5860 stolen

coxy · October 13, 2017, 01:09:10 PM

ed if I lived closer to you I would be there in a heart beat to help you at no charge to get you out of there and on better ground I hate people that do crap like this but for now keep your friends close and your enemies closer for a few weeks

codemunk3y · October 13, 2017, 04:46:00 PM

Ed, I wouldn't worry about calling the police and getting them to get any forensics off the machine, after a couple of weeks out in the weather there would be 0% chance of getting any prints or DNA unless it was somewhere right out of the way.

Glad to hear you got it back.

Pine Ridge · October 13, 2017, 09:24:51 PM

I've watched this thread daily, I am so glad you got your tractor back !!!!! With all the bad going on in the world today it is great to see a good ending.

mills · October 14, 2017, 04:59:02 AM

Ed, glad to see it worked out. I really felt bad for you back when you posted that you may not go back to logging. Then it made me angry that a ... thief stole more than a piece of equipment. He stole a life style.

Had something similar happen to me a few years ago. Some joy riders on four wheelers showed up at one of my remote job sites. The beer cans and cigarette butts told me they weren't kids. I'm guessing they were looking for the skidder key and left the motor panel loose. I looked around but couldn't find that they had done anything. Started the skidder up, backed up, and heard something clang. I had run over the panel. Bent it up pretty good. Straightened it up as best I could, but it's not as square as it should be and is tough to get it latched. Called the law out. Deputy took some pictures, acted like I had wasted his time, and left. I mainly wanted it documented in case more came out of it. I then followed their trail for over a mile through the woods, but lost it when their tracks merged with another group of four wheelers. Area has been known to have quite a bit of drug activity, and one of the neighbors had been busted a few times. I know his driveway stayed pretty busy. Paid him a visit and asked him to help me watch the place. Let him know that the law had been out, and hoped they caught them before I did. Didn't have any more trouble after that, but I felt better when I moved out. Keep thinking I'm going to set a a trail cam at my landings, but that would just be something else to keep up with.

PA_Walnut · October 14, 2017, 05:53:19 AM

*DanG shame that people can't stay in their own lane. I guess it conforms to the Laws of Nature: predator or prey. Guess it's just part of the "human condition".

We all must decide which narrative we'll run with.

Ed_K · October 14, 2017, 07:12:34 AM

Had a hard time sleeping last night, keep thinking they'll come back and try to burn everything. I have been thinking about a trail camera but like Rita said they probably steal it to, or shoot it up if I could get way up in a tree with no branches >:( .

Ed_K · October 14, 2017, 08:40:38 AM

Just talked to my trucker, we're moving the skidder home this week. Give me something to do when I hurt to much to cut trees. I need to make some kind of ladder system so it's easier for me to get on and off of it. Some kind of telescoping rig. Like they use on the new forwarder's.

Crusarius · October 14, 2017, 08:45:32 AM

Had a friend that had a lifted jeep and a wife that was 5' tall. He used used a stirrup from a saddle. Bolted it to the seat bolt so it could dangle out the door. Didn't need to be brought back in cause it was floating. But if it was left out it got kinda muddy.

This probably won't work to well for you but figured it could be an idea.

Dave Shepard · October 14, 2017, 09:15:10 AM

A neighbor built a platform for his father that had an electric winch to lift it up to the height of the tractor floor. It wasn't too complicated.

pineywoods · October 14, 2017, 09:36:51 AM

You might go poking around on the internet looking at handicap lifts for rv's. There are several around that would be easy to adapt to a forwarder. I looked at one that dropped a small platform down to ground level. Stand on the platform, flip a switch and the platform rises to floor board level and stows out of the way. Not a wheelchair lift by the way, those can get rather expensive and complex. I spent some time (engineering analysis) designing one for our rv for the wife to use. May do it yet...

tawilson · October 14, 2017, 09:57:01 AM

Quote from: Ed_K on October 14, 2017, 07:12:34 AM
Had a hard time sleeping last night, keep thinking they'll come back and try to burn everything. I have been thinking about a trail camera but like Rita said they probably steal it to, or shoot it up if I could get way up in a tree with no branches >:( .

I'm thinking it might be worth the investment to get one of the trail cams with a sim card. I might get a picture of the thief before he steals it.

coxy · October 14, 2017, 12:15:37 PM

Ed don't know if you get the northern logger book but a few years back there was story on a young guy that go hurt bad in a stock car and they made a lift for his skidder and they also took a mini Toro dingo (think that's the name )tracked skidsteer and put in a chair for him he hunts and looks at log jobs with it the guys that did the fab work did an excellent job for him and if I remember right they did it for free you maybe able to call the NL book and get a date so you can look at it if you want the young mans name pm me and I can give you his info

Ljohnsaw · October 14, 2017, 12:34:39 PM

Quote from: Ed_K on October 14, 2017, 08:40:38 AM
Just talked to my trucker, we're moving the skidder home this week. Give me something to do when I hurt to much to cut trees. I need to make some kind of ladder system so it's easier for me to get on and off of it. Some kind of telescoping rig. Like they use on the new forwarder's.

Take a look at the ladders on the back of ski boats. The top part is fixed but the lower part just folds down into the water with a standoff leg to support it against the transom. That would be an easy build/adaptation. Could use on old extension ladder section for good solid rungs.

Ed_K · October 14, 2017, 04:17:45 PM

Coxy, I remember that article I thought cat did redid the skidder so the kid could lift up into it then lock into where the seat would be and all the controls where redone so he could run it with hand controls. I like the idea of the boat ladder. Rita and I moved the equipment this morning up to the side of an open hay field in sight from the house,where I go into the job so I'll feel a little better now.

barbender · October 14, 2017, 04:38:26 PM

Ed, our Ponsse machines have a hydraulic folding ladder. My buddies harvester is a little older and he was having trouble with the hydraulics, so he just eleminated them. Now he just climbs the sreps and pulls them up with a rope he attached to them, and holds them up with a bungee. It would be pretty simple to build a set for a skidder.

lopet · October 14, 2017, 07:30:42 PM

Forwarder and Harvester operator get only out of the cab to have a leak, probably don't even need the ladder. ;D ;D
A skidder has to be easy to get on and off because you do that dozens of times a day. I think a simple three step ladder with a hand rail will do the trick and not those hanging cables thingis. Mine are all in the scrap, just can't work like that.

Randy88 · October 14, 2017, 08:13:24 PM

After you get on and off anything enough times a day, no matter how high up off the ground you are, any descent ladder that starts a foot or slightly more off the ground is a welcome relief. I'd vote for the flip down ladder myself with a rope attached to it, we've done similar things to machines before ourselves and it makes life a lot easier.

I'm a fan of the electric cylinder myself, hook it up to 12 volt and stick the ladder straight up parallel to the cab, much like a lot of the older gleaner rotary combines had for their ladders. Some of us are finding we need hand rails as well, built into the ladder mechanism. Just a thought.

barbender · October 14, 2017, 10:27:32 PM

Lopet, your completely right😁 Typically, I wouldn't recommend this type of step for a cable skidder, but Ed needs something easy to get on and off right now, and this fits the bill. My old cable skidder has a loop of heavy cable hanging down for a step. It's out of the way and doesn't get hung up on stuff, but it's not much good as a step, either😁

Randy88 · October 15, 2017, 03:14:54 AM

You can add on the list along with the swinging cables, chains with the links welded to form a step, work fine going up, coming off the machine, well, they suck at best, without a handrail to aid you, downright dangerous. The view from the ground looking up as you lay flat on your back after falling, not priceless, but enough to make a change in the step system on the spot.

lopet · October 15, 2017, 11:14:09 AM

I guess we are all individual and have different habits how to get on and off a piece of equipment.
No idea what would or will work for Ed, just throwing in a couple of ideas.

Ed_K · October 16, 2017, 09:37:41 AM

I have the cable stair at the bottom now and when you get your foot into it slide's in under the belly. Kind'a throws you back. I did find a telescoping ladder for boats that looks promising on amazon. It's cheaper than what I can build. I'm not smart enough to get a picture of one from amz to here. Right now the side of the skidder slants outward as you climb and it's all I can do to hold on to the pieces of angle irons I welded to the side. It was a good idea at first. I'm putting the camera into the lunch box maybe I can remember it's there and take some picts.

Maine372 · October 16, 2017, 09:35:36 PM

ive seen steps made out of what I think is the drive chain from a stroke delimber. weld a section of it together so it its stiff where you step on it, but flexible on the verticle pieces. but because its like a motorcycle chain it only bends in one direction, so it wont slide under the machine like you say.