I hate doing business with Pape they are a pain in the rear to say the least, now for a skidder they aren't used much out here for small ones such as a 648 lots of clam bunk style and shovel logging as well as the 517 527. Now for the difference the older cats the front diffs were always locked up and you'd hop a lot plus they had air brakes.
Been dealing with them since they bought out Hessel Tractor in Portland knowing what I do about them and how the company is i prefer to not do any business with them.
Out here they are on the clear cutting sides, if you see a skidder out here its one of the 6 Wheel tigercat clam bunk setups. We ran a 440 converted with a 540 long grapple back end in the thinning when we tree lengthed all the time but here for other then a one or two guy show you won't see small equipment. The standard shovel has become a 568 cat, cable assist cutting is getting big here as well too everything is getting well our wood is getting smaller.
