When our Iron Test team arrives at A&R Logging’s Patutahi swing yarder operation, the recently upgraded i.Log Madill 124 is pulling logs downhill. The team is testing two machines – the Madill upgraded by i.Log and Shaw’s and A&R Logging’s new 40-tonne Sany SY415HGW Pro running a Woodsman Pro 850 processor.
Iron Test writer, Tim Benseman, continues: “I don’t know a heck of a lot about yarders, being a shovel logger, but I do know if you’re going to haul downhill you better have good gear and if you’re doing it on steep ground with big Gisborne stems then you better have great gear and, as usual, it looks like Arana Kuru has the operation running smoothly with plenty of good strong machines on hand.
“Catching up with Jonny Edwards AKA Woodcutter from Shaw’s, he is enthusiastic about this build developed with Ensign:
‘This machine has been built up with New Zealand Loggers in mind. We’ve got a high and wide undercarriage, full-length track guards, straight boom and arm, full harvester cab and gullwing bonnets plus extra cooling.
‘In the cab we have push-button start, touch screens for the base and the Woodsman Pro 850. Right behind the cab we have clamping bar storage, chain storage, toolbox rack and two 9kg fire extinguishers plus a small door for hitting your kill switch at the end of the day so you don’t need to open a bonnet for that. There are lift out panels for the radiators so it’s easy to keep clean and there is another auxiliary cooler on board as well.
‘Up on top we have the Isuzu 257kw engine linked to some Kawasaki pumps. We have a big exhaust guard and the gull wings come over to protect it a lot more. We have a big boom mat to keep the boom mount area clean and all the piping is protected under there right up the boom. Over on the right hand gull wing at the hydraulic bay we have all the Woodsman filters and all the Sany hydraulic, engine oil and fuel filters accessible from there.’ “
And that’s not all… To read more, get your copy of the July 2025 edition of NZ Logger magazine, on sale from 30 June. Check the link on this page to subscribe to either a printed or digital copy (or both).
