Having a blast

[Paul_H]

SB,
from the pics I've seen of your place,the Moxy would be a good fit but when they breakdown it can be costly.On a decent road you can travel along at 30 mph and the Moxy has signal lights too.
Norm,
I think the Moxy holds around 15-18 yards but I don't know for certain.The wheels are still cutting through the snow up there and I think tomorrow is my last day there on the Moxy but I wouldn't want to wander around on the hills if things freeze upI don't have any problem saying "no"



Here is a little excavator I rented in the Summertime and considered buying it off of the owner for $4000.It has a 12 hp diesel and does a surprisingly good job for it's size and there is a niche for it around here but in the end,decided to pass.

It was fun to run 

Scott,
Finish your schooling first and then come out.Unless we get a major earthquake,BC won't be going anywhere for a long while.If you ever decide to come out this way,I'll try to help you out the best I can.

[Tillaway]

Man I need to start taking a camera to work.  Just today one of the crews was trying to jump a track back on a 071 Madill.  You know Paul on the Sherman tank carrier.  How we won the war I will never know.  They were trying to lift one side with the guy lines and a dozer.

Current yarders working on my sales include;
071 Madill, TMY40 Thunderbird, TY40 T-bird, 6140 T-bird, 50' Washington Swing- this one can grapple yard, 60' Skagit truck mount drums date from the 40's with a 60's model tube powered by a 500 cadillac with a bad alternator.  I will be getting a "Yoader" or two pretty quick. 

The TY 40 was hung 3000' to the tail hold for a few settings.  It was a 'bit" dicey but they managed to pull it off. They only had about six wraps on the skyline drum and the mainline was nearly tapped out reaching the back, almost 2000'.

[Paul_H]

Those little 071's had a M6 undercarriage I think.There are a couple still around the area here that work occasionally.



I spent a couple of really cold days on this 071 in late November 2003.The yarder was on loan to a local farmer that was putting in a 8" waterline for irrigation and I kind of volunteered because Mark is a good guy and we have done some horse trading before.
The waterline was put in underneath the Lillooet river by a directional drilling contractor but the pipe didn't have any water in it when the flood came in Oct and the pipe floated right up to the top of the river.
We ended up pulling the line out of the river with the 071 and the remaining portion behind the machine was pulled out with a D7.




Our job with the 071 was to drag the 8" pipe back to the bluff in the picture above(around 800',can't remember) to the intake.Mark and his son Peter are heading across and have a long hike back up to the bluff.We used walkie talkies to communicate and I hugged the muffler for warmth while they hiked out there.




Here is a picture showing the butt rigging which would normally have chokers hung from the bullhooks.We used it to attach the pipe.
At night we had to hang ribbon on the lines that were suspended across the river so we wouldn't snag any aircraft   




The  3 guylines were anchored in the ground to "deadmen". This pic shows part of the tank undercarriage.

It was a fun couple of days and just after Christmas Mark and his wife took everyone who helped on the project out for a Prime Rib dinner and some good visiting.

Tillaway,
I hope you remember to take your camera out with you everyday.I would love to see some of what you are doing down there

[Tillaway]

Looks like that 071 was missing a vital piece... like the cab. 

My wife controls the cameras, I would have to sneak the digital out.

Whatever those chassis are they sure throw tracks.  I think they will go faster than I would want to ride too.  Our roads can be pretty steep > 20% on some so moving one down hill through switch backs tends to take a while.  That and the steering is a bit "iffy" at times.  One contractor that had very little experience tipped one off the road last year while moving it.  Something about a steering issue common to them.

[Paul_H]

That missing cab was why I was so ccold 

The brakes on the M6 originally  had mechanical levers to apply them and the bands are in a oil bath.On the 071,they were modified with air pots and unless they are set just perfect they want to steer one way so you have to play a game of catch and release to compensate and it can get spooky because it swings the machine back and forth across the road.The undercarriage wasn't designed for that kind of weight either and sometimes the tracks want to snap,then you have no brakes 

I hope you can sneak the digital out of the house and get some pictures posted here again. 

[SwampDonkey]

  What?!!!! The boss has to keep the operator warm or he'll be whining for ever. No wonder the michine was all over the road with all that shivering and shaking from the cold.

Some of the boys were cutting hardwood on a high knoll here a couple years ago. That winter we had alot of cold NW wind, most every day. When your sittin up on a loader for 3 or 4 hours straight loading one truck after another it gets pretty frigid in -20 F plus windchill. They said it was the coldest place on earth. I never laughed so hard in my life when they told me about it. Some people mind the cold alot, heck I walk in the woods in winter with just a couple sweeters and wool pants and light gloves with holes. Grant you, walking is alot warmer than sitten.

Cold Whimps, that's what they are.

[Paul_H]

SwampDunkey,

Move your computer outside for the day the next time it's -20 F and report back to us. 

[SwampDonkey]

  I have, my Panasonic WINCE computer.

It's still funny. I had to cruise the same dang lot they was freeze'n on

[Paul_H]

If the sight of a metal seat with ice on it doesn't make you think of PrepH then I'm going to have to insist that you move your computer outside. 

What is a Panasonic WINCE?

[SwampDonkey]

Forum Link

[Paul_H]

Things are slow here right now. I have been working now and then.The logging co I was working for is scrapping and auctioning off a lot of  their older equipment.For the past few work days,my job has been to drain the lubricants and Diesel out of the machines to be scrapped.An average machine has 60-80 gals of oil in them not including the diesel.

I have worked on two old yarders on a M4A3 carrier(Sherman Tank) this week and it was making me kind of Blue because it is the end of an era here in BC's coast.  Those old yarders were built in the 1960's and I worked with some great crews in the late 70's and 80 on those machines.
It really had me thinking back and I found myself thinking alot about my Dad so I called him when I got home.

Dad understands what I'm going through and we had a good talk about the old tank carriers and yarder winches and engines. It's what I did since before I turned 16 and working with small gypo operations meant that we got to do a bit of everything including monkey wrenching the old girls.

Funny how an old hunk of Iron can stir up so many memories and emotions





The second pic has my brother Don (hooktender) on the right hand side with the green shirt and silver hat.I'm in the middle,standing on the log.I was just turning 18 and Don was 21.

We fought like cats and dogs 



Dino with his feet up at lunch time. The old tank carrier to the right in the pic is the same type that I have been preping for the scrap steel guys.

5 years after these pics were taken,my logging partner Kevin and I bought the yarder from my dad for $5500.We had a timber sale comimg up the following year as well as a yarding contract with Triple C in the Mamquam drainage.
As we were working on it in the Winter,fixing the tracks and bogies,a couple of older guys were hanging around one day heckling us and running the old machine down.We had enough after awhile and told them that we understood that their wives didn't want them hanging around home but we wanted them to go enlighten someone else because we were about done.

Old Vic laughed and admitted that he wanted to buy the yarder for a sale he had down the Sound.We told him that we weren't interested but he offered $15000.
We talked to my Dad later and he said"take the money and run " 




We sold it to Vic and he loaded it on to this barge and headed down Howe Sound.I took this picture because I honestly thought I'd never see it again.
When they finished down the Sound and loaded the yarder onto the barge again,it slid off wile loading and the yarder ended up in 20' of saltwater 
Vic collected the insurance and did eventually salvage the yarder and we bought the tracks back for our tank drill.

I guess I kind of got nostalgic this week.I can remember waving at my Dad  and that old yarder in the pics above when I was 4 years old and it went by our house on the lowbed with a man up front and one out back slinging phone and power lines.

[SwampDonkey]

Thanks for the great pics and the story behind them. 



Btw, don't most brothers horse around? I guess your older brother gave ya some good thumpin's eh? My younger brother always thought it was his job to sit and tell me what to do. I'de say, ok I'll be waiting for ya to help me.

[Jeff]

Let me know if they look like they are goona toss da yarding whistle!   I got a bug to be a punk.

[Paul_H]

SD,
yep,Don used to lay a whupping on me when we were younger but things evened out eventually.Scrapping at work was always taboo so sometimes we had to quit early. 

Jeff,
the cabs off of those yarders are long gone.The air chime was always mounted on the top of the cab but I'll have a look and see if there is still a relay on the machine that is left.The other 4 are already cut up and hauled away.
I'll keep my eyes peeled for an air chime.

[Norm]

Great pictures and stories Paul, please feel free to add more as time permits. It's good memories like those that keep us young at heart.

[Tillaway]

At the way scrap prices are now I can see why they are keeping you busy.  One local family, who's place looks like a scrap yard, has ben cleaning up a bit lately.  They hauled to old yarders to the scrap yard and got more money for one of them than they originally paid for it.

Anyway some loggers around here have been up in B.C. kicking tracks on the old yarders for sale up there.  The ones down here are too beat up, bigger selection of better machines up there.

[Tom]

The old Axiom, "The grass is greener on the other side of the fence", must work on National borders too. 

[SwampDonkey]

The old Axiom, "The grass is greener on the other side of the fence", must work on National borders too. 

Tom, I thought your map showed a big red line and a big white open space with a warning about  ogres.  

[Tom]

It does......   and lions 'n tigres 'n swamps 'n all manner of pestulance. 

But that's my map and some folks have never seen it. 

[Paul_H]

I think that there is still a good selection of 009's sitting around up here.There was a guy named Dave Donn from Ontario that came through a few years ago and bought up quite a few to set up as draglines in peat bogs back East and he bought the two that we had.They were both in good operating condition,the one had fairly new tracks and both were equipped with Wichita brakes on the winch(main&haulback)

The three that were scrapped this past week were of the mid 1960's vintage and were equipped with band brakes on the winch and were powered by V12 Screaming Jimmy's. (lots of noise,no action)  

Tillaway,
are they still using the big tension skidders down your way?