Hill Equipment, based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, manufacture handling equipment for timber harvesting, as well as for light industrial uses. They produce top-quality Timber Grapples and Timber Grabs. In addition to producing the toughest and most durable equipment around, Hill Equipment imports and distributes rotators, and the world renowned Tajfun (Typhoon) timber winches and firewood processors. They also refurbish timber grabs and cranes and can make customized equipment to meet your specific requirements.

Hill Equipment is focused on products which are reliable, flexible, easy to operate and maintain, and have a low running cost to production rate.
Winches can be used in a wide range of applications from extraction in flat to very steep areas, sensitive sites, rocky or sandy areas, winter or summer.
They can be used for high-leading, winching trees along powerlines, buildings, etc. They are quick to attach and can therefore be easily transferred between tractors, which could free up a tractor for other operations.

Winches, depending on size and application, can extract anything from 50 – 160 tons of timber/shift. Winch sizes range from 3t –10t line pull.
Grapples cannot operate on steep slopes like winches, but they outperform winches because of a faster turnaround time and lower running costs; they also outperform 3-wheelers over skid distances > 50m.

Grapples are quick to attach and versatile, they work extremely well in thinning, as well as in short length timber extraction. The G250 grab can produce between 50 – 150 tons/shift and the G500B up to 250 tons under near perfect conditions.

Grabs are made of high grades of steel with high quality components, such as that of the pins and bushes. The grabs are used on the grapples as well as on timber cranes and loggers. Hill Equipment also produces a sorting grab for use on the G500 grapple.

Rotators are now available, which are suitable for 3 wheeled loggers, cranes and grapples.

Currently Hill Equipment have a customer base which extends from the Western Cape up into the Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe, and even to Western Australia.