Mulching Head Attachment ?

[w38571]

I have a TL150 & are considering a mulching head attachment for it. Haven't looked at the specs for the mulching head regarding the hydraulic psi or flow , but was looking for advise about which attachment works best on the skid steers.
Have about 50 acres of thickets/underbrush I was wanting to get done before fall.

 

[Reuben Frazier]

Fecon or Denis Cimaf with a DCR rotor are the best brands IMO but it all depends on your budget. Those will easily run over $30,000 so it really depends on how much your willing to spend on a head.
As far as the skid steer your wanting to use I’m not familiar with that model but as long as you have a poly windshield and an enclosed cab you can make it work but you will have to have those 2 things at the very least, you can also buy a low flow head if your steer isn’t a high flow model as well they just don’t work nearly as good.
50 acres on a steer is going to take a long time to accomplish but again it’s doable if you have the time to do it. I would venture to say the steer might be worn out by the time you get finished though lol. Mulching will find every weak link on the machine and it’s super hard on them.

If your simply cleaning up underbrush and not cutting trees you could get by with a brush cutter with mulching teeth on the bottom for a lot less money, I’d recommend a Vail X Series brush cutter if you go that route for about $13,000. I have a couple of those and their built like a tank and will take the abuse and work exceptionally well not to mention their customer support is in a league of its own.. Shoot me a pm if you have any questions and I’ll be glad to help you out, I’ve had and ran pretty much everything made at one time or another. You can’t skimp out on a cheapo unit whatever you do or you will be working on it more than your working it.

 

[treemuncher]

23 gpm @ 3000 psi is what your machine is rated at. I suggest you hire out the initial clearing with a true forestry mulcher machine and then purchase a hydraulic bush hog or rotary deck for future maintenance with your skid steer. This will save you a considerable amount of cash in the long run and lots of future maintenance on the machine itself. My old ASV 4810 with 38 gpm? at 3000 psi was painfully slow with a mulcher head on it and faster with a rotary deck (Davco 705) but still really slow at much over 2" diameter material. It was rated at 105 hp at the engine.

I replaced my ASV with a Fecon/Rayco 140 running at 69 gpm @ 6000 psi to the head. The difference was astounding. What was 2.5 minutes for a typical 6" elm became 30 seconds. Today, I don't use my 140 any more because it is too slow for what I do and for the services that I provide. That 30 second tree is now 5-10 seconds with most of my larger machines. Economies of scale will save you money. Non forestry designed machines self destruct pretty fast with cutter heads and forestry conditions. Even the purpose built units require more maintenance than most people would ever expect in order to be kept in working condition.

If your cutting conditions will be mostly 3" or less, a rotary deck designed like that Davco with a massive flywheel effect should be able to power you through most of what you need. 23 gpm is going to be a snooze-fest slow operation. Be sure you have an enclosed cab and lexan windows - if the dust does not kill you, the bees might!

If your cutting conditions are just briars and new growth on farm fields, hire a farmer with a bat-wing bush hog and a large 4x4 tractor. That would be the cheapest way out.