true but It is cheaper and probably better in SHTF scenarios. because you aren’t going to be able to source hardened steel for treads. It also doesn’t fly off like the spikes on a old school steel wheeled tractors.
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I had to buy new tracks for mine when i first bought it , no idea why or how the farmer that owned my machine managed to destroy them i am sure it wasn’t just because they were sat under a hedge row for 5 years , but anyway before i handed over the money for my one i phones around and managed to easily find new tracks at the cost of 600 Au bucks so i still got a bargain in my machine .
Dave
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Hey Dave here is a video of a Honda brand HP400 manual transmission working. Very long and overly chatty; and only translates to English with maybe 50% making sense.
But skip to 14:00 minutes to 24:00 minutes to see the when things go right. And when things go wrong, spilling the loads.
Show the excellent versistly in wet, soft, uneven grounds situations.
And he comments one of the only ways they were allowed to remove back-in remote fuel wood in this not-theirs forest.
He says and shows it could not have been done with a power wheeled system.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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Hi Steve , Yep that’s the model i have and even looks in the same condition when i first got mine , but many many tonns of wood later and years of sitting outside in all weathers has sadly slightly knocked the shine off the bodywork … but i love my machine and could never have managed without it i would recommend these Honda models to anyone that could get there hands on one even used and abused they should still have plenty of life left in them …
My Terrain is not a flat woodland like there’s mine is all up or down hill at around 30 deg’s so i think i have worn a pretty good safe track and had no tip overs for years but every now and again something finds its way from above onto the ground and have had a few scary moments when i realized i am half way over a large piece of branch that’s dropped from the tree’s its at that moment i think ": i must make some out riggers for this " but of course never do spring loaded almost like ski’s or a jockey wheel might be good .
Dave
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O.K.
I finally did pull the trigger and have this exact machine being now shipped to me:
Why?
Yardmax does have an on the American continent parts warehouse. Videos showing folks installing these parts.
Other reasons are other videos showing folks getting good usability on these very basic minimal machines.
The Honda all hydraulic HP 500’s are insistence limited to 15 degree slopes. No, US Honda dealer was interested in a one-off importing for me. Need power train parts later ???
Ha! Then I saw video of marketed Honda numbered HP 300 level units were exactly this same machine configuration “made in China” basic machine.
This guy with lots of muck-farming exprences list out why he decided in a mini-tracked dumper too, to replace his man pushed wheel barrow:
Long. Only translates maybe 60-70% but good logic spelled out here.
I only need to tote 500 pounds ~1/4 of a cord of fire wood up slope at a time. And then pull up property from the bottom to the top some deep silt soils to finish fill the raised bed gardening boxes, and improve the around house yards.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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I wonder how hard it would be to put a platform on back, or a sulky to counter weight the over hang in front.
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Nice one Steve, looks like Christmas coming early for you , bet you will be doing lots of work very soon , cant wait to see photo’s or video .
Dave
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How much you wanna bet that you will find many other excuses to use this little jewel? Congrats on a good choice.
Don M.
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1st guy needs some weight in the box.
2nd guy needs to add a step-on bar in the back for operator counter weight, I think.
S.U.
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Here is another video showing get-the-wood-weight re-distributed on a small foot-print out of the forest mover machine. That starts at 4:00. Then later the fellow shows well and talks about his European contractor construction truck. Hey TomH. They are mostly all small diesels for taxing purposes.
It was this other video that showed me I could make-do with the smallest tracked wood mover machine. (click to “Watch on YouTube”.)
Mine arrives November the 10th.
Hard to sit on my hands! I can smell the new paint. Hear the putt-putting engine working.
S.U.
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Hi Steve,the last video you put up is going to work ok on flat ground but trust me with out outriggers i would not load much out side of the track foot print for fear of tipping .
The video of the one with the huge box was not carrying that much weight i could tell at most maybe 100 kgs i have carried heavy loads on mine and you know and feel it when you do, it will lift the front or the back when you go over a bump when you have real weight and it will for sure be top heavy and ready to make you pick it all up again.
On the flat of course no problem .
Dave
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All good valid points Dave.
Living/working on a hill side slopes a fellow must take extreme cares.
Motorizing does solve the near impossibility of human hands and backs moving needful things from the bottom up however. Ha! All too easy to roll and shuffle things down slope. That come naturally. Gravity is a real bitch. She is aways insistent pulling down. Ignored, minimized; she will bite hard.
Here in this video at 7:08 Alexander Russo show he can do this with a minimalist; only three support rollers per side, tracked-carrier:
At 5:13 he shows loading his carrier and comments on the Euros valvue in barbecue fuel wood (CHARCOALED!) he has created.
At 7:48 he shows his wood-rows “piles”.
Pull up his whole channels videos selection and see he is actually homesteading under a major power line easement.
Gotten into chickens, gardening and lots of mushrooms and fungi.
Ha! You; KristijanL; ToneS. and Canadian Curtis Stone. And now me.
Look over his videos and he does this all with a small ~20 horsepower mini-excavator; his ~7.0 hp tracked-carrier; a ~10 hp BCS walk behind tiller; two chainsaws; and a smaller 2wd tractor.
His videos translate for me at 90% understandable.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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Ha! Ha! It has taken me forever to re-find the less side rollers Honda HP 250 videos.
I wanted to see the loaded weights distribution.
This translates quite well from Japanese:
Another with a purpose-made box carrier:
And then some Honda HP 400’s video showing their more side rollers and a diffrtent type of upward locking bar style power engagement:
And a good use evaluation for steep hillside usages:
Longer tracks and load-beds on the 400/450/500’s Dave. Turn on-a-half-dollar we’d say.
The shorter 250’s less side rollers types; “turn-on-a-dime”.
I judged this more important to me. Guessing. I’ll be seeing soon.
S.U.
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Soft shoulder slope gravity bitten. Marcus’s delivery work truck recnetly.
Live tip-over photoed.
Then gone topsy-turvy (gone turtled, upside down). The recovery:
S.U.
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I bet he will be a little more carful closer to that edge from now on , luckily i don’t have any cliff’s on my property just slopes .
I am scratching my head to remember what model number mine is, i have a feeling its a HP400 from memory of when there was a sticker on it years ago
Bless her she worth her weight in gold this old girl
Dave
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Dave here is one that shows the location of all of the labelling.
And an HP400’s (one version) physical features:
Ha! Ha! You are the one who showed me this useable tool alternative. Thanks.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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My labelling long ago before i got my hands on it were long gone ,the only faint just about seen one left is the "easy start " label on the air filter cover , my one looks identical apart from the throttle lever on that one has it on the side and mins is built into the front on that plastic switch panel and its a slider type configuration with it pushed to the bottom engaging the choke then pull upwards increasing the revs
Dave
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Lots of shade crowded dieing in this one. Over-planted. Not been early thinned.
Just like my 2 acre westside slope.
S.U.
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