside to the head.We were tasked with machining a washer face on each of the 900 bolts on our old lathe .They were rotec bearing bolts for Madill and they were in a panic for them. We all took turns hacking away at them ,but got them done.Maybe you torqued a few of those DD.

 

[Tugger2]

Yes

And your upper was on the tank undercarraige? Ive forgotton which model yours is. If its got the down drive ,i wonder if a pump could be driven off that.Might be slow.
Lima Cranes had a bell housing drive that ran the upper mechanical draw works as well as hyd pumps for the the tracks. On them you could thro out the master clutch and put more power to the hydraulics,made them manuver as well as an excavator. Just thinking out loud here.

 

[Hallback]

Yes, currently on tank.

 

[Tugger2]

Years ago we put a450 Barko onto a 266 Kohering bottom.The old bottom was tank undercarraige ,but still hydraulic driven from the top.Lacking details to really think this out but,
The down drive on your tower should drive a hydraulic pump ,im assuming you run the bottom from a lower cab like an 009.
Find the output of your down drive and work back to the undercarriage demands.At least you can shut the down drive off while your yarding to.
This sounds like an interesting fab job.

 

[Hallback]

Years ago we put a450 Barko onto a 266 Kohering bottom.The old bottom was tank undercarraige ,but still hydraulic driven from the top.Lacking details to really think this out but,
The down drive on your tower should drive a hydraulic pump ,im assuming you run the bottom from a lower cab like an 009.
Find the output of your down drive and work back to the undercarriage demands.At least you can shut the down drive off while your yarding to.
This sounds like an interesting fab job.

Actually you walk the yarder from up in the yarding cab. It's really simple. The 071 is a pretty neat design as it bolts onto the bogeys, I found a John Deere LC450 excavator undercarriage as those track frames bolt on also. I will basically have to build some adapter plates to bolt the hoist to the new track frames and then just figure out the hydraulics and away we go.

 

[Tugger2]

Ok ,i was thinking of an 009. Ive never had anything to do with the 071 .It must have a similar down drive that engages separatly off the draw works. Just need to tap into that at some point where the RPM is higher. For lower capacity hydraulics the cam drive on a Detroit works well .Might be good for pilot control. Sounds like its time for the Hyd experts in here to chime in

 

[stumpfarmer]

Not the best photo, but here's one I took from the back end in Nahmint of the 009 I broke in on in 2020.

 

[Chopper95]

I don't think this has been covered on the forum in the past, or at least in very much depth, but wanted to contribute what I know for archival reasons if someone is looking in the future.

But in 2006 - 2007 Madill started producing the 1200 and 1250 feller buncher line to compliment the smaller 800 and 1800 processor / loader machines that they had developed and were producing for a few years at that point. Contractors were interested in smaller sized machines and market potential was good, naturally the smaller bunchers were on the chalk board.




The only real difference between the 1200 and 1250 was going from D6 to D7 undercarriage and small bump in hydraulic power.




Going to mess these numbers up, but I believe there were only eight (8) 1200 flat bottom machines made and then maybe four-ish (4) 1250 flat bottom machines produced.
I've seen two or three 1200 machines for sale in the last 5 years or so and know a couple have burnt; have seen one 1250 for sale.

However, there were two (2) T1250 tilting machines made as well. No tilting 1200 machines were made.

These machines came with either the smaller Madill MTT 22-7-365 22.7" saw or the GN Roy 2252C 22" saw. Only four (4) MTT saw heads were produced by Madill.

In regards to the two T1250 machines, one is currently on lease with a Risley Roller Chipper head on it and has about 3500hrs in British Columbia and the other machine has lived in central Oregon its whole life and has about 9200hrs on it.

These machines did originally come with a self leveling system but it was almost immediately scrapped on both machines.

Of the four MTT heads, one is in Oregon (burnt / parts), and two are in BC. One is complete and whole (but dismounted) and the other has been converted to a larger 24" Quadco bottom but is disassembled. Not sure on the last unknown head.

Unfortunately these machines launched right as Madill was purchased by Sentinel Capital when the economy tanked and handed off to Nicholson Mfg but they didn't survive the mergers and restructuring, only the larger machine line was kept - 2850, 3800, 2250, 124, 172, etc

The Oregon T1250 is the only machine I know of in the US, rest stayed in Canada.

The T1250 is 70-75,000lb and same size range as a 445 Komatsu / Timbco, 735 Timberpro, Cat 522 roughly.

 

[Chopper95]

T1250 in Oregon, has a Cat HF201 saw currently.

 

[Chopper95]

Officially two Madills in Colorado!

Little 800 was the first I saw in person, unless we count a 1236 Thunderbird delimber which is technically the same as the Madill, but I digress...

Purchased by a contractor out of Hayden CO at Ritchies in March '23 in Oregon for a whopping $32k.




Put the timing gear through the front cover after a month or so and needed a new front cover which was impossible to find, not a standard one I guess, had to special order it. Think its been a good little machine otherwise, was in decent shape.

Second one is down in Silt CO, a log hauler of ours told me about it this winter. Old 3800B I think; drivers love it cause it will do the whole truck in a few grabs. I think the cogen plant bought it all refurbished for a pellet mill project that never got off the ground and it ended up at Ritchies / was given away for free practically.

 

[Born2clearcut]

075

 

[Hallback]

 

[Hallback]

 

[Plebeian]

DC Equipment/ Madill media release. November 2023.
"BACK ON THE PRODUCTION LINE
Initially, the Log Loaders (3000s and 4000s) will be the first to be manufactured out of the Madill range next year. We will communicate closer to the time but expect new Madill 4000s handling logs in 2024, followed by the 3000 model.
MACHINE CHANGES?
In line with the first machines which will have minor adaptations from previous models, we've invested heavily into understanding what other industry partners would like to see in future machines such as in cab comfort for operators, accessibility for service technicians, and key durability features for owners. These changes will be introduced at a later stage."

and an additional piece about the website information, comms/ feedback etc.

 

[Plebeian]

HD camera on grapple for Madill swing yarder.

 

[THI]

Shared a couple pictures of Tacks Berger in the Berger thread about how they enjoyed adding some shine to their machines. They added chrome visors and spotlights to all their equipment and rigs. You can see both on the 009 and the LinkBelt. Also the Pepsi logo.