Dozer site prep.

[James K]

I’m new to this forum (first post), just interested to see how many other people out there do what we do and if they do it any different.
We do tracts that are anywhere from about 40 acres being the smallest all the way up to 1500+ (we’re moving to a 1500 acre cut in 2 weeks). Right now I’m cutting about a 120 acre clear cut that’s part of a 550 tract of cut pine/hardwood.
We go through and shear all the stumps off flush with ground level and row the trash then come back with a bedding plow and plow the land to be replanted. Currently we’re running a 3 man crew of 3 Cat D6T LGP dozers (we had a D7 but it wasn’t an LGP and it just wouldn’t stand up in the mud), all are running v-shear blades and we bed with a Savannah bedding plow. I cut on average about 1 acre/hr-1.5/hr depending on the ground and time it’s been cut. Bedding goes a lot faster at about 3.5-4 acres/hr.

 

[James K]

 

[Birken Vogt]

Around here they want equipment on soil at a bare minimum. Trees get planted among the stumps and brush and 30-50 years later at harvest it has all rotted away.

Just curious why this is all necessary in your part of the country.

 

[James K]

Sometimes around here if you get a good flat piece of land that’s not real trashy at all they’ll just come along and just stick the saplings in the ground or “flat plant” them but around here ground like that is hard to come by. Most of the land we work is full of water, covered in trash and brush from the loggers with blown down trees and top piles everywhere. The shearing is really just to get the ground smooth so we can run the bedding plow through and also to get all the hardwood stumps that are starting to regrow out of there. The bedding is important because when we bed we skim the ground to row the trash to the sides and then what is left is a nice raised bed of just dirt, if we don’t do this they’ll just plant the trees wherever (standing water, right next to a log or pile of trash) and a lot of the saplings will be lost. I’m from South Carolina by the way.

 

[td25c]

That's a pretty cool operation James !

Take a wild guess what my favorite clearing tool is ?

Those blades would be the perfect tool for timbered ground .

Tree tops everywhere & stumps under them .

I love it ! Hack & stack all the way with it .

Sometimes I get to feeling bad about charging customers for a carnival ride through the trees .... We had so much fun I should be paying them . LOL !

 

[Landclearer]

Hi James. You are a fellow South Carolinian.

There was a guy by Summerville that used to run 8s. I don’t know if he is in business anymore or not. He bought a d5n that we had to plant with.

 

[southernman13]

Around here they want equipment on soil at a bare minimum. Trees get planted among the stumps and brush and 30-50 years later at harvest it has all rotted away. Same here in Ga. they’ll plant right through anything. Typical replant is spray and plant. Some companies spray burn and plant. Either way works good really. I like to clean it all up but it’s really not necessary. In few years you’d never know it wasn’t cleaned before planting.

Just curious why this is all necessary in your part of the country.

 

[southernman13]

I wish they would clean it all up. We’d love the work!

 

[Plebeian]

Does the disc set leave a row of dirt like this?

 

[Georgia Iron]

View attachment 182152 View attachment 182153 I’m new to this forum (first post), just interested to see how many other people out there do what we do and if they do it any different.
We do tracts that are anywhere from about 40 acres being the smallest all the way up to 1500+ (we’re moving to a 1500 acre cut in 2 weeks). Right now I’m cutting about a 120 acre clear cut that’s part of a 550 tract of cut pine/hardwood.
We go through and shear all the stumps off flush with ground level and row the trash then come back with a bedding plow and plow the land to be replanted. Currently we’re running a 3 man crew of 3 Cat D6T LGP dozers (we had a D7 but it wasn’t an LGP and it just wouldn’t stand up in the mud), all are running v-shear blades and we bed with a Savannah bedding plow. I cut on average about 1 acre/hr-1.5/hr depending on the ground and time it’s been cut. Bedding goes a lot faster at about 3.5-4 acres/hr.

Thats a really mean looking v blade. What happens when you get into larger tress stumps 24" or more +? Do you skim over them or how does that work?

 

[James K]

Does the disc set leave a row of dirt like this?

Actually I believe that’s the same plow that I’m pulling right now, looks very similar except mine has a big roller wheel on the back for shaping the beds.

 

[James K]

Thats a really mean looking v blade. What happens when you get into larger tress stumps 24" or more +? Do you skim over them or how does that work?

Usually the larger stumps have to be hit from a couple different angles to get them to bust off but it all depends on how old the cut is, fresh hardwoods are pure misery but old pine can start turning to stone and feel like your just ramming a steel wall. General rule I use is I try to get every one but as long as it’s cut low enough to not hang on the undercarriage of the plow tractor then it’s okay to leave if you have to.

 

[James K]

Hi James. You are a fellow South Carolinian.

There was a guy by Summerville that used to run 8s. I don’t know if he is in business anymore or not. He bought a d5n that we had to plant with.

I know Patterson and Sons are nearby in Williamsburg county and they run a crew of 4 LGP D6s but they’ve been doing it for a long time. That’s about the only crew I know of anymore locally that does this but I’m sure there’s some smaller operations nearby somewhere.

 

[James K]

We just added this bad boy to the crew today, the blades not the best because it’s not for cutting, just for pushing the trash out the way for the plow to come through but the tractor is super strong and those deep pads make it dig through just about anything.

 

[James K]

We just started plowing for this year this week and this is the job I’m currently on.
First picture is the area I just finished this morning, my first row started at that trachoe in the back and was about 28 acres give or take and took about 11 hours total. Second picture kindve shows what the plows finished result looks like but this area has a lot of trash in it so they don’t look the best.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Thats crazy.. I clear lots with a 953 in heavy timber.. I normally work alone with a 953, skid steer with grapple, and dump truck. I can be on an acre for sometimes 4 weeks. Digging stumps felling and cutting timber, building roads in ect. It is amazing to see how fast you guys can go through the ground. I would hit a big stump and get thrown right out of the seat and probably hit my head on the roof

Awesome...

 

[td25c]

Something else I like about a K/G cutter blade is you can walk in to ground that has been timbered with the blade just skimming the surface to find the stumps hiding in the tall weeds & grass this time of year .

When ya find the stump the tractor will just glance off to the side a bit instead of rattling yer teeth loose on a strait blade .

Stinger also makes for a nice pitch fork for fetching treetops off of stumps .

 

[James K]

Thats crazy.. I clear lots with a 953 in heavy timber.. I normally work alone with a 953, skid steer with grapple, and dump truck. I can be on an acre for sometimes 4 weeks. Digging stumps felling and cutting timber, building roads in ect. It is amazing to see how fast you guys can go through the ground. I would hit a big stump and get thrown right out of the seat and probably hit my head on the roof

Awesome...

We actually had a guy on one of our shear dozers do exactly that yesterday, he backed into a tall stump full throttle in second gear and it climbed it and threw him into the side window. He said he was seeing stars and about to throw up, it bent the track pad down into the shape of an L.

 

[James K]

Something else I like about a K/G cutter blade is you can walk in to ground that has been timbered with the blade just skimming the surface to find the stumps hiding in the tall weeds & grass this time of year .

When ya find the stump the tractor will just glance off to the side a bit instead of rattling yer teeth loose on a strait blade .

Stinger also makes for a nice pitch fork for fetching treetops off of stumps .

Your right the stinger is an excellent pitchfork for grabbing trees, it is next to impossible to cut a stump that has logs thrown across it and they have to be moved to be able to cut the stump underneath. It also works very well for hooking trees that would otherwise fall in a road or across a property line.

 

[td25c]

Spot on James !

Ya want a good laugh ?

Feller tried to tell me that excavators were better for this kind of work ….

Yeah …. You aint never run a cutter tractor buddy . LOL !