When was the last time a brand new, high-production Madill tower hauler was sold in New Zealand – completely new from the ground up?
I can’t think of one. And it’s probably got you stumped, too.
There have been plenty of second-hand towers of all makes imported from North America and Canada in recent years and we’re always refurbishing existing ones in our fleet to keep them in service. But nothing new for ages, apart from the Koller mini tower brought in from Europe as a one-off experiment six years ago and the last of the BE70 towers built in Nelson by Brightwater going back even further.
So, the arrival of Kuru Contracting’s all-new, all-singing-and-dancing Madill 172B calls for something of a celebration. Well, an Iron Test, at the very least.
Madill is the last survivor of the big-name tower hauler and swing yarder manufacturers. After emerging from its own brush with corporate death following the Global Financial Collapse, the Vancouver Island-based company tentatively got back into business with 124 swing yarder production and then, four years ago, announced it would return to making towers, with the 172B.
Pacific North-West loggers rejoiced and there was soon a waiting list, so it took Kuru Contracting two years from placing an order to see its 172B finally dispatched from the Nainamo plant.
On hearing that it had landed here in Godzone in the middle of last year, we were champing at the bit to get up close and personal.
Unfortunately, the deadly COVID-19 Delta wave intervened, and the NZ Logger Iron Test team had to sit on our hands a tad longer. But what’s a few more months when we’ve waited so long for such an opportunity?
Especially as we had also missed out on seeing the 172B make a surprise appearance as a showstopping exhibit at the 2021 Mystery Creek Fieldays before it headed off to the Porter Equipment workshop on the other side of Hamilton to receive extra guard rails prior to its Gisborne delivery trip.
But we did eventually catch up with it, and boy were we impressed.
The sight and sounds of a hungry tower perched high on a landing in full stem-recovery mode is something to behold and I’ll bet this one would bring a tear to the eye of even the most grizzled and grumpy logger, even as Madill now offers a Volvo engine option to the lusty Detroit Diesel Series 60 in its yarders and towers.
Owners, Ricky and Leanne Kuru, and their team are happy that they were still able to specify the Detroit, since it now matches the power plant in their Madill 124 swing yarder that was imported brand new two years earlier.
“We’re very happy that it’s got the Detroit because it means both our Madills have the same engine, which is good for spares and maintenance,” says Aaron Wallis, who joined Kuru Contracting last year as Harvest Manager.
A range of options
The new machine is not just brand new to New Zealand it also marks a first for Kuru Contracting because Ricky and...
