Rottne F11D – with crane tip control

Rottne has offered crane tip control for their harvesters for some time. Now, this offer also goes for the forwarders. The first Rottne forwarder, a Rottne F11^D, with crane tip control was recently delivered to a new contractor in south Sweden. We paid him a visit.

Rottne F11^D – Crane Assistance

The contractor Fredrik Wilhemsson has operated forest machines for others for many years. Now, he has invested in his first own machine, a Rottne F11^D that happens to be the first Rottne forwarder equipped with Rottne Crane Assistance which includes crane tip control.

The Crane Assistance, or the crane tip control, was recently introduced by Rottne and shown on a prototype, make operating the crane easier. The operator can focus on where the grapple (or the harvester head on a harvester) is and control it with fewer lever and button movements.

The telescope and the main boom are more or less controlled automatically. If you for example want to lift the grapple straight up along a vertical line, you can do that by using only the right lever. The system will adjust the telescope and the outer boom for you. And if you want to move the grapple horizontally, you do that with the left lever only.

Rottne Crane Assistance – already a success(?)

When I visited this F11^D the salesman, Sven-Owe Carlsson who sold the machine to Fredrik turned up with coffee and Danish pastry (thank you). Sven-Owe revealed that he also sold one F13 with Crane Assistance that was delivered during the week of my visit, and one F15 that was also underway with the same equipment. Considering that those three machines were sold by one salesman one might wonder how many Rottne forwarders with Crane Assistance that will be sold in total. It seems it was about time the crane tip control system turned up on the Rottne forwarders.

The F11^D forwarder

When I visited Fredrik, he had been operating the F11^D for two weeks. He told me that there had been some fine-tuning to do but that the machine now was running well, and he was very pleased with it. As for the crane tip control, he has had no problems getting used to it even though he has operated “normal” cranes for many years before.

Apart from the Crane Assistance, this Rottne F11^D is also equipped with Rottne Comfort Line, a damping system for the cab.

Facts & figures for the Rottne F11^D

Here are some facts about the F11^D, taken from a brochure. You will find more information about this machine, and the rest of the Rottne range, on the Rottne home page here.

Service Weight:                  16,2 metric tons (35 710 lbs.)

Loading Capacity:               12 Metric tons (26 450 lbs.)

Length:                               8 833 millimeters (348 inch)

Width:                                2 830 millimeters (111,5 inch)

Crane:                                 Rottne RK105

Crane reach:                       7,5/9,4 meters (25/30,5 ft) (on this machine it was 7,9 meters)

Lifting torque:                    105 kNm (77 400 lb ft)

Engine:                               JD 404SC 1550 Power Tech Plus PSS, Stage V

Engine Output:                   125 kW (168 hp) at 2 000 rpm

Engine Torque:                   667 Nm (492 lb ft) at 1 500 rpm

Cylinder Volume:               4,5 liters (274 in³)

Film

Here is a film of the F11^D forwarder in action:

Film and photos: Per Jonsson