Gremo reinvents a much-missed class of forwarder

Many older forest owners and contractors remember with regret a time when forwarders loaded their own weight. Gremo has almost reinvented that class of machine. At Elmia Wood the company presented a concept for a forwarder that weighs 10.5 tonnes and loads 8.5.

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Whether it is merely a concept can be questioned, as the first unit has already found a buyer. The basis of the new Gremo 750 F is the existing 1050 forwarder, which weighs 12.5 tonnes.

“We’ve gone through every component and if possible switched to a lighter one. In that way we’ve slimmed it down by two tonnes,” Martin Bredenfeldt.

The machine’s width has also been shrunk to 2.4 metres, which is important in Central Europe so the forwarder can easily be driven on roads.

But what is the difference between this newcomer and the mini-forwarders that have become more and more common in recent years?

“This one is a full-size forest machine with everything that means in terms of comfort, safety and functions,” Bredenfeldt replies.

It is also full size in terms of performance, with a 4.5 litre, 165 hp engine, hydrostatic power train and a crane with 6.5 metres of reach. The result is a full-size forwarder with considerably lower ground pressure.

At Elmia Wood Gremo also launched a new kind of active bogie. The hydraulically controlled bogie places more pressure from the front wheels on upward slopes. This increases accessibility in steep terrain. In contrast, on wet and soft ground the pressure from the front wheels is decreased so the bogie “floats” overtop.

“This is an option on all our machines,” Bredenfeldt says. “It’s mainly intended for countries with steep terrain but the active bogie is also good for contractors who drive on ground with poor bearing capacity.”