Case 300 3-53 Detroit

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4x4American

Got Sawdust?
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
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Seen one of these old gems on the side of the road for sale, asking 9 grand obo. Looks real tough, like what a real skidder was, not like the new era tennis shoe logging equipment is nowadays.

Can anyone share any info on these? years of production, memories driving one, how they do in the woods...that kinda stuff
 
That didn't take too long. :rolleyes:

Andy

nope. my friends dad wants me to work for his logging company, he's about 200 miles away though and id have to move out there but i gotta lotta friends and some family in the area so i might do that in awhile for awhile... i wanna move out there anyways. I liked working in the woods alot, when i was off on my own making my own decisions. but so much dumb things went on. they were unsafe as hell, i watched one guy run from a tree in the direction it was falling to save a destroyed bar, he barely made it, i seen a tree fall on the skidder, the skidder operator would get pissed easily and go crazy not caring if anyone was in the way or not, over stupid things, put me and some other guy in pretty tight places, seen tree after tree not go even close to where it was supposed to when the truck driver was out there in the bush, had to get that guy unstuck every ten minutes it seemed, bossman made us do that bore cut and release dance around every tree with a conventional notch, freaked out if i threw in a humboldt, lots of yelling, lots of anger all the time. it was just sketchy because of stupid things. and the most experienced guy on the crew besides the boss was a disagreeable bi polar guy who had 7 months experience in the woods before me. the bossman seemed to go through workers quick... there wasnt really enough work either, I had so many days off working for him. I was losing quite a bit of money working for him. He also promised me a raise that never came. Despite all that I do think that the boss really is a good guy, he bought us coffee and egg sandwich in the morn and alot of the times lunch too. Had alot of funny things to say, was always in a good mood in the morn. Anyways..yup that's what I'm up to now. I'm still cutting wood for firewood and cutting trees down and milling them on a CSM I built when I wasn't having much work. Been practicing chainsaw carving too.
 
That is unfortunate. If the woods is in ya you'll find your way back to em.


My machine shop boss was talking about hacks-men today... I had to inform him that things wern't really like that in the woods, and if some jerk was yelling and screaming all the time, and just generally being stupid, he'd find himself where the cadaver dogs would have trouble finding him, or with a whole bunch of ruined expensive equipment and nobody showing up on Monday to pay for it.

but I digress,

you looking into maybe buying that old Case skidder? Going it on your own?... some would say don't do it, I say take the reins and run like Hel...
 
nope. my friends dad wants me to work for his logging company, he's about 200 miles away though and id have to move out there but i gotta lotta friends and some family in the area so i might do that in awhile for awhile... i wanna move out there anyways. I liked working in the woods alot, when i was off on my own making my own decisions. but so much dumb things went on. they were unsafe as hell, i watched one guy run from a tree in the direction it was falling to save a destroyed bar, he barely made it, i seen a tree fall on the skidder, the skidder operator would get pissed easily and go crazy not caring if anyone was in the way or not, over stupid things, put me and some other guy in pretty tight places, seen tree after tree not go even close to where it was supposed to when the truck driver was out there in the bush, had to get that guy unstuck every ten minutes it seemed, bossman made us do that bore cut and release dance around every tree with a conventional notch, freaked out if i threw in a humboldt, lots of yelling, lots of anger all the time. it was just sketchy because of stupid things. and the most experienced guy on the crew besides the boss was a disagreeable bi polar guy who had 7 months experience in the woods before me. the bossman seemed to go through workers quick... there wasnt really enough work either, I had so many days off working for him. I was losing quite a bit of money working for him. He also promised me a raise that never came. Despite all that I do think that the boss really is a good guy, he bought us coffee and egg sandwich in the morn and alot of the times lunch too. Had alot of funny things to say, was always in a good mood in the morn. Anyways..yup that's what I'm up to now. I'm still cutting wood for firewood and cutting trees down and milling them on a CSM I built when I wasn't having much work. Been practicing chainsaw carving too.

Haha. I'm just giving you a hard time.
I'm one of those guy's that will smile at you and say "I told you so".
Good luck with your new endevours. :cheers:

Andy
 
That is unfortunate. If the woods is in ya you'll find your way back to em.


My machine shop boss was talking about hacks-men today... I had to inform him that things wern't really like that in the woods, and if some jerk was yelling and screaming all the time, and just generally being stupid, he'd find himself where the cadaver dogs would have trouble finding him, or with a whole bunch of ruined expensive equipment and nobody showing up on Monday to pay for it.

but I digress,

you looking into maybe buying that old Case skidder? Going it on your own?... some would say don't do it, I say take the reins and run like Hel...

Thats a big ten fir on that one..and well I don't have the money for it right now, but I can dream can't I! I was just curious about it, the older equipment from 19 forever ago really gets me going. I'd love to get something on my own going but for right now I'm just trying to get by and get established. If I end up moving out there I will most likely start working in the woods with that guy to get me started, then I'll go from there. My pops was also telling me how out in Montana there's a lot of work for a welder..and I gotta say I like welding and cutting trees about the same. I'd say they're my two favorite types of work, with welding being a little bit more forgiving. Most of the times a welder can grind his mistakes, a logger on the other hand as you all most proberly know, well if he or someone else around him makes mistakes he might not come home the same way he went to work or he might not come home at all....and lastly a cook well...he can eat his mistakes that's plan z for me
 
That is unfortunate. If the woods is in ya you'll find your way back to em.


My machine shop boss was talking about hacks-men today... I had to inform him that things wern't really like that in the woods, and if some jerk was yelling and screaming all the time, and just generally being stupid, he'd find himself where the cadaver dogs would have trouble finding him, or with a whole bunch of ruined expensive equipment and nobody showing up on Monday to pay for it.

but I digress,

you looking into maybe buying that old Case skidder? Going it on your own?... some would say don't do it, I say take the reins and run like Hel...

hey how hard is the whole runnin yer own numbers deal doing a side business?
 
hey how hard is the whole runnin yer own numbers deal doing a side business?

So far its not to bad, just keep track of your pays and owes, keep receipts, keep track of yer mileage ( I don't bother with the mileage end). Don't have to pay into LI for an owner operator in Warshington... (means I can not get hurt while logging... I do have medical and stuff though my day job... one more reason to keep it) contact your local county/township for local taxes.

You might save yourself a bit of headache by hiring an accountant... although what you pay them could be what you where supposed to get paid...

Quick books is supposed to be pretty good, I had the wifey make up an excell type thing makes it easy. and I can see at a glance where I'm at for the year as far as profits etc. and how much I'm burning in diesel, saw parts, machine parts etc. ad nauseum...

If your going to jump into it, make sure you do as much wrenching on your own as you can, grease is your friend, look at and analyze every cost to find a way to make it smaller, without sacrificing production to much or safety at all.

I've only been doing this a short time compared to some others on here, maybe they could chip in? As far as running the business end of things I really just cross my fingers and hope I'm legal... Tax laws can be a bit of a nightmare...

Now if your talking about busheling I.E. getting paid for what you cut in a day... not my bag, I go for day rate or %. others could tell you more about that end of it.
 
So far its not to bad, just keep track of your pays and owes, keep receipts, keep track of yer mileage ( I don't bother with the mileage end). Don't have to pay into LI for an owner operator in Warshington... (means I can not get hurt while logging... I do have medical and stuff though my day job... one more reason to keep it) contact your local county/township for local taxes.

You might save yourself a bit of headache by hiring an accountant... although what you pay them could be what you where supposed to get paid...

Quick books is supposed to be pretty good, I had the wifey make up an excell type thing makes it easy. and I can see at a glance where I'm at for the year as far as profits etc. and how much I'm burning in diesel, saw parts, machine parts etc. ad nauseum...

If your going to jump into it, make sure you do as much wrenching on your own as you can, grease is your friend, look at and analyze every cost to find a way to make it smaller, without sacrificing production to much or safety at all.

I've only been doing this a short time compared to some others on here, maybe they could chip in? As far as running the business end of things I really just cross my fingers and hope I'm legal... Tax laws can be a bit of a nightmare...

Now if your talking about busheling I.E. getting paid for what you cut in a day... not my bag, I go for day rate or %. others could tell you more about that end of it.
This is pretty good advice. Quick Books pro is alright, this year we are using an accountant because we gotten into wildlands firefighting for the govt.(I'd rather pay him than pay Uncle Spam)Don't know if you are a cutter or not, if you aren't ;you should maybe look for some exp. there.(no partners, they suck!)As far as how to bid, each job will be different. Mostly I am against day pay or hourly stuff but you have to set a rates because a little 1/2 load job will involve bidding,transportation of equipment,labor,fuel,oil,hauling,etc.,etc. Out here in Mt. fuel reduction is huge. It is not uncommon to get up to $3500 per acre plus the timber. But in the logging scheme of things its not that so. Out here it is almost all by the ton, some pay by the board foot(only when the scale is poor.lol) My hr. rate comes together like this. $65.00 hr. for operatore and skidder or crawler, $50.00 per hr. for falling/bucking, trucks sub to me for $85.00 hr. And clean up is at $20.00 for hand piling. Post and rail sales r up out here so there is almost zero waste in the lodge pole pine and sometimes fir. And the bigger, gnarly, unmerch. stuff w/ forks and burls and catfaces should be salvaged and sold or used to carvers. If it were me I might talk to your friends dad and tell him your dreams, maybe he would let you sub from him and it would be like O.J.T. . I will say again, i don't know your exp. level so don't take anything as a slam. Desire first, then ability, then experience. and the most important thing is to remember to be safe. Don't take silly chances when 20 min. more at the end of the day is all the safe route would have taken. S.T.O.P.(stop,think,observe,plan) And don't forget to look up (a lot)IMHO:cheers:
 
So far its not to bad, just keep track of your pays and owes, keep receipts, keep track of yer mileage ( I don't bother with the mileage end). Don't have to pay into LI for an owner operator in Warshington... (means I can not get hurt while logging... I do have medical and stuff though my day job... one more reason to keep it) contact your local county/township for local taxes.

You might save yourself a bit of headache by hiring an accountant... although what you pay them could be what you where supposed to get paid...

Quick books is supposed to be pretty good, I had the wifey make up an excell type thing makes it easy. and I can see at a glance where I'm at for the year as far as profits etc. and how much I'm burning in diesel, saw parts, machine parts etc. ad nauseum...

If your going to jump into it, make sure you do as much wrenching on your own as you can, grease is your friend, look at and analyze every cost to find a way to make it smaller, without sacrificing production to much or safety at all.

I've only been doing this a short time compared to some others on here, maybe they could chip in? As far as running the business end of things I really just cross my fingers and hope I'm legal... Tax laws can be a bit of a nightmare...

Now if your talking about busheling I.E. getting paid for what you cut in a day... not my bag, I go for day rate or %. others could tell you more about that end of it.

man that sounds pretty complex for me!
 

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