"Cariboo Special" a Big Success in BC

This story is based on the article "Allied's Cariboo Special Skidder" published in Logging & Sawmilling Journal, June 2000. Quoted with permission. Reprints of the LSJ article are available to our dealers at no charge. Please contact your territory manager for copies.

The line between success and failure is sometimes quite thin. For Allied's special skidder for Canada, that line is about 10 inches across.

Let's explain. In much of Canada, the forestry market has been very active recently. But the loggers have to take every efficiency to remain competitive. One change is the trend toward larger piles of trees made by the feller-buncher, which requires a larger drag for the grapple skidder.

The Ranger H67 has performed well in Canada. But occasionally these larger drags were right at the limit of the machine's performance. In collaboration with our dealer in British Columbia, Parker Pacific, Allied came up with the "Cariboo Special." This is an H67 grapple skidder with an extra 10 inches added to the middle of the rear frame.

The extra length helps compensate for the additional weight on the grapple. It has the added benefits of a smoother ride and greater stability. The long wheel base has been such a success that it is now a standard feature of Ranger Series II grapple skidders.

The first user of the new Cariboo Special is Roger Wheeler, a contract logger based in Quesnel, BC. Roger teams up with Quadra Logging. Tom Mower of Parker Pacific is the sales rep. Between the two of them, they have high praise for this new machine.

As LSJ reports, "That seemingly modest addition between the hinge and rear axle extends the wheelbase to 150 inches. But it provides a mile better ride, says Mower, and helps transfer the weight forward. Wheeler concurs: 'It's much smoother, a little longer and wider, and more stable on the knolls.'"

The machine was ordered with standard 105-inch grapple. To take advantage of the larger pulling capacity, Parker Pacific extended the length of the grapple tines to produce a capacity closer to a 121-inch grapple.

And that's the real success of this machine: performance. LSJ reports that Wheeler "acquired the machine last October and it worked all through the winter with only one period of downtime, and that was hose related. By spring, it had more than 800 hours on the clock. The Special has proved a good production machine, on one Quadra show skidding a remarkable 12,000 cubic metres [5 million board feet] of wood in 20 days."

The simple design and robust construction of the Ranger H67 continue to prove their worth. Tom Mower is quick to cite it as a key advantage of the machine.

This success is real testimony to the benefits of collaboration. Allied listened carefully to the dealer, Parker Pacific, and made the changes needed to produce a winning combination for all parties. Parker Pacific has taken delivery on six machines thus far, and additional orders are coming in from other parts of Canada.