OOPS! another day of logging

[plasticweld]

Things were going great the other day, I was on another job working and got a call that the skidder had lost a tire, No big deal I thought' turns out the axle housing had broke. I could not find a whole axle and housing so ended up buying another skidder that was a parts machine for $3000. Should be back to work on Monday. Lots of other good parts on the parts machine so in the end I guess I made out pretty good

 

[Oldtimer]

Well, THAT blows!

Any close-up pics of the damage? I just wonder what could cause the entire housing to bust off like that?

There's a 666 Clark-Ranger here in NH for sale, D/A grapple with a winch, @ $16,500.
Seems like a nice machine. If I were in the market, I'd consider it for sure.
Do the axles lock in and out like a John Deere with these machines? After having the JD, I'm not sure I could go for a full time machine.

Ranger 666 Skidder

 

[Oldtimer]

Also, I found this ad here in NH, 664 parts machine.

664 Clark Ranger parts skidder

 

[plasticweld]

If I had to guess that orginally the machine had the parking brake come off and it when for a ride down a hill and smacked a tree or rock. I knew the axle had been repaired when I bought the machine. If I had to guess the cause of the damage would be the down hill run away based on my on past experience with the parking brakes on the clark. I have watched more than one of my skidders roll down the hill without an driver. It is the second Clark I have owned and I like the machine, it is easy to run un like my timberjack for new help and has always been pretty dependable, I do put micro locks on them now.

The spare machine I bought would not move under its own power. The previous owner had the transmissioni rebuilt at a cost of $3200. I have already taken the old motor and torque converter out of the parts machine. It turns out that the fiber gear that drives the torque converter was junk. There was nothing wrong with the transmission he had rebuilt but he got tired of dumping money into the machine and sold it to me. He started out much higher but settled for the $3000. So I have spare tons of spare parts. Thanks for the link like all things I couldn't find anything when I had to have it and this machine was local so trucking it was cheap

As to the history of the break I am sure that the crack just got bigger over the last couple of weeks with all of the mud we had, "the ground still has not frozen here yet " The mud covered the area where it broke and it was not until the skidder man backed the machine up that the wheel just fell off in the landing after pushing up. I am sure if I had paid better attention to the area I could have caught it before it fell off. The bottom line is that for what it cost for the parts I am glad to have a solid axle housing under the machine rather than one that had been repaired.

As all mistakes and break downs in the woods almost all could have been prevented thats why I am not shy about posting up pictures of my screw ups it might just save another logger some grief and if nothing else let the next guy know who is broke down with something else, " It's all part of the Game" and he is not the only one going through this

The axles are locked all of the time and it does not seem hard on the tires. My first skidder was a 440 A which had the differenal lock and I don't think this machine is any harder on tires or turning than the old 440

 

[mingo]

I lost a wheel on my Timberjack a couple of years ago nut backed off broke the axle. Had to move my Buddy's skidder down to pull it out to the landing. Wasn't to bad picked up a used axle had to take the spindle off to get the threads chased. Mine has Detroit lockers it's not rough on tires, but it likes to chew the ground up when your turning, but it sure will climb.

 

[hardmaple]

We had a old 230 TimberJack a long time ago and it was in the middle of January and well below zero,was coming out with a hitch one day and just brushed a little sapling and heard a SNAP.It had snapped the lock ring in the planetaries and lost power to that wheel.Cold is real hard on steel at that temperature.

 

[Oldtimer]

I agree, the full time 4x4 of locked rears on a TJ or Clark or Tree Farmer make them climb like geckos, but my C5D needed a 5 point turn in places this 648 can wheel right through.
I found the Deere doesn't like climbing like the C5D, the rears DO slip a bit.
But no crab walking, no sliding down slopes while turning, zero ground disturbance, less wear on tires and chains, and the general speed it allows far outweigh the limited climbing.

 

[mingo]

Yes those Funk rears with inboard planetaries are nice the earlier JD 440's had wheel seal problems, but that was corrected.

 

[mainelogger1995]

one of the big nuts that holds the axel and planetarys in my franklin backed off the other day....jumped me when i was driving and the tire fell off! hahaha