Has anyone got any information on an American built log hauler of the 50's? It was called a 'Loggers Dream" and powered by a side valve Ford V/8 engine. It had a main rope, a tailrope and a straw line.
Just a little info I googled LOGGERS' DREAM MODEL LRW COMBINATION SKIDDER (YARDER) AND LOADER LOGGERS' DREAM MODEL LRW COMBINATION SKIDDER (YARDER) AND LOADER - It is mounted on military white track skids or yards; can log up to 10 tons in weight over a distance of 1,200 ft.; operates over a radius of 180° from any fixed position. Loads logs up to 7 tons without tie-down and larger logs of 10 tons and more with tie-down cables. When truck or half-truck is mounted the "loggers' dream" hauls itself at highway speeds, or it may be mounted on wheel or track trailers, skids, boat, barges to suit local conditions. Requires only a 3 man crew for complete operations of yarding and loading. There are six standard "loggers' dream" models designed to yard and load logs of different sizes on different types of terrain. Taylor Machine Works, Export Division 101, International Trade Mast, New Orleans, 12, Louisiana, U.S.A.
Yes! Where did you hear about that?! I always thought it was a local thing. There were a few around here. I think there may still be one behind my friends shop if it hasn't gone for scrap. It was sort of a combination cable loader and highline/skidder. They would put it on the cut out deck or on a road and pull the cable out to the logs by hand or with a mule. The cable ran over a high point so the log would tend to ride up and over stumps and logs etc. I think what you're calling a tailrope was the used to anchor the mast so it didn't pull the whole thing over if the log caught something. I'm a little too young to have ever worked one but I'll talk to somebody who has and if that one is still up there I'll get you some pics in a few days. I used to log cypress sawlogs out of the national forest swamps with probably the last "bobtail" truck around here. I used it because we weren't allowed to take any machine off the road. Bobtail trucks were how almost all logging was done around here from the 50's till the mid 70's. Most people just used them as self-loader trucks, but I used it for skidding also. The coastal South Carolina version was a do-it-yourself project. You took a straight truck and welded half a truck drive axle vertically behind and above the cab. A 6 foot piece of pipe was hooked on the hub to make a revolving boom and just below the axle at frame level there was a winch drum driven directly off a transmission PTO shaft with no brakes or reverse. The only winch control was the truck clutch pedal, off the clutch for up, mash the clutch for down. It was an adventure.
That's the critter heavylift. The ones around here were truck mounted.
Here is probably the last one on the planet....its in the Outdoor Logging Museum at Wakami Lake Provincial Park near Sultan Ontario Canada.
Looks like it was taken off he old WWII platform,cool.
Never seen or heard of one , but pretty cool. :usa
loggers dream I have a loggers dream. My dad sent a new 1948 ford 2ton chassis to have it built on. I has been setting in woods for 20 years.
I operated what we called a "Dreamer" from the time I was twelve until I was eighteen years old. It was mounted on a late forties model truck frame with a V8 flat head ford engine. The main winch line use to load the logs was just called "the cable". The two lines off each side of the boom used to keep it from tipping over (which did happen every once in a while) were called tag lines. My father had two of them, one he bought from the factory and one he built in the shop.