SHAW’S WIRE ROPES IRON TEST
Volvo’s return to factory-built forestry carriers has been capped with the arrival of the EC380DL, which is ideal for harvesting and processing our bigger wood. But it wouldn’t have happened without the tenacity of ex-logger-turned-salesman Ewen Satherley. Our Iron Test team sampled the first one to arrive, working with Mike Harris Logging near Taupo.
DON’T YOU JUST LOVE A NEW ZEALAND GOOD NEWS STORY. Here’ one with a twist, because it doesn’t involve anyone conjuring up a revolutionary concept using Number 8 wire and selling it off to the world.
It’s about a persistent Kiwi who badgered a big corporate equipment manufacturer into building a harvester/processor specially to suit loggers in our little corner of the world. Oh, and the Canadians, too. Got to give the Canucks credit, because if they hadn’t jumped on the bandwagon, we wouldn’t be doing this Iron Test on Mike Harris’ Volvo EC380DL in a corporate forest not far from Lake Taupo.
The story goes back four or five years ago, a little while after Volvo decided to ditch its earlier purpose-built forestry carriers, leaving New Zealand loggers and the local distributor, TransDiesel, scratching their heads.
They’d been good machines. Produced as both log loaders and processors, they garnered an excellent reputation for doing an exceptional job, but at much lower fuel use than comparable machines. Blame the GFC (Global Financial Collapse) for their demise, when big companies hunkered down and concentrated on core business and core products.
That meant if a contractor wanted a Volvo for forestry work, they’d have to wait while a standard excavator was beefed up with local guarding, a forestry cab and high and wide undercarriage before it could go to work. Not ideal.
But we don’t like giving up on a good thing.
So, along comes ex-logger, Ewen Satherley, who vacated his cab to start selling Volvo equipment in 2008 and gets into the Swedes about resurrecting the forest carrier range.
Like a dog with a bone, he didn’t let the subject go until they wilted under pressure and we saw the first of the new forestry range arrive three years ago, in the shape of the EC250DL and EC300DL models. They land here as purpose-built machines, with heavy-duty undercarriages and boom/arm, a forestry cab and guarding. All that’s needed is the implement on the end.
We tested the first EC250DL to arrive, which went to work for the Brolly crew in the Wairarapa and it was jolly good.
Job done? Absolutely not.
“It took us a while to get those machines built for our market and they’ve been good for us – but they are more suited to having a grapple or smaller head on the stick,” says Ewen Satherley, who has recently been promoted to the position of Timber & Material Handling National Product Manager at TransDiesel.
“When the Volvo guys came out after we got the Brolly machine working, as an off-the-cuff comment I said ‘when we’re done you’re going to build me a 380 version’. They all had a chuckle and laugh and said ‘yeah, whatever’.”
Or whatever they say in Swedish.
Ewen continues: “The reason we wanted a machine like that was for harvesting and processing.
“When I came off a 40-tonne base with a harvester on it, that was the
size you needed and a 300 is not big enough – if you want a big harvester or processor you need the extra weight in the base.
“Outside of the central plateau they would be more of a skid machine sitting under a pole with lots of power to pull up stems and process them. Round here, you’ll get a few of them in the cutover and doing a variety of work.
“There’s no substitute for a machine of that size. This area is littered with shallow gullies and if you can sit on the edge and reach into them from both sides and grab the majority of trees, once you’re at the point where you couldn’t reach any more then the gully is clear enough to get into it. You can do that with a big machine, but a smaller machine can’t reach into the bottom. The bigger machine also has the power when you are inside to push trees up and out.”
Ewen says there was a fair bit of conversing back and forth over the following 18 months about whether it could be done and it only got serious when Canada said it would take the EC380DL, too.
“It wouldn’t have happened without the Canadian market – ours is just too small,” he says. But the discussion were still protracted.
“There was always the components issue, and they’d say ‘we don’t build a forestry undercarriage for a 40-tonner’,” says Ewen.
“My suggestion was the 50-tonne high and wide carriage that goes under our 50-tonne construction machine – the Volvo EC480D. It’s strong enough to go into the forest and the track frame’s long, it’s got three top rollers and forestry guards and a belly pad. It’s about 700 off the ground and the advantage is it’s flat and doesn’t have legs sticking down, which makes it a true high and wide.
“Even though we bring the 480 in we never narrow them up and they get transported as they are. They are slightly wider than a normal 50-tonner so it works perfectly for the 380 because by the time you put on the catwalks and things, she’s spot on. The only other thing we specified was for the guarding to be carried over to make sure it was heavy enough.
“We continued with our theme of putting longreach counterweights on these machines so there’s an extra 1.5 tonnes on the arse end. It weighed 47 tonnes when it came off the boat, so it would be a little over 50 tonnes with the head.”
On top is the body from the standard EC380D construction model, but with a first-generation forestry cab, which looks like a harvester cab because it’s flat, but there will be a new cab soon with a slope to provide a larger front window and more upwards vision.
“That was one of the issues that took a little bit of getting through,” says Ewen. “I wanted a new cab with a bigger front window, especially for the log loaders, because operators don’t like the grapple disappearing out of sight.”
Power comes from the standard EC380D model, because it’s got sufficient grunt to drive the hydraulics for both the machine and any of the big harvesting or processing heads available. It’s a Volvo engine, naturally, in this case the D13H-D unit built to Tier 3B for our market. It delivers 218kW (305hp) at 1,700rpm and torque is a very impressive 1,580Nm, peaking at just 1,300rpm. Recognising that some contractors
want more power, Ewen is in discussions with the factory to bump it up to the EC480D output, which peaks at 260kW (350hp), with torque jumping to 1,800Nm.
The hydraulics didn’t need to be upgraded because the EC380D construction model already has a set of large capacity pumps that provide sufficient flow for the toughest work, including a separate rotator pump for any implements. The pumps need to be good, because there’s lots of fluid in the system that needs to be driven – a total of 500 litres of hydraulic oil, of which, the tank only accounts for 220 litres.
“When it rolls off the boat it’s ready to go,” says Ewen. “It’s fully guarded, we don’t have to put corner posts on and all you do is install whatever harvester/processor you want. It will take any head, there’s no restriction.”
The only addition that was requested of the factory was an extra oil cooler, on recommendation from SATCO for the Mike Harris machine, “we weren’t sure we would need one because it has sufficient cooling capacity, but we’ve fitted it just to make sure”.
All Volvo machines are brought in with a heavy-duty boom and arm, featuring heavier, reinforced sidewalls, and TransDiesel says it hasn’t seen any cracking issues on those that are already working here.
No worries with the base in this machine either, it has 50-tonne track components, including chains, roller sprockets, final drives and hydraulic motors. They are geared down to give more pump, or motor, angle, which means they are slightly lower in first and second gear than a normal excavator, so the top speed reduces from the standard model’s 5.53km/h to 4.3/km/h. On the upside, the drawbar pull goes up to 366kN from 276kN. Double bar 700 grousers are standard.
Contractors eyeing up the versatility of this new model might be interested to know that Volvo is even looking at the option of building a knuckleboom version of the EC380DL, but it’s predicated on demand – the Canadians are sure to go with it.
“We haven’t ordered any yet as we want to see how they work,” adds Ewen.
Most of these machines are likely to be used for processing and harvesting here in New Zealand, like the one purchased by Mike Harris, which sports a SATCO 325T optimising head, which we are keen to see. And right on cue, he emerges out of a gully near the skid site and parks up.
It’s funny how they look a lot bigger when you see them in the workshop, but the EC380DL still has an imposing presence.
Actually this machine is not much bigger than the one it replaced, a Volvo 460, which Mike fitted with a Waratah Bigwood. He bought the machine secondhand from Gisborne, where it had a grapple for clearing stems from the chute under a yarder and put another 5,000 hours on it before deciding to change.
“I had a good run so decided to stick with Volvo,” says Mike. “It’s very economical, this thing does 27.9L/hour. The old one was running about 33L/h. Other machines around this size can be doing anything up to 40, so this compares really well.” Not bad for an engine of almost 13 litres capacity.
His timing was just right, because when he rang Ewen to discuss a possible replacement it put him at the front of the queue for the first EC380DL to come out of the factory.
“It fitted the criteria regarding the size machine I needed, was a similar weight to what I had before and it came within budget, so I said put my name down,” adds Mike.
That very first machine was working in the forest shortly after arriving late last year and Mike hasn’t regretted his decision.
“The 460 had a standard base so it was a bit of a mission out in the cutover – this one has a lot more clearance,” he says. “And it’s purposebuilt so I didn’t have to wait for guarding or anything like that.
“It operates in a similar way to the old one, might have a little bit less reach, I think the dipper is a little shorter but it handles the wood fine and when you’re falling you don’t need reach. It also does a fair bit of processing, either out in the cutover for the forwarder to bring back, or it will sit under our Harvestline, so it covers all bases.
“It’s a good falling machine, it’s got plenty of weight, handles the bigger trees here, and is nice and fast. Very stable with that longreach counterweight on the back.”
As we walk around, Mike points out the big, clear piece of glass on the front and says: “I like that it hasn’t got bars on the windows and there’s so much vision, you can’t beat it – well there is that one bar in the middle, so I can put my feet up on it.”
After we stop laughing, Ewen chips in that the polycarbonate is thick enough that the bar probably wasn’t necessary, but it has been specified to make the operator feel a bit more protected.
Mike says the LED lights, which include four on top of the cab, two either side of the boom and two in the big, beefy corner post, “are great, it’s just like daylight on early morning starts”. There are a further four LEDs perched on the rear of the cab roof, two pointing directly to the rear and one to each side.
Mike also relishes the additional height that comes from the taller undercarriage and the little riser beneath the cab, which houses spare chains, bars and a few tools.
As he proceeds to open up all the doors and hatches, Mike points out the Bro-Lube auto-greasing system sitting inside the right-hand compartment, adding: “I like that, all I’ve got to do is grease the head. Nice and easy, and it makes it simple for someone else to operate.”
The filters can be reached from the ground on the other side, where barn door-style doors also open up access to the radiator.
Clambering up top, Mike opens the hatch above the 6-cylinder Volvo engine and says the original fibreglass one was replaced with a steel bonnet by SATCO when it was in Tokoroa to have the head fitted and plumbed. Makes sense for a machine that spends a lot of time out in the cutover. The engine looks very snug in its compartment, although any major repair work would require the panels either side to be removed.
Perhaps the only thing missing for a machine that spends a lot of time under the canopy is a plumbed-in fire protection system, but it does have a couple of handily placed extinguishers.
A peek at the cab confirms that it is identical to the one fitted to the Brolly machine we tested back in the winter of 2015, including the rear window designed to be an escape hatch in addition to the skylight built into the roof. The only difference being the SATCO controls, which today’s Iron Tester, Shaun Field, will cover in his report on page 28.
Jumping back down to the ground, I join Mike, Shaun and Ewen gathered around the SATCO head. Mike says: “I’ve never had a SATCO head, so that was new experience. I like it. They look a bit more robust than some of the others on the market, but the main reason I went with this one was because it is cheaper. And they fitted it for me.”
This one has the full Dasa 5 optimisation system, which makes life much easier for managing the wide variety of log sorts that can crop up in some of the forests they tackle.
But it’s not being taxed that much with this particular job. Mike and his crew are clearing up old patches of Douglas-fir at the southern end of Kaingaroa Forest and they’re only doing 4m and 6m lengths in whatever grades they can salvage – a lot is pulp. They were left when the original
Douglas-fir forest was harvested and then surrounded by a new Radiata Pine forest. Now, more than 60 years old, they have to come out to make way for Radiata to be planted during the winter.
“These little pockets have kind-of been forgotten,” says Mike. “This southern end of the forest all used to be Douglas and they were huge. A guy I know used to cart logs out of here to Napier and they would only have 7-to-8 pieces of 12m on for a load. The stuff we’re cutting, the P-size varies from 0.3 to 7.3. Some of it’s really nice, but a lot is very ugly, and we’ve got to hurry with it because Douglas dries out quickly.”
Scanning the broken country that Mike Harris and his crew are currently clearing it’s obvious why there is such a variation in the size of the trees they’re recovering.
It’s criss-crossed with deep gullies that aren’t easy to access or negotiate and there wasn’t much, if any, thinning done because of the difficult access. The same reasons they were left by previous harvesting crews.
Just as well Mike was an earth-mover in a previous life. His former work experience has taught him how to create access to these
“pockets” to make life easy, because it’s just not cost-effective to bring in their Harvestline on such small patches. The Harvestline, which came from Kerry McCormick, is employed in a more productive block an hour away, pulling wood for when the rest of the team complete this area.
Peering over the edge I ask Mike if he has problems climbing the steeps sides to get at some of the trees and he says: “Not really, it’s very stable. It can climb and get around alright. I haven’t found a hill I can’t get up yet.
“It’s sitting on big feet, so it can be a bit hard in the cutover and walks on the links a bit. Otherwise, it’s fine.”
Time to put those attribute to the test, so Mike fires up the Volvo and heads down the long slipway created into the gully while we grab a vantage point that is safely out of the chain shot firing range.
The first job is to get rid of some spindly stems down on the floor of the gully – well, spindly for Douglas-fir trees, because a couple of them are quite meaty, although others have definitely been starved of growing space.
The Volvo takes them all in its stride, including the largest stem, which much be close to P5 in size, without even a flinch. Then Mike gets into processing mode, cutting most into 4m lengths because of their form. Some trees are so bowed they almost form a perfect semi-circle. No wonder previous crews shied away from them.
The SATCO head doesn’t seem to be bothered by such ugly trees and Shaun mentions that it’s because the knives and rollers are so close together and he can’t wait to experience it himself.
After watching Mike demonstrate the prowess of the EC380DL, Shaun gets his opportunity to try the SATCO head on some of those bent stems. He’s been given a patch of downed trees a short walk away to process for the Timberjack 1710 forwarder, before trying his hand at falling.
This is meat and potatoes to Shaun, who has been harvesting and processing with another crew in this region, so knows his way around a setup like this, even though he’s nervous about being let loose on an unfamiliar machine.
The stems in this stack are much bigger, so they are putting the
stability of the Volvo to a really good test and, so far, it’s remaining perfectly balanced, even when Shaun grabs hold of one that must be around seven tonnes. Impressive.
As the SATCO’s main saw chews through this huge stem there is no sign of any power drop off or sluggishness in slew or lift when Shaun drops the logs into a pile.
He even tries his hand at cutting a couple of bent stems, but discretely overlooks an incredibly deformed tree. Better to let Mike loose on that one later.
The SATCO is more-than matching the capabilities of the Volvo. It’s three rollers grip the stems well, regardless of size and the three knives take care of branches and bark very nicely. And with 360-degree continuous rotation, Shaun doesn’t have to worry about repositioning the head.
Now for the real test. Falling.
Right at the end of this gully is a stand of Douglas-fir clinging to the sides that Mike indicates to Shaun are the next target. Some are growing very close together, which means our Iron Tester will need to take care selecting the direction of fall because of the likelihood of a hang-up.
Picking out the smaller ones first, Shaun isolates the larger trees before tackling them, because he’s going to need as much space as possible to drop them. Using the full 50-tonne weight of the EC380DL he’s able to guide them to the floor easily once the saw has done its job. A good test of the stability, which it passes with flying colours.
While Shaun continues to test the harvesting credentials of the Volvo and SATCO, which you can read more about in his report, I talk to Mike about this type of work and he says it’s much more enjoyable than the earth-moving he used to do, even scrappy clear-up jobs like this.
And that’s just been made more enjoyable again with the arrival of the Volvo EC380DL.
NZL