New M9000 and a word about buying tractors POMG

[tractorkiller]

Hey fellas,

I 'm glad to post pics just as soon as I get them downloaded. I will attempt to explain.

Slowzuki you should know that the M6800 was new. well 2 years old. It was still under warrantee and Kubota and my dealer stood behind me 100 percent. I was thrilled with the outcome. However since I did not have to pay for repairs I just let the issue drop without investigating the failure.

I can relate the exact circumstances of the failure and the methods of logging and farming that I have used. I was completely honest with the dealer and Kubota regarding the circumstances and the said the failure was in no way related to the methods I employ or to the quantity size or weight of the logs I handle.

Basically the M6800 is fully capable of all the work I was doing and more. I traded simply because I like to stay in the warrantee period and because I like new stuff and I want to keep biggering my operation. Strangely I still like the M68 for logging but the M9 is better for me in the field.

I log with tractors because I like tractors better than skidders. I hire skidder operators for certain lots, but I sell a low impact type of logging to farmers and people who do not understand logging. Most of my clients think skidders are "hard" on woodlots. I cannot express how much I disagree but when a client tells me he wants "tractor only" I don't argue.

I put a 1/2 in steel plate front to back under my tractor and fitted it with side sheild to deflect limbs(cost $400) I put a 2X2 1/4 in tube steel canopy with limb risers over the operators station and tractor hood($600). I put expanded metal grates over both sides of the hood to protect exposed engine compartments(after an errant limb found the plastic fan and tore my rad apart). I had pipe thraed welded around the valve stems and capped it with threaded pipe caps. I run the forestry tires(16 ply) and Haaki Ice chains on the rears and ladder chains on the fronts.

I Use this tractor to cut softwood and pine in northern Vermont. I cut and skid 7000 to 15000 feet of wood per week in winter and 3000 to 7000 feet in summer and fall. I also help out with haying for a custom hay operation. Raking and round bales for now. I cut 20 cords of hardood for use and sale off my own lots, but I limit the hardwood due to the tractors limitations. I pull atl the wood to the tractor butt first with a Norse 450. I skid and limb the wood as if I had a small skidder. I crash through any brush I can and I run over stumps and brush like a skidder would and I drive over log piles like those pictured. I cut theb wood in the photos in 2 days that is approximately 1 load of softwood 7000bdf . People have accused me of abuse. I disagree. The M9000 is the biggest tractor I have logged with to date.

Basically like I said in the earlier post. I was minding my own business pushing a cut off popple tree over. I had Ice chains on and the tractor was on flat but uneven ground. I had the tractor in 4wd but without the diff lock on. Suddenly BANG!!! and Ilooked bacjk and the hyd oil was pouring out. I took pics and called the dealer and he took great care of me, so i never thought about it again. Once you fellas see the pics you'll know everything I do.

The sad thing is that I had just the week before began to really respect the M6800. Now I have to start over. I think the M9000 will earn my respect even faster. My dealer has my loyalty and respect now.

I'm working on the pics. I just have never posted pics and I have to figure it out. I just bought the 1st digital camera this Christmas past.

 

[slowzuki]

Interesting, I used my L5030hstc for some skidding last winter and found I had much better luck dragging from the tops as far as getting hooked on stumps etc. I was just using a Farmi 501 winch in mature spruce. I was able to pull three+ stems when the snow was beat down. The stems were proabably average 14" dbh and about 50 ft tall.

The little machine was great for the slow work but I could see tearing it up doing the work in a hurry.

I'm about 3 hours drive east of you in New Brunswick. There is a dislike of skidders here too but it is earned by the skidder operators. A neighbour is having about 5 acres of cedar cut because a logger convinced her it was dying. He has cut everything down to 4" and barked or run over the rest. We are having an early thaw and it is a boggy area so it is getting pretty cut up. Also the crew could avoid this as everything is within 100 ft of a road but they are driving to the stump basically for all the trees. They don't leave bumper tree either.

 

[tractorkiller]

Excellent you have some sawdust in you. I hope you enjoyed logging as much as I do. I just love being outside all day. Here we have some very cold winters this one was very mild with only about 20 days below -10. Last 3 winters we had extened periods of -40. So my question to you is do you have a block heater and do you use one or recommend one? My M6800 would start at -20without plugging in but I had the block heater and used it. A few JD guys said I was wasting time warming the water and not the oil. Kubota says nothing on this. What do you in the GWN say?

I started working with a cable skidder operator. So I just like butt first. The winch people say tops first so you are undoubtedly correct. I once had a NLP(non logging public) say to me:
"is that all you do, just cut em down, clean em off and pull em out? that's not so hard"!!!

I agree and he's right logging is the easiest job in the world until something goes wrong. That happens about once every five minutes on a bad day and on a really bad day it only happens once.

So my motto is "whatever it takes" I have pulled trees top first, butt first and middle first. I cut big pines at 33 feet and take one log. I have cut maples at 13'6 and freighted my M6800(3600lbs3PT). I guess I have been stumped by big pines ones that and 8 ft choker didn't fit around. Then I drove a RR spike and used a grab hook. I Use a snatch block alot and rolling hitches to prevent stump binding.

I think you are correct about being to hard on an L if you wanted to get huge production, but at that rate (about 350-400bdf per hitch) you don't need more. Thats a ten wheeler every two days. I mean who needs more than that from a tractor. I don't think a 5030 would balk at bigger hitches but it might suffer needlessly. That's why I opted for the M6800 and now the M9000. They are not as nice as the Grand L's but they do the volumes I'm working with pretty effortlessly.

As far as bad loggers and bad jobs. I just try to make my landowner happy. Please please tell your neighbor to Talk to the logger. Tell them the problems you see and see if they do anything. If they don't then go from there. But the loggers may not even know about your neighbors concerns. In VT we have AMP's and water quality people that check on loggers but still there are bad jobs and bad jobbers. And I always tell people to have a contract and put all concerns about the job in plain English.

The Big 5 of logging your broke, crippled and an alcoholic by age 50, your third ex wife owns the skidder your making payments on and none of you kids will talk to you because you never spent any time with them because you were too busy logging.

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[EdK]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I run the forestry tires(16 ply) and Haaki Ice chains on the rears and ladder chains on the fronts. )</font>

I've got an M6800 and Kubota said "no chains on front allowed" to me. Warranty would be voided...