Forwarder Roundup-John Deere 1510G

Forwarder-John Deere 1510 G

Gavin Robertson, Walton logging LTD

Machine age 5 months-Hours 1000-Litres P/H 11.5

Gavin has been around Forwarders from a young age spending time helping his Father, Colin who is MD of the family company Walton Logging LTD.

On leaving school Gavin joined the company, learning the ropes carrying out secondary forwarding before progressing on to operate various Forwarders up to his current 1510 G.

Gavin is really pleased with his latest 1510 G Forwarder, “28⁰ is the steepest gradient I have climbed so far and although it climbs well it could do with more ground clearance.

When reversing up steep slopes I must be careful climbing over obstacles as due to the long back bogies not being balanced, they keep climbing up past their balancing point which can make the forwarder unstable.

The Forwarder performs well on soft ground with the extra floatation of the longer back bogies, and with the bunk widening kit it offers a lower centre gravity,

If the Forwarder does go down on one side when loaded, it does not sink as far as it would with a conventional bunk.

One drawback of the wide bunk is if I don’t remember to put the headboard extension up early enough, especially when loading downhill, the ram hasn’t got the power to push it up with logs stacked against it”.

The crane on the 1510 G forwarder comes with Intelligent Boom Control. “The crane is sharp and responsive, and the IBC is brilliant. Although I find the slew power lacking a little on steep slopes, the ten-metre crane is a great asset especially when stacking on the roadside from the inside of the wood.

It is good for moving brash and also has the ability to reach two rows of wood from one row. The grapple is a Gripen 035 HD, it is wider, and opens further than grabs I have used in the past, I wouldn’t have anything else

”Operator comfort is provided by John Deere’s self-levelling, rotating cabin, and has all the mod cons expected in a modern-day forwarder.

“Comfort is good, storage is good, and the computer is well thought out and easy to use although I would like to see a split screen option that constantly shows the mapping as well as the work screen. I would prefer the radio moved to a more accessible position.

Overall vision is good , although moving the computer to the right-hand side of the cab and removing the reflective strip along the bottom of the window would improve downward vision”.

“We do the 750-hour services ourselves and John Deere do the 1500 ones. The machine is easy to service with all filters easily accessible and the belly plate is a lot smaller than on previous machines, it is easy to take off and put back on”.

“Back up is provided with our own service van, with John Deere there when we need them. We are located close to John Deere’s Carlisle depot so Dad usually picks up the parts and delivers them to us on site”

“Overall performance is excellent, and I haven’t had so much as one burst hose in the first 1000 hours

The feedback here is from the operator and is in no way an endorsement or criticism of any machine manufacturers.