What Is The Difference Between Cable Skidder And Grapple Skidder?

A skidder drags material from the woods to a landing or roadside.

A Grapple Skidder is capable of picking up more than one stem at a time. A cable skidder has a skid line with chokers attached. The number of chokers used will depend on the size of the trees being extracted. Cable skidders have a fixed arch over which the cable runs through a fair lead.

Single arch, Dual Arch, and Swing boom

An arch or boom holds the grapples in place on the skidder. The arch gives the grapple lift and makes it easier to position it so that it can grab a load of one or more logs.

A single arch is a one-piece structure controlled by a single set of cylinders. They create an arc, which simultaneously moves the grapple vertically and horizontally.

The two-piece arch of a double arch is controlled by a set of cylinders in each section. The horizontal movement of the grapple is controlled by one section, which is vertically pinned to the skidder. The other section controls the vertical movement of the grapple and is horizontally pinned to the vertical section. The grapple can be controlled more effectively with this kind of arch.

The arm on a backhoe is like that of a swing boom. The grapple can be moved vertically, horizontally, and laterally thanks to this. This kind of boom gives the skidder more options for dumping the load and lets it pick up material right next to it. Grip forwarders are sometimes used to refer to extremely large skidders equipped with boom-mounted grapples. Except for the fact that they attach the substantial grapple directly to the boom, these resemble clam bunk skidders.