Hallback
Senior Member
As someone who has had numerous leveling machines including the very first 855 tigercat in North America, multiple different tethering systems and a handful of yarders I can tell you that a leveling shovel does help in the very steep spots as a flat bottom is spending a lot of its swing power just to overcome gravity. Now a short boomed leveling shovel is not going to be your go-to for all out shovel logging as they just do not have the reach and therefore you add multiple swings to a unit. The best is a leveler for the nasty crap feeding a 568 Cat. Right now we are producing more with our '071 and Mexican crew then we did (yes, i have sold all my base machines) with tethered logging. Not to mention I paid $65,000 for that 071 with an acme carriage versus 1.4 million for my 855 and falcon base machine. They each have their place but you're never going to get away from guys on the ground out here on the Washington coast.