ARPlante's Adventures

bill5362 · Jul 4, 2009

A.R. nice pics thanks for sharing. I have 2 T300, a rotary cutter, and a Loftness G2 Mulcher and they are hard to beat for speed in the type of clearing that you do, and the leave a very eco friendly bi product. Nice work and keep the pics coming.

ARPlante · Jul 4, 2009

You're welcom guys. Glad you like the pics. Got a bunch more to pull off my camera and get posted up here.

Jimmyjack- It's a great thing if you can get in with one of the utilities. However, it is next to impossible to get in with one unless you have demonstrated a history of performing such work and have a massive amount of insurance. Additionally, the large guys like Asplundh and Lewis Tree control the majority of the contracts for the area. I got in past the experience part by being a subcontractor to Asplundh and getting attached to several of their crews when I started out. I should also mention, that getting connected with Asplundh was purely "the right place at the right time" kinda thing. As of right now, I believe I am the only subcontractor to Asplundh in this region as they perform the majority of their work in house. It's possible, but the hurdles to getting in are definitely there.

Bill- Thanks for the kind words. More pics will be up here soon. How do you like your setup? I'm looking at adding another T320 late this year or sometime early next year.

bill5362 · Jul 4, 2009

A.R. I really like my bobcats, I have had a few different ones over the years. Each time I go to buy a new one I try the competition to see if I'm missing anything, Bobcat will really have to fall behind or screw up their product before I would switch (This is just my opinion). As far as my set up goes I love it, we put in new subdivisions and land clearing and the T300 we have are awesome. I really like my mulch head (Loftness G2) I looked at the bobcat brand when I bought mine 18 months ago, and it was nice but I like the features a little better on the G2, plus it was $7000.00 cheaper from my dealer. I have a skid steer solutions mower and it works well, the only thing I don't like about it is it has a tendency to dig in on the front edge, if fact I getting ready to install a single wheel on the front to see if it helps.

AustinPSD · Jul 4, 2009

A.R. - I'm interested in your choice of the rotary cutter/brushcat over a flail cutter. I know the flail cutter costs a bit more - does the rotary cutter offer an advantage in your finishing pass?

jimmyjack · Jul 5, 2009

A R thats for the info:beatsme i guess i'll just have to see what coming down the road

ARPlante · Jul 5, 2009

Austin- I chose the rotary cutter for two reasons: low cost and high durability. I would rather hit rocks with the reversible blades of a rotary than with the carbide teeth on my mulcher head. I just use the rotary to knock down any remaining small stalks that are left after the first pass with my mulcher. Additionally, I felt that since the cutting action on a flail was vertical like a mulcher, that the horizontal cutting action of a rotary would get those pesky small stalks from saplings that are left standing after going through the mulcher. This setup allows me to make fewer passes with the mulcher (saving me time and money) and still get a product that is mowed to ground level.

Jimmy- Not trying to discourage you, so I hope you didn't take it that way. Just wanted to let you know how challenging it can be to get in with and then work for utilities on these types of jobs. I find the work enjoyable and rewarding and that is why I keep doing it.

PS- How is your new ASV treating you? I have enjoyed reading your threads on the work for the environmental company that you are connected with.

AustinPSD · Jul 6, 2009

Thanks A.R. - that makes sense. I'm evaluating an equipment package for similar applications, hence the question. The rotary cutter is substantially less expensive, and repair due to rock damage would be simpler and less expensive as well.

jimmyjack · Jul 6, 2009

thanks , i didnt take it that way ,i figured it wouldnt be easy....no worrys

um the company im with now is going good , i got some more pics to post i'll get them up in the next day or two...nothin to complain about yet with the asv, but its cherrys getting popped soon with the first 250 service coming up so i'll find out how easy thats gonna go

pigpen60 · Oct 22, 2009

dumb Q, hows it handle rocks?

ARPlante · Oct 22, 2009

It's best to stay away from rocks ;-) Plowing into a boulder will cause damage to the drum and teeth. Bouncing off rocks hidden under brush will usually just damage a tooth if it is a solid hit. If you can't see the ground really well, it's best to keep the head about a foot to a foot and a half off the ground. That way if you do hit a rock, it's more of a glancing blow, and you might be able to get away with more damage being done to the rock then the head.

bigcatpip · Mar 15, 2010

how many hr are you getting out of the teeth before replacement?

ARPlante · Mar 15, 2010

The number of hrs depends on the type of terrain I'm working in. If I'm working in real rocky terrain I can put a new tooth on and ruin it by the end of the day. If I'm in grassy or plain woody terrain, I can go for several weeks at a time with the same teeth. All depends on the terrain.

ARPlante · Nov 11, 2012

OK, time to start updating this thread again. We've grown a little bit since 2010 so bear with me as I attempt to update things.

We're still heavily into land clearing, but we have started branching off into the dirt work world again and run a mulch manufacturing yard as well.

I'll start by updating what is going on in the land clearing portion of the business. We've updated our trackloader to a Bobcat T770, added a John Deere 50D mini-excavator with a US Mower flail mower, and purchased a John Deere 160D excavator with an AFE mulcher head.

Here are the machines while they were still shiny:
Bobcat T770

John Deere 50D

John Deere 160D

ARPlante · Nov 11, 2012

Here is a project we recently completed for a new customer. The project basically consisted of cutting underneath a de-energized powerline that fed a small farm about a half mile in the woods.

Morning warm up time:

Before:

After:

Another before shot of the area we had to cut underneath the lines from the road:

Colorado Digger · Nov 11, 2012

Nice looking iron! I am wondering if you demoed the Bobcat e50 and 55 and how you decided on the Deere. No questions on the 160, only why didn't size up to a 210?
Best of luck, it must feel great to have three new pieces.

regards, CD

ARPlante · Nov 11, 2012

Here are the rest of the pics from the project.

ARPlante · Nov 11, 2012

Thanks for the reply CD. We actually bought the 50D back in 2009 before the E50 and E55 were introduced to the market. For us at the time, the deciding factors in going with the Deere over any other brand were the Deere's hydraulic flow to run the mower head (highest at the time at 22.5 gpm) and the reputation of the Hitachi engineered hydraulic system. So far the 50D has yet to fail us and it has almost 1400 hrs now. If we were in the market again, the choice between a 50D and a E50 or E55 would be much harder to make as the E50 and E55 have some pretty impressive specs and the erognomics of the E50 and E55 are a tiny step up from the 50D IMO.

In regards to the 160, we went that route over a 200 or 225 (zero tail swing machine) based on the smaller footprint of the 160. In our land clearing work, the added width of a 200-size machine makes it more challenging to access some of the areas we are asked to clear.

ARPlante · Nov 12, 2012

Here's another project we completed earlier this year. Nice little mowing project- 22 miles in total

ARPlante · Feb 16, 2014

Time to dust this thread off a bit. We've started picking up a lot of clearing work for larger contractors and we seem to find ourselves working on the edges of roads quite a bit. To do this work, we need to be able to move our machines at all times of the day or night so we decided the time was right to purchase a truck, lowbed, and dump trailer. We found some good deals on the units, and have started performing some limited contract hauling with the truck and trailers as well.

First up is a picture of a drill rig I moved recently for a powerline contractor:

Next up is a job I filled in for a friend on with his live floor. Had to haul stumps from a 10 acre site to a stump dump about 10 miles away.

Getting ready to head out to a project:

Dropping the machine off on a highway project:

ARPlante · Feb 16, 2014

Here are some pics from our clearing work at night:

ARPlante's Adventures

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