Hi. I have never seen the Butler Brothers trucks. However I met one of the fellows that drove the last one We became very close friends over the years. Sadly he passed away a few yrs ago. He had some awesome pictures of those days at Butler and we talked about him taking me to see what was left of them. Sadly it didn’t happen. Thanks for the excellent video. 👍
Thank you for sharing your story and connection with Butler Brothers trucks. It's sad to hear about the loss of your friend. We're glad to know our video brought back good memories for you. We appreciate your support and hope our future videos will also be meaningful to you! 👍
I remember those trucks. Mark V was stupidly huge. It moved an awful lot of wood at once. There were several other companies in the area that developed some of the best logging machines in the world. The Butler company still remains active.
I downloaded this truck as a mod for snowrunner yesterday and had no idea what it actually is. Thank god for the weird convenience of the youtube algorithm.
Its like when you’re talking to someone about something and suddenly you start getting ads for that product… weird convenience eh? No, its just weird, and creepy, and breach of trust, and all things disgusting big tech.
Currently one frame of this truck sits on the property of recently passed logging company owner Andy Byrne, in Stillwater, British Columbia; in a much worse state than the last few images in the video suggest. I heard the remaining frames of the truck will be given/sold to a local organization which preserves local history, and it's up to the family of Byrne. If you look hard enough and use photos of this thing that remain, you can actually figure out where it currently sits on the property. (Took a while, but me and a friend managed to track it down)
It's fascinating to hear about the current whereabouts of the truck and the efforts to track it down. It would be amazing if you could share recent photos of its current state. The story behind its current location and the potential for preservation by a local organization adds even more interest to its legacy. Thank you for sharing this valuable information and for your dedication in following the story of this truck!
The Butler trucks were around for a few years, here on Vancouver Island, but they had problems. Like being very difficult to get turned around on small landings in mountain country. They also didn't track very well and ended up off the road more than once. The big Hayes HDX and Pacific's had been developed years before, and sold a lot of units before these showed up. They could turn around in the woods easily, could carry their trailer and packed a similar load. They also could and did pull multiple trailers. More important they could be rebuilt many times. They stopped building them several decades ago, but there still quite a few in use today in BC and Alaska. Lots of very recent video if you look up Logging on Vancouver Island.
The air ride cab was interesting, I couldn’t imagine sitting right beside it a 16 cylinder Detroit diesel screaming for 12 hours. Bet it was a truck you would never forget driving. Would be great to hear from someone who drove this rig?
I remember reading about this truck in the publication BC Logging and it was a monster at the time and was supposed to take over heavy haul in the forest. Very interesting to see it again.
Andy told me he wanted it to go to the BC Forestry museum in Duncan. I was running Brad Greens lowbed at the time. Andy and I went out and looked at it and measured it up, but nothing ever happened. Carrie Miller told me that the driver got tired of waiting one time and hooked up two trailers behind it and pulled it all the way down to the log sort. So that would have to be like 300 tons payload.
You should hook up deBoss Garage with getting that Mk.5 running. He's just awesome at old Detroit's. Or Hamiltonville Farms, another great talent in the RU-vid world of massive machinery that needs getting running and moving under it's own power.
Can you tell me about LOADING them. I am so, so interested in the HEALING BOOM log loaders of the time. If you could just explain the control pattern of the machine, and what were the company names. Just fascinating about cab layout and control levers, to operate them. I'm a nerd who likes how the operators pulled levers. 😊😊
Did they have to be "tires literally larger than the previous model"? 'Larger tires' weren't enough, eh'? They just had to me "literally larger." I'm glad to know that the tires on the newer model weren't simply 'figuratively larger' tires. I'd have a difficult time imagining that.
that would be very interesting to see. the Butler Mk5 restored with a diesel-electric drivetrain! with electric motors on all axles including the trailer. would give unparalelled offroad ability! would need a pretty big genset (a v12 MTU marine unit or similar)
I see you have used some of my photos here, yes sadly there is no much recorded history but there are still some of us that remember working around this truck.
We're happy to contribute to preserving the history of this truck. We appreciate those like you who remember and share their experiences with these incredible machines. Your perspective enriches the collective memory. Thank you for your comment!
About 20 years ago I came across a fellow by the name of Don Calder from Cobble Hill BC. . He had pictures of him driving the latest big logging truck. He also mentioned it was powered by a 16V71 detroit. He also said that the drivers of the monsters only where paid a little bit more than a normal logging truck. Don finally went back to the smaller rigs because it was hard on the nerves.
Packed the record loads over the dump at Macmillan Bloedel's Menzies Bay Division. A great mainline machine but it's greatest fault was it's length..it was just too long to turn easily on spur roads. Drivers would comment on how strange it was in cab hanging out in air going around switchbacks. I have often wondered how she would have done with regular traditional design from cab and steering axles back. Thank you for video
Itd be really cool to see one up and running for demonstration purposes, those were really awesome looking trucks, i like the pacific and hayes trucks that were used in Canadian logging absolute powerhouses
Pretty darned amazing story and some incredible aspirations and achievements, it to bad but like so many other great ideas the timing just wasnt right!
I remember the 1970s in British Columbia when we were the world's lumber yard and for a short time Macmillan Bloedel was larger than weyerhauser (which is probably why weyerhauser purchased the company and promptly shut most of it down)
I tried searching for that truck around Powell River. I couldn't find it and I heard it was scrapped. I don't know if the scrap yard still has it or if there is any parts left of it? I'd like to know.
Between 1960 and 1961. Between 1963 and 1964. This can be described with a single word that would be spectacular. Dude you really need to hire a script writer.
Enjoyed your video. Been in Sooke for 25 years now. Butler Bros. own concrete company's now and built a higher end sub division just down the road from me. I have been in that Spirit tear drop car with its rear engine V8...noisy as hell! 😊
What’s funny is that nowadays I’ve worked on a few butler trucks but there now twin steer western concrete trucks have only ever seen a few dump trucks owned by them never any logging trucks
my recently diseased buddys dad worked on building the original prototype and my buddy Henry at 16 was one of the test drivers, later his dad lost most of his companies and money.... and so did hank die drunk and pennyless. he told me tons of storries from the bush and heavyhauling misadventures from around western canada.
I also read in a logging magazine that they were experimenting with a gas turbine engine, I believe it was in the Mark 5. I guess it used too much fuel. I often wondered what happened to them. Awhile ago I searched for them on y tube but turned up very little. Thanks for this.
Start voting conservative and then things will turn around. Liberal politics is so hard on industry it takes all the money out of it, and if there's no money in if there's no business.
Call me hater but dude has worn out his welcome in my feed with the always promising videos but yet to deliver anything.. Any old knob can stand by a half built truck and talk about all the modern stuff they dislike. Time for him to put up or shut up.
I grew up in Sooke BC and remember seeing some of those trucks as a kid. My dad did work for Butler Brothers at one point in his long logging career. Great video!!
причина в том что негабаритная техника очень ограниченна в применении. На таких монстрах из леса нельзя выехать, да и не нужны уже монструозные 40 литровые моторы чтобы тягать 100 тонн - достаточно взять обычные дорожные кенворты, и с прицепами он спокойно утащит те же 100 тонн просто на двойном полуприцепе, но он сможет спокойно выехать на дороги общего пользования и отвезти на лесопилку, которую необязательно строить в лесу. Плюс машины хоть и специализированные но все же серийные и запчасти у них серийные. В общем так проще. И дороги в лесу нужны уже.
