Log guarding on excavators

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Not having much luck on the interweb.

Wan't to know how you folks have yer log guarding attached, mostly behind the cab, I don't like the idea of hacking at the sheet metal.

I would also like to be able to lock the door open, I'm in and out a lot, doors just get in the way, but they are handy for locking shiz up.
 
Not having much luck on the interweb.

Wan't to know how you folks have yer log guarding attached, mostly behind the cab, I don't like the idea of hacking at the sheet metal.

I would also like to be able to lock the door open, I'm in and out a lot, doors just get in the way, but they are handy for locking shiz up.
I can get you some pictures of the guarding we have on our two 200's if that'll help, do you want pictures of the cab guarding as well?

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200 cabs shouldn't be a whole lot different, so that would be excellent

Mostly just attachment points for the cab guarding, behind the cab, front side is pretty easy to figure out.

The rest is just cutting and welding, add a few gussets and POOF cab guarding.

I would like to have the guarding removable, so that if something does happen it can just unbolt.
 
All our guarding is removable other then cat walks which do better to protect the doors then anything. The cab guarding I wouldn't skip on, we've busted windows out on machines before doing minimum loading or clean up.

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Looks like they build uo all the way back to the counter weight...

Hmm... wasnt thinkin on going that big...
Yeah we did most of it was a copy of Jewell. If you also notice the pins for the main boom cylinders were kicked ahead for more lift and more lift power. If you want more ideas let me know I can get a few shots of the cat version that Halton did on a processor that was on landing duty plus it hit Weyerhaeuser standards as well as Washington's need for in the landing.

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Looks like they build uo all the way back to the counter weight...

Hmm... wasnt thinkin on going that big...
On that 200 kobelco the only stuff we didn't do was the lift cylinder being moved forward and cab riser, the rest we did including all the piping, guarding, and rock guards.

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Looks like I"m going to have to poke some holes in some tin...

I'm mostly concerned with dropping sticks and having em roll through the front of the cab, or the occasional bump, if I can build it right is should at least slow down a tree aimed at the cab, probably not save the cab but at least save the pilot.
 
We've never had a full tree drop on this one but it's stopped blown out tops as well as the majority of debris

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broke a hose like fist thing this morning so most of the day was wasted getting parts (first thing in the morn was putting new batteries in the skidder) so I played around a bit with a choker cat eyed to the bucket. Where I'm working now, there isn't much room for a landing, so I can get the skidder in and push the pile, but if I wan't to stack it up, I can't get far enough back with the excavator, cause of pavement, So I was using it to stack the pile up from the end.

For medium sticks I think the ole 120 would be a hell of a shovel logger with a set of grapples, no need for a heel boom or anything.
 
We've never had a full tree drop on this one but it's stopped blown out tops as well as the majority of debris

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Seen some youtube vids of some kid hitting a skidder on purpose... and a few aftermaths of an unprotected excavator, the skidder was mostly OK, the excavators not so much.

I have no future plans of smashing machines on purpose, unless I don't own them, and Getting paid lots of money... seems to me like a really bad life goal
 
broke a hose like fist thing this morning so most of the day was wasted getting parts (first thing in the morn was putting new batteries in the skidder) so I played around a bit with a choker cat eyed to the bucket. Where I'm working now, there isn't much room for a landing, so I can get the skidder in and push the pile, but if I wan't to stack it up, I can't get far enough back with the excavator, cause of pavement, So I was using it to stack the pile up from the end.

For medium sticks I think the ole 120 would be a hell of a shovel logger with a set of grapples, no need for a heel boom or anything.
A buddy has a 120 kobelco set up as a shovel like you're talking about, we use our 135 for shovel logging and I will say a heel is nice on uneven ground.

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I was just using the thumb, doesn't give as much reach as a regular heel boom, but it keep the log where ya want it.

May have to find me some 5/8 plate and a whole bunch of acetylene.
Yeah I don't have a thumb or a shovel boom on anything, food for thought what about a pin on heel to your thumb.

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tis what I'm thinkin, the thumb is fairly wide, but a few more inches and some ears on each side would be about perfect.

I'm liking the idea of leaving the quick change attached, mounting the grapples out on the end, that way you could get a little bit of movement out of em up and down like, use the thumb switch to run the grapple (already has a quick change and bypass), chain off the thumb so its fairly rigid.

It would work with what I have on hand except the steel, and time to build em, smash em around for rotation, cause it would have to add another circuit or I would need to bypass the bucket and use it for the grapple, and thumb for rotation.

Biggest thing about the grapples, and you folks already know this, is that they need to swing a little and rotate, that motion alone changes how you use an excavator with logs. Its also a whole lot easier on the machine, grabbin logs with the bucket puts a lot of side stress on the pins, and yer kind of limited as to what you can do with the logs once you grab em.

I'll have to keep muh eyes peeled for a set of self loader grapples, or sum such.
 
tis what I'm thinkin, the thumb is fairly wide, but a few more inches and some ears on each side would be about perfect.

I'm liking the idea of leaving the quick change attached, mounting the grapples out on the end, that way you could get a little bit of movement out of em up and down like, use the thumb switch to run the grapple (already has a quick change and bypass), chain off the thumb so its fairly rigid.

It would work with what I have on hand except the steel, and time to build em, smash em around for rotation, cause it would have to add another circuit or I would need to bypass the bucket and use it for the grapple, and thumb for rotation.

Biggest thing about the grapples, and you folks already know this, is that they need to swing a little and rotate, that motion alone changes how you use an excavator with logs. Its also a whole lot easier on the machine, grabbin logs with the bucket puts a lot of side stress on the pins, and yer kind of limited as to what you can do with the logs once you grab em.

I'll have to keep muh eyes peeled for a set of self loader grapples, or sum such.
I posted a picture of how we did our with the manual quick attach on our 135 if you dig a bit, I'd plumb another circuit or use the thumb lines myself. Another good grapple setup is a set like a forwarder uses.

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might be where I got the idear...

I'll probably end up making my own, folks seem to think used grapples are worth their weight in gold around here... 3-5k and I'm not even kidding.
A guy that I know just got a set of the forwarder style for 5k new, a set like Jewell or any of those are nutty expensive. Personally we use Cranab and Prentice grapples with good luck.

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