Just got back from a cruise down the east coast of New Zealand. Every port that we stopped at (6) there were lots of timber/logs and a couple of piles of wood chip. The blades on the dozers at the wood chip piles caught my eye. Never thought I'd be taking photos of dozers while on a cruise.
And a few more
ok, i gotta ask. why did the fiat in the 7th pic have a ripper?
From the looks of the straight blade modified to a chip blade I'd say pushing chips wasn't its original use intention. I'd say the ripper is probably just serving as a counterweight now.
dam who would have thought ha ha thats a ton of wood chips!
Couple of years at the port of tauranga they had a D9H D8N amd a Terex 82-50 on the chipheap. Then they traded the terex on a brand new D11N. Now that was a impressive site to see pushing chips. Operation stopped later on and I think D11 was sold in australia with its original blade. Merv
Yeah that was a sight to see, one huge blade on that D11!
I think at one stage there was a 10 N there as well as the 11, Mike Lambert owned all the machines in the later years, in the early days I think it was an outfit called Wood Export that started off with a D7F & 8230 Terex back in the 70s. I remember going over there on a 15C for a week to help out after one of their machines was down, good stuff to work in, soft riding, easy digging, light to push but you definately need the large blade to do it justice. Cheers RDG.
Its all fun an games till the pile combusts like tolko armstrong, they lost 1 cat in the blaze and had a fun time keeping the mill wet... Think i got a few pics on the camera still of the hog pile glowing purple as well as the bombers on retardent runs coming in over dads place close enough to feel the prop wash.... Gotta have respect for the boys who stir the chips!
I wonder how many yards that is?
We have a new d9t at work that pushes chips it has a 67 yard blade and it looks allot smaller than that one.
I am surprised not to see more of the Wagner wood chip dozers on this forum, there are a fair few working here in NZ. Could anyone direct me to more info on efficient ways to stack woodchip? I am particularly interested in the use of agricultural pivot steer tractors and blades in use on chips. Thanks in advance.
I'm not so sure that using a 4WD ag tractor with a blade would be the best in a wood chip application. With no special guarding for the engine I would think that chips on the engine/turbo charger would be an easy fire starter. I would also be concerned about the life of the tractor. I have seen many chip dozers with 20K-60K hours. I can't recall ever seeing an ag tractor with that many hours. Lastly, depending on the pile shape, it would be difficult for an ag tractor to get enough traction on some of the steepest slopes when pushing chips. At least in my humble opinion.
He's a vid of one on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHPOxzIu7C4
How easy would it be to get bogged in the woodchips?