The skidder

[Jaredm]

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.Ya , I gotta keep pluggin along and keep building up slowly ...I would want to go down and ride back up .....but that peice of iron looks like a good deal ....I found a 353 ,but I don,t know how it would bolt up to the hyd pump ..I would prolly need to move the front motor mounts back a bit ..... It wouldn,t be able to pull quite as hard as it could with a 453 , but it would still pull enough for me ...

If you dont mind looking a little farther away, there are lots or 4-53's in fish boats all you should have to change is the the exhaust manifold and a couple other little things.

 

[Metals406]

around here it'd be "look at all those frickin dozer roads you don't have to have"


Snaggin 'em, holler by holler.

:agree2:

 

[tramp bushler]

If you dont mind looking a little farther away, there are lots or 4-53's in fish boats all you should have to change is the the exhaust manifold and a couple other little things.

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. Thats a good idea Jaredm ... the 453 was a pretty common Troller motor

 

[Jaredm]

whats wrong with the 4-53 you have? not worth rebuilding?

 

[slowp]

around here it'd be "look at all those frickin dozer roads you don't have to have"
Snaggin 'em, holler by holler.

I like yarders bestest. Except when the logger can't lay out a straight corridor, which is not a problem in a clearcut.

 

[bitzer]

This White Spruce has lots of limbs , but they break off very easy ....If they are yarded very far ,few hundred feet most of the limbs are broke off ...The thing I hate about limbing is getting my chain in the snow all the time

Winter cuttin! Twice the work sometimes. Have to kick the snow far enough away from the stump so you are not workin in it all the time. Kickin snow away from where you are buckin so you can see what you're doing. Kickin snow away from limbs if its worth not putting the tip in the snow. Digging around under the log in the snow for the choker. Cold, wet hands when the gloves are too much to find the end of the choker under the other side of the log. Fun. Fun. Lately I've figured out that by using a hookeroon to push under a log to the other side and hooking the choker on to it and pulling it towards me saves a lot of diggin around in the snow. We also had a thaw/rain/re-freeze so now I've got to bust the snow away from the stump with my ax or my saw handle likes to catch on the ground when I'm trying to cut low.

 

[tramp bushler]

whats wrong with the 4-53 you have? not worth rebuilding?

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.Possibly not . May have a cracked block .

 

[Curlycherry1]

Winter cuttin! Twice the work sometimes. Have to kick the snow far enough away from the stump so you are not workin in it all the time. Kickin snow away from where you are buckin so you can see what you're doing. Kickin snow away from limbs if its worth not putting the tip in the snow. Digging around under the log in the snow for the choker. Cold, wet hands when the gloves are too much to find the end of the choker under the other side of the log. Fun. Fun. Lately I've figured out that by using a hookeroon to push under a log to the other side and hooking the choker on to it and pulling it towards me saves a lot of diggin around in the snow. We also had a thaw/rain/re-freeze so now I've got to bust the snow away from the stump with my ax or my saw handle likes to catch on the ground when I'm trying to cut low.

I prefer deep hard snow. The logs come out clean. Blocking is easy and does not stick the bar in the dirt. As for getting a chain around a log a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe that is heated and bent into a U is light and works for poking under a log to snag a chain and bring in back under the log.

As for the cold it can get to be a pain but I always wear plastic bibed rain pants and a jacket along with my chaps, and I am often sweating in very short order and have to lose the jacket. I can always add layers, but I cannot get naked in the woods in the summer to cool off.

 

[tramp bushler]

Once you get your snares ( chockers ) trained , they poke under a log fairly well ..... New chockers pretty much suck , not trained very well , just go straight where ever they are pointed ....We don,t use chains out here.

 

[Curlycherry1]

Once you get your snares ( chockers ) trained.

Us East Coasters used chains for choking logs. The chain then hooks into a keyhold slider on the winch cable. I saw one outfit using cable chokers once and the guys hated them. I was told when a cable wears out a wire will poke out and stab a person in the hand, chains never do that. Having been poked by cables with bad wires doing other tasks I know it can cause some major damage and I would not want the threat of that poking hanging around me all day.

I once tried to use some knobby chains that had lumps on them to dig into the bark on a log which they did like a pit bull. Problem was those things would eat gloves and hand skin in very short order. Those chains lasted about 2 days before I took them back and got normal chains. My hands even with gloves on looked like hamburger after using those nasty chains.

 

[Blazin]

Yeah chain chokers here too, never tried the cable deals but it's bad enough dealin with the winch line at times. I've prolly dug a million holes under a downed tree with a stick to get the chain under Got one of them fancy pull rods now

 

[bitzer]

Once you get your snares ( chockers ) trained , they poke under a log fairly well ..... New chockers pretty much suck , not trained very well , just go straight where ever they are pointed ....We don,t use chains out here.

Thats mostly the problem. That and when I'm trying to bunch 5 or 6 logs together. I use cables and chains. Chains on the bigger stuff (25+"), cables for the bundles of smaller diameter stuff (10-20+").

 

[056kid]

Us East Coasters used chains for choking logs. The chain then hooks into a keyhold slider on the winch cable. I saw one outfit using cable chokers once and the guys hated them. I was told when a cable wears out a wire will poke out and stab a person in the hand, chains never do that. Having been poked by cables with bad wires doing other tasks I know it can cause some major damage and I would not want the threat of that poking hanging around me all day.

I once tried to use some knobby chains that had lumps on them to dig into the bark on a log which they did like a pit bull. Problem was those things would eat gloves and hand skin in very short order. Those chains lasted about 2 days before I took them back and got normal chains. My hands even with gloves on looked like hamburger after using those nasty chains.

You speak for yourself, This east coaster uses 8' chokers on the skidder, & 15' on the 6-71 madill. i have had cables bite me in one side & out the other, but Im still here.. you cant shove a limp chain under a big log...

Chain chokers are for democrats. . .

 

[056kid]

Once you get your snares ( chockers ) trained , they poke under a log fairly well ..... New chockers pretty much suck , not trained very well , just go straight where ever they are pointed ....We don,t use chains out here.

Trained properly they are a-ok. Spend time choking small stuff & you got a jerry curled choker that aint good for anything but fighting with. . .

 

[tramp bushler]

Their called Jaggers

, The wires that break off and stick in you here there and every where .. Thats why riggin men wear cotton gloves . If you have tough leather gloves on and get a jagger in them with a line that is goin somewhere ,better hope it,s a nice place cause you are prolly goin there too....... Thru a block , or too the landing ..ect. especially if your the chaser and you are spooling the haul back by hand pickin up the back line ................Probably not the safest thing a guy can do ....

 

[Metals406]

That's why you spend time on the landing straightening bent chokers. . . There's no such thing as "down-time". If trees aren't coming to the landing, there's always something else to do.

 

[Humptulips]

Jaggers and cats *****. The choker dogs curse

Can't even imagine using a chain. In the old days when they used flat hook chokers they had a tool like you chain guys are talking about. They called it a duke. I have one I found in a cedar swamp logged in the twenties. Of course they had powder for choker holes too.

 

[Metals406]

We tried to avoid jaggers with thick PVC gloves and fallers gloves under that. . . Worked pretty well.

 

[Humptulips]

You speak for yourself, This east coaster uses 8' chokers on the skidder, & 15' on the 6-71 madill. i have had cables bite me in one side & out the other, but Im still here.. you cant shove a limp chain under a big log...

Chain chokers are for democrats. . .

Such short chokers now a days with these mini yarders. We used to use nothing shorter then about 30 feet and up to 50. It took a manly man to pull back 3 wrapped up 1 1/8 chokers on a no lift high lead show.
Of course my Dad would say Wimps!!!!! We flew 1 3/8 by 40s at Clemons, Greenwood and Schafer Bros.

 

[joesawer]

Cotton gloves are the ticket for cable. you can feel and avoid the jaggers before they get you most of the time.
With leather gloves they pop through suddenly and then straight through your skin.
White Ox are the best. Baily's work safe are pretty good. But the last ones I got with Madsen's label where absolute junk.