HARVESTING | KOMATSU 901XC
ONE SIZE
FITS ALL Eoghan Daly reports on the all-round Komatsu 901XC operated by Irish-based G&G Timber Harvesting
E
xperienced forestry machine operators Greg and Garrett Cuddy established G&G Timber Harvesting in 2009, initially running used equipment. Their first harvester was a Silvatec 886H, which was later upgraded to a Timberjack 1070. The pair were eager to source a good used Valmet harvester, as they knew what the base machine was capable of and were impressed with the performance of Valmet harvesting heads. After securing their first long-term contract with the Irish state-owned forestry business Coillte, they replaced the Timberjack with a pre-owned Valmet 911.3. In the meantime, Komatsu had acquired both the Valmet forestry machine business and the LogMax range of heads. In 2017 the brothers bought their first brand new
harvester, a Komatsu 911. Running alongside a recently acquired eight-wheel John Deere 1010E forwarder, it was the first time the business had run a pair of new machines. However, even though the brothers had run the 911 for just a year, when Komatsu introduced the new eight-wheel 901XC harvester it was clear to them that this machine was ideally suited to their varied workload of thinning and clear fell harvesting. An order was immediately placed with new dealer McHale Plant Sales, and the new 901XC entered service in the summer of 2018. Greg said, “There is very little you could improve on with the Komatsu timber harvester, as it wins in a lot of areas where others fall short. They have always been very
G&G Timber Harvesting founders Greg and Garrett Cuddy
comfortable, well-balanced machines to operate with plenty of oil flow allowing us to get the most from them. “Even when using the crane and harvesting head at the same time, which is the real test of any machine, especially in this size class, we were very impressed by our 911’s performance. However, it did give small but annoying problems, so when the 901XC became available we believed a change to this new model was the best option.” THERE IS VERY Now working LITTLE YOU almost exclusively COULD for Coillte on an IMPROVE ON extended contract mainly in the Co THE KOMATSU Laois area, the new
The 901XC features a comprehensive LED light package, which is particularly effective when working in thinnings in low light
FORESTRY MACHINERY SPRING 2020
031_FM004_Komatsu_FINAL.indd 31
31
16/03/2020 19:09
