Volvo is making a real run at building logging and forestry machines. I am impressed with some of thier ideas and ingenuity, but more than anything for investing big R&D money in forestry in these trying economic times. When I was logging we always wanted a leveling shovel-logger. I tried to get Madill to build one for us- the T-2250 leveling buncher used the same swing bearing as the 2800 log loader- it would have been easy to mate them up. Madill was horrified of the liability issues, but Volvo is starting to develop these machines now.........go figure.
Volvo EC460CL Forestry Roadbuilder This machine is a forestry roadbuilder, with high-wide undercarriage, 3/8" underbelly guarding and catwalk package, cab and RH guarding. It is here in Alaska, the customer actually asked for the 3-bar grouser pads and open windshield without bars. It has lots of extra counterweight and works very well.
i like, i like... they have come up with some great machines im very impressed with roadbuilder excavator looks very tough....the ADT would need tracks on it or it would rut everything up when loaded other then that they look very well built for forestry work
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Volvo EC700BLC on the highway Here in Southeast Alaska there are no truck scales. These pics are from the same outfit that owns the EC460CL above. Here they are one-piece moving the EC700BLC through Juneau, the State Capitol, and on the main 4-lane highway. Oh, and without pilot cars.
did those bucket teeth ever touch the pavement?
LOL, I dont know but it was close if they didn't!
Thats almost Paddy style:drinkup
I like that 700 move. We have done that with our 700 Hitichais before, but never on a public road. The leveling shovel looks good. There was a logger in Bonners Ferry, ID; Anderson Logging, that had converted two 231 Cats into leveling machines. From what I remember they had two cylinders mounted back by the finals and it would level over the idelers. It was a one way leveling system, all made in thier shop. I was in high school when I first saw them. One had a big hot-saw on it, and the other was shovel logging. As the years went by, they used the machines for all sorts of different applications, from building road, to running dangle heads on them. Anderson dosent log any more, but I think they still have one in thier granite counter top quarry. I'll thy to sneak up there this weekend an see if its still around.
The road builder doesn't have an elevated cab? I've not seen a road builder without at least eighteen inches of lift in the cab. I've worked for dealers that for years installed the same four foot tilting cabs that got put on loggers. Perhahps the owners custom ordered this machine without it? The guarding package is the same as everybody else makes except for the front window. Do you know if Volvo is doing their own package on the shovels or are the done by the usual suspects, Young, Pierce and Jewell? It's nice to see someone is making a effort at building machines for the logging market. Real nice photos!
Being that I'm in Southern California, i am very unfamiliar with the logging industry, so this may sound lame but i think this picture is awesome! I've never seen anything like that before! Is this a new innovation? Is it self leveling or is it controlled?
That road-builder, sho, I want one, and I want it now!
great looking machines from Volvo. Excellent.
Timberjack/Deere have been making machines like this for a long time. The newer ones have automatic self leveling.
Great Pics farm boy! These Deere machines are incredible nowdays, and on sheer volume alone I would say Deere is farther along than any other 'leveling manufacturer' right now. The big buncher is awesome based on sheer mass-- but for agility on the slopes the little harvester looks like it would go anywhere with an operator who did a little bit of thinking in the seat. Understanding your weight distribution would be key I suspest.
Historically, in timber Caterpillar has been the biggest innovator- in the 70's they really captured the log loading market with the 225, 235, and 245's on the west coast. In the 80's they hit the new and fledgling buncher markets with the 227 hard, and some relatives of min in Oregon even used Cat 245 bunchers with big Rotosaw heads on them. I guess my point here is that Cat's absence in the market right now is really stunning. They are working with the old Timberking line, but not gaining much traction in market share. Tigercat and Deere are the real players I think. Volvo is still in R&D mode as you can see from my pics. Still they are trying, and after that you really need only determination and money, right?
Volvo Level Max System Article I have been told we can buy this system and install it onto existing Volvo B and C series excavators.
+1 gimme gimme
Volvo's got it all going on. Those are huge and awesome machines.
The John Deere buncher is not self leveling.
Volvo's new machine are in full production now as we have two out int the field and one more on order from what I have heard they are very powerfull and productive, the volvo leveling sytems is fully automatic and the Deere is not
Levelling machines have been around for ever, the volvo excavator levelling package is an aftermarket product, built in either new zealand or auzzie, and one of their dealers originally secured the rights to sell it here in BC originally (we know 'cause we tried to get it approx 5 years ago). the system can be installed in any brand exacavator. It has nothing to do with Volvo Volvo new forestry bunchers are for sure new. They probably are pretty good to be honest as it is a decent company. Cat is WAY behind in the buncher market Steep ground guys dont want auto levelling. Pushing the button on the joystick is just fine. There are only 2 brands leading the way on big bunchers now, john deere and tigercat.
Tigercat is the only real hoe chucker i know being advertised as a self leveller. the volvo again is an aftermarket product tilter that anybody could technically buy. Get one on E-bay, might be the only way to get around their distribuition rights.
HEAR HEAR :iagree TOTALLY
The Deere machines are originally Timberjack machines. Deere bought out that line some years ago and has aggressively marketed their products with decent prices and good finance terms. There is some repackaging and some refinements with electronics but the base machines are not a lot different than the Timberjacks. Cat seems to be pricing itself out of the logging market for now. With so many manufacturers of logging iron going by the way side. From what I've seen lately it seems the Doosan line of logging shovels are taking a sizable chunk of the market share right now. I've run into a couple of companies that have made second and third purchases. I have seen a few Volvos in the woods over the years but they don't seem to stay there for more than one model at a time. In the past they were just as expensive to purchase as any Cat, and Volvo never had that kind of support. The Tigercat machines I have looked at were pretty stout feller bunchers. I haven't seen any of their log loaders except on television, Swamp Loggers. It seems to me, especially after looking at the great photo collection from Contract Logger, that real innovation has come from the logging industry all along. I've heard many times how you could give an anvil to a logger and he would find a way to break it. When you look at all those photos you just have to wonder how far technological advancement would have been without that industry to find a way to get it done.
farm boy, Thanks for the response! Those pics are great!! I accidentally overlooked them. Good thing John C. said what he did or I might not have gotten to thank you! :thumbsup
Yahoo the new K series Deere bunchers are almost here! 959K baby.....LOL
They are? I can't wait to see them, sho.