needing to buy witch one?

[semologger]

Knuckle boom loader on a Ford 10 wheeler Nice looking rig for 8 thousand. Or find a skidder for around that?
I am buying a few pine thinnings of small diameter wood. I am trying to figure out what to buy next. I am going to use a feller buncher to cut with thats my dads i am going to rent. I have a small 24 horse power yanmar tractor with a front end loader to skid with. And all i have to haul with is a 2006 half ton chevey truck. With a 18 foot trailer. One of the jobs i have is 15 miles away. Then the other one 35 then 60 miles away from my mill. I do not have my CDLs and dont plan on getting them. But i can get a driver to help me out with the truck. What would you go out and buy I dont have enough barrowing power to buy both right now. And getting the wood trucked for me will cost way to much. Semo

[JDeere]

If I were in your shoes, I would probably buy the skidder. With that you can always make money and then hire out the trucking. I can tell you from years of experience, trucks can be a money pit. I know a lot of loggers who have logged for years and they hire out the trucking. By the time you buy, insure, register and pay all the fees associated with a heavy truck and then hire a driver to haul the wood skidded with a 24 HP tractor you may as well go fishing. It will be a lot cheaper and way more fun.

[treefarmer87]

get the truck and save some money and get a good skidder

[chevytaHOE5674]

I agree with JDeere. You can always hire the trucking. In fact it is often more cost effective to hire the trucking as you don't have to worry about maintenance, insurance, registration, DOT, etc. Then you can focus your time on cutting/skidding and marketing your product.

[semologger]

Ive been giving it some more thought. On one of the jobs its about 15 acre clear cut. All of it lays next to a field that i can carry the trees out to the field and lay them out. He is wanting all the tops shoved into a pile. I really wont need the skidder on this job since its long and not very wide. The cutter is a 221 hydroax with a shear head i carry the trees staight up and down. I can carry them out fast than the can be skidded. Then the next job is also a clear cut i have to look at tomarrow. Not sure on the acreage. I Know what you are saying JDeere about the cost of a truck But around here there really is not any contract trucks that i can get. I found One guy that hauls around 4 thousand feet to a load and he wanted $275 to 300 a load to haul 30 miles. If i have my own truck sitting there i can load it as i go. I can always get my dad to do the driving for me. I am hoping to get ahead enough on these 2 jobs to be able to get a skidder.

[semologger]

Plus i can use the truck to haul wood for my guys that haul into my mill with ton trucks.

[log cutter]

I don't know if I can help but here is how I look at it.
$275 per load deliver. Here the expenses run 35% for fuel. Fuel cost $ 96.25
   Labor cost 33%   $90.75 , so that leaves $88 dollars for truck payment,maintenance, tires,insurance, licenses,break downs,taxes and profit.
Here running your pickup and trailer hauling wood product like that you would have to have a cdl.
  And skidding with tractor how long does it take to produce a 4 thousand ft load? Here a four thousand ft load runs anywhere from 6 to 7 tons per thousand. I figure I can make more money hiring a truck than owning one. Around trip of 30 miles takes 2.5 hours per round. I can easily produce a thousand bd. ft. in that amount of time. If I'm getting a 20 per ton I'm further ahead financially. Hope this helps. 

[Maine372]

trucks can be parked when theres no work. but theres still registration, insurance, DOT inspections and fines, plus the hassle of getting your CDL.

skidder can be parked when theres no work. and started again when there is work.

producing wood with a tractor is slow, and that truck is going to be sitting the whole time waiting for a load to haul. i would get the skidder first, then as your demand to move wood increases you can look into a truck.