‘WICKEDLY NIMBLE’
I COULD QUITE HAPPILY SIT IN THIS
machine all day. Heaps more room than the previous model and cruisy ground to run it on here too.
People have said in the past they don’t like bogies because they are so long and the turning circle is just too big, but this thing is wickedly nimble and quick and easy to turn. The response of the controls is amazingly fast now too. I would say it is more like a digger in sped which is really saying something. Some previous skidders I’ve run seemed to take heaps of revving to turn the grapple and open and close it, whereas with this thing it’s an instant response and rapid about it. The downside of that would be the speed surprises an operator and they could grab a tyre, but once a safe procedure is set in place this thing is very high production.
Despite the wet and muddy conditions, I only needed to engage the diff lock once on the drags. I did and that got the machine moving again nicely.
The Tainui guys said I might struggle to get wood out of this area and up onto Skid 5 but it wasn’t too bad. I thought I had bumped the diff locks on at one stage because I was sledging but it was just because the ruts were so deep and I had a decent load on.
These Douglas fir blocks seem to always have really deep topsoil which is prone to turning to crap in the wet. Not sure why but maybe to do with how the foliage breaks down. I’ve always found them to be really slippery compared to pine.
They certainly didn’t put me in the cream area and really that’s what we are here for in the rain and mud, to test it out in real conditions.
I did have concerns that due to the length of it, this machine would be a bit like a boat to steer but it is very agile and has ample power and manoeuvrability.
The new seat rotator Tigercat has designed gives 220 degrees turning. To visualise, that’s more than all the way
to the front, allowing you to exit the lefthand side door, plus you can lock the seat in any position with full controls.
I have had a bit of an issue with seats lately as one broke off the stump while I was operating in it, and hey I’m not a huge unit or anything, so it’s good to see this one has some serious engineering behind it. They have actually used parts off the grapple snubber on the seat rotator so it is rated for extreme capacity which it will see with all the stumps and
old logs that it climbs over.
Locking and unlocking the seat is also the easiest I have encountered with just the push of a button and hold it until you have swung round to where you want to be. Let go and it’s locked in position until you push it again.
Visibility has taken a step up as well. The 19% window area increase was immediately noticeable when I climbed in the cab. Everything is big on this machine but it is really well proportioned so you can see where you need to go.
They have definitely made some neat changes to this model. The cab jack and quarter turn release locks make tilting the cab a lot quicker and easier. There’s a massive amount of lighting too, including a new pair right on the front edge of the bonnet overlooking the blade so the bonnet camera can show you what is going on under your nose. I think Phil summed it up well when he said a 4-wheel skidder will really struggle here in the Douglas, and with that monster 6-wheeler life will be easy.