still in use commercially....

[easo]

What is it? What is it used for now?

Easo

[Luke R]

Logging skyline or something like that.
Used for winching logs out of the bush.
Theres still a lot in Canada and USA based on the sherman and high speed tractor chassis.

Luke

[Lynn Eades]

Its a Log hauler. They are parked on a hill and used to harvest logs in steep country. Steam haulers were in use here 100 year ago.
Some of these ( possibly this one ) came in through the port of Tauranga in the late 1990s. It uses a Sherman (Grizzly ) chassis.

[easo]

So its in NZ?

Thanks for the responses to questions.

That would be an interesting thread showing the strange equipment old armour was converted into.
Easo

[things_green]

I know its as a 'skyline tower'...used in the forestry industry for harvesting trees.

I'm no armor expert so initially I assumed it was a Sherman chassis but was told by others more informed than me, that they were made post war by a Canadian company based on (as Lynn said) Canadian Grizzlys.

I have photos, somewhere, going back to the early 1980s of this, or another example.

All I can see is a yet to be Kangaroo.

[chris vickery]

I saw one of these last spring near Terrace British Columbia Canada, still operational, it was based on a Grizzly as well.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

I assume this one was the High Speed Tractor version?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsXzCD0XzU0
Rich.

[maple_leaf_eh]

The term is Spar Yarder. The idea is to drive the chassis as high up the hill as possible. Set the anchor cables and deadfulls. Then rotate and raise the mast. Run a very long overhead cable to somewhere near the bottom and tension it almost straight. There is a cab for the operator who winches logs up the hill to a landing where an loader puts the logs on trucks. The dangerous job is down on the hillside where men in helmets and spikey boots set choker cables and dodge runaways. The Madill company in Nanaimo, BC that did hundreds of conversions. If you search the heavy equipment auctions there are almost always a few on offer.

A second company that use Sherman chassis' for rough terrain use is Finning. Put a big air compresser on one end and a very powerful rock drill hanging off the nose. The companies use these to drill deep holes for blasting hard rock on construction projects.