Skidders and yarders are a little bit different machines with similar functions. Skidders are large forestry machines that are used to haul felled trees from the area that they were cut to a loading or processing area. This process of moving trees from the cutting to the loading site is called skidding. Yarders, similarly, are used to lift logs from the bottom of a hillside, mountainside, or ravine to an area where they can be loaded for transport or further processing. Despite the similar function, new and used skidder/yarder forestry equipment for sale differs in a few other ways. Skidders are typically four-wheel drive tractors with an articulated chassis that are able to navigate rough terrain. The skidder is equipped with a cable and winch or a grapple attachment or both mounted to the front of the machine with a short hydraulic boom. Skidders often have a reinforced cab and a blade on the back that is able to be raised and lowered by the machine operator and usually have a diesel engine, and they come in various sizes with differing capabilities. Yarders, on the other hand, use a tower and combination of cables, drums, and grapple to grab logs and lift them up from the lower cutting area to the upper loading area where they can be delimbed and put on trucks in a process typically called cable logging or skyline logging.
Skidder/yarder forestry equipment for sale also comes in varying types. Skidders can be classified as either cable or grapple machines, with the first type reeling in and hauling logs utilizing a winch and the second using a grapple to lift logs. Skidders can have a single-function boom with a pair of hydraulic cylinders or a dual-function boom with four cylinders to lift and lower logs, but the latter provides a wider range of motion, and some grapples can even be swung side to side so the operator is able to grab logs not directly in front of them. Yarders also offer many variations as some are drivable on tracks or wheels and some are mounted on trucks or tractors, and they can be classified as tower yarders or swing yarders. The more traditional tower yarder is able to grab a log to pull it up the side of a steep incline but is limited in where it is able to put the log down. Swing yarders can move logs past the position by lifting and swinging them. Swing yarders are beneficial as they are able to fit into more compact areas or operate near the road where a truck-mounted or stationary log loader is able to be used in conjunction with the yarder instead of a wheeled or tracked log loader that must go down to pick up the log. Leading manufacturers of skidders and yarders that may be found on Equipment Anywhere include Caterpillar, John Deere, Tigercat, Timberjack, Franklin, and Tree Farmer and Thunderbird, Skagit, and Madill, respectively.
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