Caterpillar Feller Buncher

Caterpillar's tracked feller bunchers are the machines of North American clear-cut logging: a saw head with accumulating arms cuts the trees at the stump, holds them in a bunch and lays them down for skidding – on the pine plantations of the South at hundreds of stems per hour. The type logic of the 500 series from LaGrange, Georgia: the hundreds digit 5 stands for the forestry machines, the tens digit orders the size class in ascending order – 511 and 521 the light, 532 to 553 the medium, 563 and 573 the heavy machines with levelling of the upper structure for slopes – and the final digit distinguishes undercarriage and equipment variants. The engines are Cat C7 and C9 ACERT six-cylinders of 8.8 litres, as also power the 320-class excavators. In 2019 Caterpillar sold the purpose-built forestry machines to Weiler of Knoxville, Iowa, which continues the range as Weiler feller bunchers through the Cat dealers.

Sources: SpecCodex register, model data: Caterpillar Fällbündler, Weiler Forestry (Rechtsnachfolger der Caterpillar-Fällbündler seit 2019)