Thunderbird Yarders, Loaders, and Etc from the Murray's in Eugene Oregon

[Roadswitcher]

Fipper Switch

Good pic and it has also raised a couple of possibilities for which I might have the answer. Firstly thou, I need to know, does the yarder have a slackpuller drum and is that the travel brake maxi between the strawdrum lever and travel/yard switch. Also, I found dash pics in the TMY50 brochure which are as I remember but differ somewhat to yours - the # no may provide some clues there.

 

[JustLogIt]

The serial number on the tag says "R5036". Not sure what the R stands for, but I'm assuming this machine was the 36th TMY 50 built.

Yarder does have the split mainline/slackpulling drum. The control lever on the far left of dash is for the strawline. The maxi control you see in the picture goes to the strawline drum. The travel brake maxi is on the far right side of the dash (I'll try to get a complete dash picture soon) The four maxi controls you see higher on the dash are from left to right: haulback drum, slackpulling drum, main drum, and skyline drum. The flipper switch directly underneath sets all four.

 

[Roadswitcher]

#5036

Thanks for that feedback.

Firstly, the 'R' stood for rubber mount - they used 'T' for track mount. Now for some obscure reason, RossCorp didn't start their model #no's at 1 like Madill. The 90's, 70's and 50's all started at 35 (there is a 7034 around but that's a story for another day) Anyhow, that makes yours the second one built, out in Feb 84.

Back to the flipper switch - I notice in the Pic, there is a button valve on the haulback lever - this is normally on the slackpuller lever and used to give full air pressure to slackpuller clutch for direct drive ie, dropline out and for taking up slack on inhaul - (the rest of time, the slackpuller is designed to slip) Now I remember spending a few days on a 50 way back that was plumbed something like this - all I can recall is thinking that it had been plumbed differently to suit a particular system. Taking that one step further, the mystery 'flipper' may be a mode switch which changes the way one or more of the levers or the button valve works. The TSY 255 has one that changes the haulback interlock position into a sky brake. What I suggest, try each lever individually in clutch on and water brake position and while in each position, flick the flipper switch and see if it changes its application - do it with the button valve too. Probably best to do while drums are stationary - get someone to watch WCBS and the slackpuller cutch. Also flip switch with motor off and listen for any movement.
There is a possibility that it applies the straw clutch so that the lever can be pushed for braking rather than using the peddle but I doubt it and I think you would have picked up on that anyway.
In conclusion, I hope the switch is still operable and hasn't been tampered with. Anyhow, look forward to results.

 

[johnson]

Anyone got detail shots and measures of a TY-90,I'm trying to build a model.

 

[johnson]

Thunderbird built some great equipment its a shame that Madill didn't keep producing the same models when they bought Thunderbird.

 

[log frog]

Ty90

A couple of shots taken while visiting PNW.

 

[johnson]

Cool pictures log frog,nice shot of the guyline drums in the first picture.

 

[johnson]

Thunderbird 738 Log Loader

 

[furpo]

Y9046

I have a bit of info for the TY90 fokes.

I managed to get a few photos today of TY90 Y9046. This machine belongs to Alan Sinton and is on a Skagit carrier.

Torkel; I have been back through the TY90 spreadsheet and will have to do some more investigating for you. The machine in post 82 as belonging to Olsen is defiantly not his. The Olsen machine is on a Skagit base. This machine most likely belongs to Sinton also. He has two, one Skagit, one Washington and since it is on the Richards transporter it is most likely his. The Olsen machine is on a T100 SP carrier
So this leaves Y9042 with the 158 carrier and tower. What is the easiest way to tell the difference between the 158 and 208? I notice Contract logger said the 208 model tower on Y9048 has 6 guyropes. What would Y9042 have?

Contract Logger; we are still trying to figure out which other TY90 we have down here. One you said belonged to Mike Plaas. This is the one which was rebuilt from a trailer to a self propelled carrier Which machine was this?

Would be rude not to post the photos, enjoy.

 

[Rusty Grapple]

WOW! GREAT find furpo, I had lost track of this one too.

TY90 #9046 - This machine was mounted new to the Skagit T100 Self-Propelled just as it sits in your pictures.

It was built in August 1985 and sold new to Haley Logging at Lebanon, Oregon. It worked there steady until 1994.

In early 1994 Haley brought her in to Ross at Eugene where they made some minor repairs and gave it a complete factory re-paint; It was beautiful.

I took these pictures that day in Feb 1994 and that's the last time I saw this machine!

Looks good and thanks a million for the update and pics!

 

[furpo]

Thanks Rusty / Contract / Eric?

Any luck with the Mike Plaas machine?

 

[Rusty Grapple]

Furpo-

"......So this leaves Y9042 with the 158 carrier and tower. What is the easiest way to tell the difference between the 158 and 208? I notice Contract logger said the 208 model tower on Y9048 has 6 guyropes. What would Y9042 have?"

The Washington 158/208 carriers were nearly identical and it is difficult to tell what you are looking at without the original yarder S/N or the Washington ID/info tag at the guyline/tower controls. All of these 158/208 tower/carrier sets could be ordered with 6, 7, or 8 guylines from the factory, so there's no easy way to tell what you've got with the naked eye. I was told that Y9042 (sold new to Breymmeyer and was originally factory painted all-yellow, the only yellow TY-90) and Y9048 (sold new to Fred A. Moore) both went overseas at thier times of sale (1995/1996?).

I last stood on Y9042 in 1995 (in Washington) and I last stood on Y9048 in 1994 (in Oregon) and both I believe were 6-guyline machines with possibly a 7th mounted on the tower. I can't find my pictures of either machine (I have them someplace, stored safely in an unmarked box no doubt) but I know the Fred Moore machine was pictured in one of the Thunderbird TY-90 brocures.

The Plaas machine I believe is Y9063 sold new to Pacific Lumber and Shipping at Randle Washington in Sept 1988. PLS had it on a Skagit T120 trailer but it was pulled off right after the PLS auction in 1998. I need to make a phone call to verify that's the hoist but I'm 75% sure it is the one.

I hope this helps but as always for every question I can answer there are 10 more that I still can't.

Eventually we will have the complete history and all the pics in one spot I HOPE! Every new pic sure helps.

 

[Rusty Grapple]

There were four TY-90's that were mounted on the Washington tower/carriers-

Y9042 (new to Bremmeyer) went overseas and I lost track of by 1997
Y9048 (new to Fred A. Moore) went overseas and I lost track of by 1997
Y9059 (new to Wimer) currently in Cathlamet Washington and soon being moved onto a Skagit T00 trailer
Y9065 (new to Wimer) currently in Chehalis Washington and possibly being moved to a Skagit trailer in the near future

The Washington carrier is very difficult to move in the States (very heavy) and the tower, cab, and steering tires must come off for transport.
I always liked the look of the Washington setup but it isn't very agile/mobile and I am surprised these machines held out as long as they did against the Skagit swap.

Here's a pic taken a month or so ago as Thunderbird TY90 Y9059 comes off the Astoria, Oregon bridge on the Washington side, headed for Cathlamet.

 

[furpo]

Eventually we will have the complete history and all the pics in one spot I HOPE! Every new pic sure helps.

I cant agree more. I try to keep a record of all the yarders I come across as one day they will be gone. Look at the cable cranes now.

Ill have to get off my arse and take some pictures of the other Sinton and the Olsen machine. I know where they are.

I also suspect some Kiwi TY90s have changed hands recently so need to do more digging

 

[furpo]

Sounds like a mission to move. We were always told you guys didnt have to worry much about vehicle weights. The plus for the Washington is the tower comes back over the driving axles so you have more grip for moving around the bush.

 

[PFS]

TSY 255 Belonging to Darryl Hutton of ANC Forestry. Yarder was recently acquired from Buffalo Valley Logging, as well as the Cat DFM, Tail-hold and a Skidder up the road a bit. Very wet as you could probably tell. And a very short pull. Also if anyone was interested, across the gully to the right in the last picture, on exactly the same terrain basically but a bit less steep and a longer pull was a Skidder crew. Just a bit stupid? Also, this same man owns a TTY 6170 which was working nearby, but i could not get any pictures as it was situated down a skid track, which after 130mm + rain was very wet. It's skyline was about 1.5KM across a gully to a tail hold dozer.

 

[johnson]

I thought JM Browning had one of the TY-90 on a Washington carrier?

 

[JeremyM70]

I thought JM Browning had one of the TY-90 on a Washington carrier?

That's Y9059, Browning sold it to Debriae. Just saw it a couple of days ago.

 

[johnson]

Thanks for the info,did Thunderbird make a lot of yoders?I have pictures of a Thunderbird 1240 yoader

 

[johnson]

Were there any TY-90 track mounts?