How'd it go today?
- Thread starter MasterBlaster
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Nutball
TreeHouser
The Ditch Witch uses grease to tension the tracks, so I doubt there is any spring in there. The benefit is that tension is never lost until the tracks stretch, the downside is that the tracks don't get relief if something tries to stretch them. Could you add a bolt to capture tension or limit the amount of slack? I remember the first set of tracks on the sk800 very rarely ever needed to be tensioned, but the new set seemed to need it every 2 weeks. Maybe that was because we got fresh gravel put down at the lot, and it would get between the tracks and pulleys.
stikine
Treehouser
I was taking the easy route (open muskeg) back to the truck.
stikine
Treehouser
It's kind of a scrubby unit with lots of yellow cedar snags. There is some nice red cedar but nothing very large, which is good for the operator who is interested in the sale.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Not sure I could. But. Dont know I care enough to engineer anything at this point.
As far as apprentices. Our labor pool is quite limited. The few I have trained, run after the big fast buck. Training is expensive anyway. Then they leave.
Fug it. Best thing I could have done was probably go work training for another company and get paid to do that. Timing was not right with having kids. I started late
stikine
Treehouser
I didn't core any of the trees but it's all considered old growth. The larger cedars would likely be hundreds of years old. It's just not a very majestic stand and has a low site index with wet and poorly drained soils.
Knotorious
That Guy With The Face
I had a fantabulous day! Got some new hitch cords and started cutting them to size and whipping the ends of each cord with a custom colored polyester twine. Three down, four (?) to go.
I also decided to do something experimental with my new harness. I put a ring on both bridges originally and that was great, except for when I had to rope walk up to my TIP connected to one bridge, with the other dangling below it or above it (depending upon which I chose to use; both resulted in one bridge/ring getting in the way of my knees) and my knee ascender kept wanting to bang into either one. So I decided to add a third ring which allows me to run both bridges anytime I want. I kept the other two rings off to one side so that it would be easy to move them out of the way for a double bridge climb anytime I want to go that route.
Most people are happy enough to have use of one or two separate bridges. I find that sometimes I want the redundancy of two bridges combined (not just two separate bridges) and, as far as I can tell, there are no safety issues. Anyone disagree?
Now I can rope walk and have double bridges with ease by connecting to the gold ring (without either bridge banging on my knee ascender or knees) and then, if I want to use two systems at height, I can switch to the green rings. I thought this was pretty clever...but I never claimed to be the brightest bulb.
I've climbed with this setup twice with zero issues (which hardly constitutes a study haha). I plan on switching from the Petzl Open ring to a 70mm solid magnalium ring. No need for it...just personal preference. I trust a solid ring more. I'll have to disassemble my bridges on one side, though. Ugh. It's never fun to have to untie a knot after it's been repeatedly loaded...but, thankfully, the double fisherman's is actually not that bad, relatively speaking.
Sorry for the long post; sorry if this is old news.
EDIT: AS you probably guessed, both bridges are set to the same length. It's the only way this works.
I also decided to do something experimental with my new harness. I put a ring on both bridges originally and that was great, except for when I had to rope walk up to my TIP connected to one bridge, with the other dangling below it or above it (depending upon which I chose to use; both resulted in one bridge/ring getting in the way of my knees) and my knee ascender kept wanting to bang into either one. So I decided to add a third ring which allows me to run both bridges anytime I want. I kept the other two rings off to one side so that it would be easy to move them out of the way for a double bridge climb anytime I want to go that route.
Most people are happy enough to have use of one or two separate bridges. I find that sometimes I want the redundancy of two bridges combined (not just two separate bridges) and, as far as I can tell, there are no safety issues. Anyone disagree?
Now I can rope walk and have double bridges with ease by connecting to the gold ring (without either bridge banging on my knee ascender or knees) and then, if I want to use two systems at height, I can switch to the green rings. I thought this was pretty clever...but I never claimed to be the brightest bulb.
I've climbed with this setup twice with zero issues (which hardly constitutes a study haha). I plan on switching from the Petzl Open ring to a 70mm solid magnalium ring. No need for it...just personal preference. I trust a solid ring more. I'll have to disassemble my bridges on one side, though. Ugh. It's never fun to have to untie a knot after it's been repeatedly loaded...but, thankfully, the double fisherman's is actually not that bad, relatively speaking.
Sorry for the long post; sorry if this is old news.
EDIT: AS you probably guessed, both bridges are set to the same length. It's the only way this works.
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stikine
Treehouser
Yes
only issue I see is the rings banging around, not a safety issue and wont even damage the coating but the sound could make a guy go insane
I will send you pics of my bridge next time im at the shop, ive got the stock DMM ring on one, and the other bridge is shortened a couple inches, and ive got a hydra/rook pulley on it, and I might be about to go shorter even, only time I use my long bridge (stock length) is with my zigzag since its got a swivel already on it
Knotorious
That Guy With The Face
Definitely share a picture of your bridge when you get a chance. As far as the rings banging around, since I'm always going to be connected into either one of the individual bridges, both individual bridges separately or both bridges on the one ring, there isn't much jingling since the other unused rings end up resting firmly on either ends towards where they connect through the lower Ds. I don't notice any additional jingling (let's face it, our harnesses are like giant cat toys sometimes with all the jingling gear on them) unless I'm disconnected from my line(s) and walking around on the ground and then I just take a carabiner or a small length of paracord and put it through all three temporarily to muffle the noise. I don't spend much time walking around in my harness anyways. Thanks for your input!
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FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
Pollen blowing off a field of grass.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Dingo is back together. Running and ready to work Monday.
The new cylinder for the grapple does not fit though. Too long and connection point too wide on one end. Sooooo. Looks like I have more leg work to do. That came from the company that built it. Guess they changed design after 5 or so years.
The new cylinder for the grapple does not fit though. Too long and connection point too wide on one end. Sooooo. Looks like I have more leg work to do. That came from the company that built it. Guess they changed design after 5 or so years.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
It just the outer cynlinder seal leaks. So oil consumption and mess. Not too bad. Just hope the frame hold up. Or I may have to grind out all the center and do over. Over 6000 hours on it. Two more pumps are due for a rebuild. Crossing fingers. Id like it to hold out till I retire.
Knotorious
That Guy With The Face
@CurSedVoyce Pray tell: What is (a) "Dingo?" Over 6k hours on it? Sounds like one bad (as in very good) machine. I'm trying to sound hip. Is it working? Nevertheless, you've piqued my interest.
Fun fact: The average male spends 15.22 hours per day awake on average. That amounts to 5,555.3 waking hours per year, which is almost as much as Dingo's waking hours for its lifetime.
You're a much more efficient machine. Espeically considering you're running while you're asleep, too.
Source: Table 11. Waking hours spent alone or with others, by selected characteristics, averages for May to December, 2019 and 2020 - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t11.htm
Fun fact: The average male spends 15.22 hours per day awake on average. That amounts to 5,555.3 waking hours per year, which is almost as much as Dingo's waking hours for its lifetime.
You're a much more efficient machine. Espeically considering you're running while you're asleep, too.
Source: Table 11. Waking hours spent alone or with others, by selected characteristics, averages for May to December, 2019 and 2020 - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t11.htm
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Youngest son driving it first time day I got it home. Bought it used from a member here.
FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
When my neighbor's girls were young, I remember him doing a frog/toad/snake check every time they came near the house. Pretty good chance they had at least one in one of their pockets.
Knotorious
That Guy With The Face
"You know spring is around when the peepers are abound." - Knotorious
No joke: I just came up with that on the fly.
en.wikipedia.org
Relevance? It's loose. Ya'll got me thinking about frogs is all.
No joke: I just came up with that on the fly.
Spring peeper - Wikipedia
Relevance? It's loose. Ya'll got me thinking about frogs is all.
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