Skidding Tractor

(or skidder), a tractor for work-in the logging industry.

Skidding tractors, which have good off-road capability, are equipped with devices for collecting, loading, transporting, and unloading trees, trunks, and logs. The cabin and engine of the tractor are in front, and a winch or a hydraulic manipulator and the load plate are in the back. The lumber may be collected using ropes with rings and hooks at the ends (choker cables); the bundles thus assembled are pulled onto the lowered load plate by the winch and then, along with the plate, onto the tractor. If choker cables are not used, the bundles are assembled by hydraulic manipulators. During skidding, one end of the trees or trunks rests on the tractor and the other drags on the ground.