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Fastest Way to Clear a Small Area

alskdjfhg

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
405
Location
Houston TX
Need to clear about an acre of brush/small trees in order to make room for a driveway and yard for a shop.

I was planning on hiring this done by the same guy who was going to do the dirt work for the building, but I'm not sure if that'll work out.

So I'm also looking into renting a Bobcat T630 with a Groundshark brush mower.

The brush isn't too terribly big, mostly under 2" in diameter, but it's fairly thick, spaced about every 6" or so.

Would the Bobcat and brush mower be enough machine for this? If so about how long would it take to clear about an acre or so?

As usual thanks for any and all info.
 
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Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,258
Location
Canada
Do you just want to cut it down or clear all the roots and everything? An acre isn't too big so having the guy already doing the dirt work could be a good idea. I think you want to get down to clay and clear the topsoil and roots off. The Bobcat could probably do it but it depends on how much experience you have. If you haven't run a Bobcat much it's probably better to hire it out.
 

alskdjfhg

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
405
Location
Houston TX
Do you just want to cut it down or clear all the roots and everything? An acre isn't too big so having the guy already doing the dirt work could be a good idea.

I was just going to grind off the tops and keep packing crushed concrete down until it stopped. That's not he most efficient, but the driveway and yard isn't going to be too large and for most of this space, all I want is a clear area to drive around the building.

As for hiring it out, the guy wants to bring an excavator and it pretty much doubles the cost of the pad.

Were talking about a thicket of tallow trees, it just seems to me that a shredder would be faster. I've been clearing a bit with a Case 930 and a bush hog, works OK, but I think the CTL with the Groundshark would be better.

And my biggest problem with hiring things done is that, most of these dirt guys/dump truck drivers either never have the time or never show up.

If I rent the machine, at-least I can make sure something gets done one way or another.

I do have a bit of seat time in a skid steer, but I'm sure I'll need a refresher if I go this route. I've got a pretty good hand and can operate most stuff given a bit of time to play around with it.
 
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Delmer

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
8,865
Location
WI
"In the Houston area, Chinese tallow trees account for a full 23 percent of all trees" from wikipedia. It sounds fast growing and invasive, is it brittle enough to snap off with the blade right at ground level and push out of the way?
 

joispoi

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2008
Messages
1,284
Location
Connecticut
If you have a case 930 with a decent bush hog, why rent something else? It might take longer, but not paying for rental equipment is worth something.

Do you have any pictures of the 930?
 

Tarhe Driver

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2015
Messages
241
Location
Savannah, GA
Occupation
Comm. Real Est Appraiser-Retired cargo/helo pilot
Chinese tallow is definitely an invasive species. My one experience was watching a Gyrotrack remove about three total acres of Chinese tallow scattered about a 10-acre site. While watching this machine work, we nicknamed it "wild weasel" in awe of its brush, and tree, conversion-to-chips abilities. It works at ground-level and above, not in the ground. It spins a front-mounted cutter mounted like a road-sweeper seen on construction sites. It can gnaw a 12-inch tree down to ground-level in about 45 seconds, then reduce the entire tree to chips, branches and all, in about five minutes.
 

alskdjfhg

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
405
Location
Houston TX
The brush is mostly tallows and woody stemmed weeds, with a few larger diameter trees here and there.

This is stuff is about the max what you can shred with a bushog, even though the 930 is a good sized tractor, the brush and weeds are enough in places to lift the whole tractor of the ground.

As far as keep knocking it down with the bush hog, I already broke the bush hog doing this and don't want to have to weld it all back together again. It's an old and tired bush hog.

The picture shows what I want to clear, the area on the left is what I already did with the bush hog and that was not as heavy as the stuff shown in the back that still needs to be cleared.

And yes I do have a few pictures, this probably ins't the best, but was the first I found.
 

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Tarhe Driver

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2015
Messages
241
Location
Savannah, GA
Occupation
Comm. Real Est Appraiser-Retired cargo/helo pilot
Once you have cut the Chinese tallow to ground level, as I have been told, routine mowing, as in pasture maintenance, should kill it.
 

alskdjfhg

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
405
Location
Houston TX
Ended up just going with the guy with the excavator. Once he got in there and I saw how thick it got, I'm glad I went this way.

Not too many pictures or of that great a quality, I was too busy in the F600 trying to keep up with that excavator.

Real proud of that truck right now, it got worked hard to day. Run about 8 hours straight and some of those big tree trunks with root balls were a LOAD for that little old thing.

We cleared about an acre, the pile of tree waste in the field was about 100x20 about 5' or 6' high.

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Next step is permits for the driveway and building, then I'll have the driveway built, then the pad/shop and lastly the yard around the shop.

Hoefully I can get this done by about the middle of December so over my Christmas vacation I can move iron into the shop and start going though equipment and try to put some of this iron to work and pay for its self.
 
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Jim D

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2012
Messages
408
Location
California
Occupation
equipment operator
I like the lathe on the trailer. Good old iron; Abom79 style ;-)
 

alskdjfhg

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
405
Location
Houston TX
I like the lathe on the trailer. Good old iron; Abom79 style ;-)

That's the second smallest lathe at the farm, it's a 17" Leblond Heavy Duty from 1914, was army owned originally.

Largest in size is this Hendey, swings 40" and does just under 25' between centers. http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/m.../1011141152c_zpsc5d0bb4e.jpg.html?sort=2&o=20

And the most powerful is this Lodge and Shipley, weights just under 30,000lbs with 30hp or so drive motor, 25" swing and 16' BTC.
http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/m...160311_131015_zps8o7ei83f.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8
 
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Jim D

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2012
Messages
408
Location
California
Occupation
equipment operator
That's the second smallest lathe at the farm, it's a 17" Leblond Heavy Duty from 1914, was army owned originally.

Largest in size is this Hendey, swings 40" and does just under 25' between centers. http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/m.../1011141152c_zpsc5d0bb4e.jpg.html?sort=2&o=20

And the most powerful is this Lodge and Shipley, weights just under 30,000lbs with 30hp or so drive motor, 25" swing and 16' BTC.
http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/m...160311_131015_zps8o7ei83f.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8

Your father really knew his stuff! (You have very good genes.) I envy you those machines! Best wishes!

"Largest in size is this Hendey, swings 40" and does just under 25' between centers." That is a Lathe.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/hendeyfactory/ Albion!!


PS: The pics of the *two* forklifts picking up your lathe are something else...
 
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alskdjfhg

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
405
Location
Houston TX
Your father really knew his stuff!

That he did. But also gave me enough free reign to do about anything and get about any machine that caught my fancy.

Had not been the way he was, I would have no chance of putting the farm and machine shop togeather, but as it stands I have a pretty good shot.

Take care of the Ford F 600 & the 930 Case .

Will do. They both have their little issues and personalities. As soon as I get a shop I want to go though them both (along with a bunch of other stuff) with a fine tooth comb and get them 100% ready to go to the field or the road.
 
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Jim D

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2012
Messages
408
Location
California
Occupation
equipment operator
"Had not been the way he was, I would have no chance of putting the farm and machine shop togeather, but as it stands I have a pretty good shot."

Yes, you can make your own cannon barrels!

Please keep posting, we care about what you are doing.
 
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