Komatsu Upgrades XT-5 Series Track Feller Bunchers
By Russ Potratz, an independent forestry marketing consultant. To better meet customer needs, Komatsu is upgrading its XT-5 family of tracked feller bunchers, adding performance and operator improvements and also covering the machines with a special 2-year/5,000-hour...
Grandmother, Grandson Part of 3-Member Logging Team
LILY, Wisconsin – Winter in northern Wisconsin: four feet of snow, chains on the forwarder, an eight-hour day. It’s all familiar territory. Or is it? Make that a Gafner Iron Mule 4500 forwarder, new in 1978. And subtract all the comforts of contemporary forwarders,...
Safety Alert: Lowboy Operator’s Fingers Amputated
BACKGROUND On a spring day in the Pacific Northwest, a lowboy operator was coupling the lowboy gooseneck to a lowbed trailer deck after loading and chaining down a processor. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS While the operator had prior experience, it had been over ten years...