Heavy Equipment Thread

[Stompin Tom]

how many projects like this do you guys have on the go
I have been wondering about getting into that type of bids for around here as I heard gov want
to start cleaning up there messes

Around here about 75% of the guys who have tried chipping have gone bust. There are a few inherent problems. 1st, cost of equipment and maintenance, a reasonable remote chipper starts north of 2 million. 2nd bigger problem is infrastructure. Guys thought that since the roads were built to log the area's they could just run chip trucks down the same roads. Nope, dont work. Very different beasts, chip trucks to log trucks. Allot of money has to be reinvested into the roads so the trucks can run relatively smoothly, and when your dealing with chip trucks your not dealing with the higher end of the food chain when it comes to trucking. If you get fired from your job pumping gas, you go drive a chip truck.

Where the market has evolved in our areas is more one site based chipping operations. IE a chipping plant is set up near a mill, that way there infrastructure is in place for the in and out traffic. The fiber which is acceptable for chips is hauled in raw form, ie logging trucks, to the chip plants. What is left behind at the block is low end hog fuel, some of which can still be done with onsite chipping, but the quality of the remaining fiber makes this a hard go.

The thing which has to be remembered is the logging contractor has invested the money in harvesting, processing and sorting the fiber on the block. Every stick he can move off the block helps his costs. It used to be most pulp got left behind but not anymore. All that is left is very low grade.

Another factor that is ignored is that forestry does not want a block left barren, basically cleared to the dirt. Fiber decays over time and adds back nutrients to soil. It give a place for small animals and rodents to live, and if they live, then the birds and wildlife have more to feed upon. The more natural activity the quicker the land regrows.

 

[sirkdev]

tow strap anyone?

 

[Greg5658]

Owner operator, picked up a new hoe 3 years ago, just shy of 4000 hours on it. Just picked up a 2011 Pete 386 and through a legal loophole got it registered as an 08 so it's now legally deleted. Tonka sticker on the hoe is great pr especially with parents.

 

[DeNytroguy]

Good ol Komatsu...

 

[Bnorth]

how many projects like this do you guys have on the go
I have been wondering about getting into that type of bids for around here as I heard gov want
to start cleaning up there messes

This is our 1st project. The company that runs the yellow trucks owns and operates the grinding equipment as well as a chip plant that is closely tied to the pulp mill in Kamloops. It's going ok but will do better going forward as we will be planning to have the grinder come in whereas this was just an area we though it might work after the fact so piles and landings weren't properly prepped for the grinder and turning around chip trucks.

Around here about 75% of the guys who have tried chipping have gone bust. There are a few inherent problems. 1st, cost of equipment and maintenance, a reasonable remote chipper starts north of 2 million. 2nd bigger problem is infrastructure. Guys thought that since the roads were built to log the area's they could just run chip trucks down the same roads. Nope, dont work. Very different beasts, chip trucks to log trucks. Allot of money has to be reinvested into the roads so the trucks can run relatively smoothly, and when your dealing with chip trucks your not dealing with the higher end of the food chain when it comes to trucking. If you get fired from your job pumping gas, you go drive a chip truck.

Where the market has evolved in our areas is more one site based chipping operations. IE a chipping plant is set up near a mill, that way there infrastructure is in place for the in and out traffic. The fiber which is acceptable for chips is hauled in raw form, ie logging trucks, to the chip plants. What is left behind at the block is low end hog fuel, some of which can still be done with onsite chipping, but the quality of the remaining fiber makes this a hard go.

The thing which has to be remembered is the logging contractor has invested the money in harvesting, processing and sorting the fiber on the block. Every stick he can move off the block helps his costs. It used to be most pulp got left behind but not anymore. All that is left is very low grade.

Another factor that is ignored is that forestry does not want a block left barren, basically cleared to the dirt. Fiber decays over time and adds back nutrients to soil. It give a place for small animals and rodents to live, and if they live, then the birds and wildlife have more to feed upon. The more natural activity the quicker the land regrows.

This is being run by a large company with close ties to the local pulp mill. That grinder was about $1M but the loader is another $750k so yes almost $2M total. This setup is just producing hog fuel as several large mills have closed in the pulp mills feed area in the last couple years. The company operating it also runs a chipping operation near the pulp mill and has a full pool of drivers to choose from. Most driving the chip trucks on logging roads are former log truck drivers. The green guys stay on the hwy hauls. The chip trucks are working ok on the logging roads but I expect that to be more of an issue come winter. Our road construction is done to a higher standard than in your area due to our climate and the topography which also does not lend itself to to roadside logging so we are already building landings. They have also started taking tops to rat tail as they are hoping to get a certain % of chips out of them not just straight hog. Anyway it's not a guaranteed success but if anyone can pull it off this company is well positioned to do so.

 

[ippielb]

New Deere grader dash cluster. Only 12 hours on it.