Wood gathering monster

My dad and I went together to buy the biggest JD track loader they make, brand new. Won't be using it exclusively for wood but the grapple bucket and 6000 lb lift capacity will make gathering wood for next season ALOT easier.

Snow cover has kept ground from freezing so I have only had limited opportunities to get out and use it. It weights 11,000 lbs, has 95 hp (huge for skid steerers). has a power fan than can reverse to blow dirt back out of radiator. 2 bolts the cab comes off and biggest tracks. Pilot hand controls, self level loader, creeper, 2 speed, ac/heat and all kinds of neat options.

I don't need it, but I want it. Nice!

Very nice indeed.


Zap

For sure that will come in handy for wood gathering and many other chores. Snow won't stop it either and it will probably go through a lot of mud too. Nice machine.

You will love it. I have an ASV 4520older tracked skidsteer. It will go right over that soft ground and get the wood. I just built a 3 point adapter with a pto hyd motor and run my snow blower with it. It really moves the snow. Using it in the woods does very little damage. The only downside is they are high maintanence so keep up on the pm things. Also try and not turn tight all the time so you are easy on the tracks.
leaddog

Holy Smoke! Wow.......

Jay,bet you could have used that today.

Whats the point of posting those pictures, make me feel bad :cheese:, that is nice, can not imagine how much fun they will be to "play with".

Thanks for the compliments fellers!

Leaddogg, I spent a good amount of time comparing wheeled versus tracks. I'll take the P.M. for the stability/floating ability over a wheeled machine. I've read the manual 3 times. I agree with you on short turns. Also, 99% of the time it won't be on concrete/asphalt either.

I cut some dead trees down today. I will add a few hours to the 4 on it right now, tomorrow. 50s out. Can gather the branches and logs up for processing pretty fast. Wonder how fast with 6 different trees. TBC.....

[quote author="RowCropRenegade" date="1297551303"]My dad and I went together to buy the biggest JD track loader they make, brand new. Won't be using it exclusively for wood but the grapple bucket and 6000 lb lift capacity will make gathering wood for next season ALOT easier.

Glad to see I'm not the only one. It's not about the wood as much as it is about THE TOYS Very sweet rig!

Must be nice to have $$$$$$$$

-Soupy1957

lol soupy, instead of have $, it is now HAD money. lol

If you want to really make that into a wood getter watch for one of those military hyd winches and hook it to the back and power it with the aux hyd. You could snake 4 or 5 logs out to the landing and use the grapple to pick them up and cut them so they drop into the dump. One of those winches would be usefull there on the farm all the time. I missed one at auction a couple years ago. $80 and never run. Didn't have anything to use it on so didn't pick it up. Been kicking myself ever since getting the ASV. My eye is looking now.
leaddog

So, when they paint them yellow, are they any cheaper? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Rubber tracks are the way to go, you won't get stuck like you can with tires. Around here the terrain is steep, flatter in Ohio. I also put in a bunch of trails and cleared alot of spots. I am going to sell some lumber this year and load a dump truck or trailer. They sure are fun and come in handy. If you keep it in the dirt it will treat you good. That is alot of horespower. Be careful.

Leaddog, got a link to a picture what you are describing? I get the basic gist of what your saying.

I also got a set of forks for it. I like the self leveling loader with hydraulic flow turned way down when handling these 250 gal chemical totes. 3 different flow rates depending on job. Auto idle down is proving handy.

Golfandwoodnutt, I like you forks with grapple combo. Hadn't seen that one before. The grapple I have is classified as a "root grapple", has the pointed tines for digging scrub tree roots. Too sloppy to rut things up today and get mud on my yellow paint. which might be more expensive than the green paint! Almost got a bobcat but JD dealer is sooo close.

+1...that would make shoveling snow a lot more fun

Sorry no pic but it would be mounted on a plate that would slide in the rear hitch reciever and the hyd lines run to the hyd connections. That would leave the loader free for what ever and if you really got tough with it and snapped a cable you would be in the cab out of harms way. I wish I would have had one a couple years back when the farmer that rents my ground got stuck choping corn. Had the duel truck buried below the bumper. The 8 wheeled JD in front and the 4x4 chopper in front of that with straps between. At one time all were buried. My tracked skidsteer was able to get the load off and move some mud from the front. after getting the chopper out and then the JD out and moving to more solid ground they finally got things out. First though they had to send for the 12in strap cause they had broke the 6in and the 1/2in chains. They had to pull at an angle and I thought the frame was going to pull in half. When that big stuff goes down it is expensive. That wasn't a good day for them. First they eat some teeth in the chopper. fixed and a bolt came of that must have cracked in the first wreck and had to go thru it again. Then got stuck. 6hr's later $500parts, 5 trucks idle, 6 men idle, and no corn chopped. Made me glad I just rent out the ground. He was really glad I had my tools and skidsteer handy.
leaddog

Ya know, this unit doesn't have a hitch receiver. Never checked or asked. I probably won't need the winch in the firewood gathering I'm doing now. Clearing a section of woods to tile and farm. Trees are dying for some reason anyway. Great big red oaks. So moving logs around isn't a priority.... yet. I'm more interested in the hydraulic adjustable chain saw attachment. Cut limbs on boarders of fields. Way up high. Pricey for new at 12,000.

I can imagine the nightmare those farmers had. Good that they have a handy landlord. Youtube has some great videos of stuck farm machinery/farm disasters. Saw a 4x4 tractor pulled in two before. Pulling in tandem with another 4x4 with a tile plow. Mad.

500 dollars is cheap compared to some things I've heard/seen. Combine fire being the worst.

My ASV has a hitch but it was made so you could reverse the seat and use it as a tractor and it had a HYD pto in the front. I guess they made 3 pt arms for it also but I've never seen any. Very versatal machine but I don't think the new ones have those. I took the hyd pto out and mounted it to a 3pt adapter for the arms and I can run my snowblower, brushhog, tiller, and other equipment with it. Makes for a snow throwing machine. The brushhog on the front works great mowing down the cattails down into the lake as I can go right down into the water. I bought it because I had to build a road across one end of my lake. I moved over 600yds of rocks from stone piles and fence rows for the base and then moved all the sand for topping. They will go thru some really muddy spots and do alot of work. They also do very little damage working on wet ground. Lots of work keeping clean and pm'ing but very important. I'd like a wheeled skidsteer also for alot of the dry work I tend to do but I guess I have enough toys for now. Well maybe not, A long reach excavator would really work great around the lake and with the skidsteer to move the dirt away would keep me busy for most of the summer. Any one have one they would let me play with for a summer?????????? I'd be a kid again.
leaddog

Sounds like you have done some serious work and fabricating with your unit. My hat is off to you! 600 yards of stone is no small job. I look forward to challenging my unit to do a variety of jobs.

I wish I had one of those excavators myself. Got a used backhoe for cheap at an auction, it and the 333D will have to suffice for now. I think a 3 point attachment is an excellent idea, one that I'm going to pursue.

Do you pressure wash your tracks when you finish? In a heated building for storage? I know staying off concrete is important. Not turning sharp all the time. Keeping good tension on tracks. Cross obstacles at angles. Still learning...

I pressure wash it when I've been in mud and such and pull any clumps out other times. I don't have it in a heated shed this winter but hope to change that for next year. It would help starting. Doesn't start good when cold even with it pluged in. Running on concrete is ok, just don't turn sharp etc. Stay off broken and sharp concrete. I know they will turn tight but I will make wider turns or back up and forward turns to help with track wear. I'm not in a hurry, I'm retired
I had the bearings go out in the planitary box on the one side. Lucked out and just had to replace the bearings and seals. I thought it was going to eat up $3000 but got by for under$500 and that included replacing the spider sproket rollers. I also lucked out because in troubleshooting that problem I found that the hyd stainer had came off and got torn up. Replaced that, 30gal oil, three filters and $400 later back in business. luckily no pieces went thru the pumps otherwise it might have been scrapiron.
leaddog