Track Loader to clear trees? Pros/Cons?

precision dirt said:

I do a lot of clearing in Brenham Texas area with the 977L track loader and it has no equal in the brush. But after dealing with a lot of huisach in the black gumbo clay we have A 30,000 pound track hoe with a thumb is the best way to deal with them especially if there thick.you can walk around and just pluck them out. True they will need to be raked afterwords with dozer because piling with the track oh is slow. Huisach is the nastiest trees you can get into and I've tried it all. The biggest problem with a track loader is you pull a big chunk of ground up for small trees, don't get me wrong I love the track loader and excels at many jobs but huisach isn't its best. Just my humble opinion...

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What type of attachment do you use to pull with the excavator? Bucket? Grubber attachment?

Sorry guys haven't been on in awhile... I mainly use a narrow bucket with a 3 in tooth spacing. I have used a grubber and while it works well I seem to pull a lot more of the shallow long feeder roots out with bucket instead of cutting them off. We have only a few honey locust here and there and D Miller is right. They look like something out the gates of hell.
Randy your right on point with your root engaging scenario. It takes a couple of years to spray huisache out. I personally have never sprayed before grubbing and reason why is my dad used to spot spray small huisache out on his property and leave them sit sometimes up to maybe 6-8 months then go grub them out with whatever was handy. Always seemed like as soon as he grubbed it out another would pop
Up in a month within 15 ft. My thoughts were it was spouting out of the broke root. Now if he cut it off at ground level with clippers. Nothing..... Explain that???

I have been clearing my land with a track loader, a 977. It has been great. However, I ran into a problem. Like others have said-small trees are a problem. The trees 3-4'' just lay over and go between the teeth and you can't tear them out. But if you lay them all down in one direction and turn around and drag the teeth the other way, they'll usually pop out or sometimes break. However, we have a batwing mower that'll mow down trees up to 5", but obviously won't rip out stumps.

I shove trees over like that all day long with a our Bobcat T300 and Erskine Extreme Grapple. What the root ripper doesn't rip out I just clamp the grapple on them and yank them out roots and all. Of course we're talking dirt or clay that's moist to fairly dry.
10 inch trees just hit the tree about 5 to 7 feet with the bucket pushing on it and keep pressure on it all the way past center letting it fall to the ground. If it's stubborn give it a couple shots around and watch it at the bottom. Take the corner of your bucket and get a bite of the roots lifting it and work it loose. Then go back to step 1 and 99.9% it's going down.
Anyhow that's how we do it here in Illinois with smaller trees up to a foot in diameter, now when you get into big Oaks and Sycamore it's excavator time.
Good luck!

amscontr said:

I shove trees over like that all day long with a our Bobcat T300 and Erskine Extreme Grapple. What the root ripper doesn't rip out I just clamp the grapple on them and yank them out roots and all. Of course we're talking dirt or clay that's moist to fairly dry.
10 inch trees just hit the tree about 5 to 7 feet with the bucket pushing on it and keep pressure on it all the way past center letting it fall to the ground. If it's stubborn give it a couple shots around and watch it at the bottom. Take the corner of your bucket and get a bite of the roots lifting it and work it loose. Then go back to step 1 and 99.9% it's going down.
Anyhow that's how we do it here in Illinois with smaller trees up to a foot in diameter, now when you get into big Oaks and Sycamore it's excavator time.
Good luck!

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Is that what happened to the truck in the picture under your name? lol

You guys maybe have saved me a bunch of time and money! I was going to buy a D9H dozer(Big Ole Girl) and just plow through my cedar infestation and mow them over, roots and all. I have a link belt 240 xl and it is a great pics of cedar demolition, but real slow. As they say excavators are made to dig not travel fast as dozers, which I have found to be true! I like the 977 idea and so far have found some really below the cost of the D9H. I see now how the 977 can definately do the job in our sandy ground. Thanks again to the Knowledge on here that definately saves a beginner like me a bunch of heartache! Heck that D9H weighs over 100,000 these 977s weigh a lot less. I will have to learn how to build roads through my ranch with them which one guy on here said could be done. This makes my day!

X 5 or 6 on the track loader. I’ve done a bit with a 963 with 4 in 1 and rippers and on small to medium trees I can’t see a quicker way, as long as you can pile and burn.

I have been on this forum like to you a very short time. In this short time I have gained a lot of knowledge about what I need and what works best. All these guys are right on, they all have different way of going about each project based on their machinery or availability to the machine they need for each project. I have a 240 LX excavator (Link Belt) that I first bought a year ago. I have cleared over 700 acres of my 1500 acres with it. I would not change a thing except I need another machine to speed up this project. I have a D9H dozer in my sights that would go through the heavy forests and pluck them out in 15 foot swaths. Only problem is the mechanic I sent to inspect it found a cylinder down in it and the owner just wants to replace that cylinder and all that goes with it instead of doing the whole motor rebuild. I can’t trust a machine like that without the whole engine gone through. So now I have been advised to find a 377L track loader or a 353 or a 363 to speed up my long and gruesome project. If I were you with just 5 acres I would definately go with the midsized excavator. They are beasts when plucking trees out of the ground and stacking them. I did 5 acres of o overpopulated cedars in about 2-3 hours. You can too. I would rent one for 5 acres if it were mine knowing what I know now. You will be impressed with all the roots on top of the ground waiting to be burned! Buy or rent the biggest you can afford, makes a lot of difference.

Good Luck!

Honky Cat

Ran a 963B or two for close to two years, awesome machines, as to speed, power and strength, yet to with that is fuel consumption. Not any less than a good Excavator with a Thumb attachment and to speak up not any faster either.

Thanks DMiller:

I need more speed than my excavator. It is faster than I am telling but I do not increase the throttle where it would really test the hydraulics, final drives, temperature, etc.

Thanks

Honky Cat