Advice/Help Clearing Land

[Tones]

SMLwinds, yep thats the machine I use, it's a Rayco C140 with a Fecon mulcher and a Rayco stumpgrinder. The mulcher can cut stumps to ground level but not below. I suggest you check out the AHWI range of PTO mulchers( not to confused with Fecon). IMO they have the ability to to work through the lift range which most others can't. Made for farm tractors from 80- 400+ HP.
PS. Pines don't reshoot so if they are cut to ground level and don't interfere with future operatoins just leave them there = less cost, less land damage.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

Yeah Scrub , have you noticed lately the more high teck a society becomes the harder is to accomplish a simple task ? ( Big Grin ).

I hear you td25c it is remarkable how machinery, attitudes and methods change but the dirt and trees remain the same.

I just love it though when there is a confluence of methods.

A local contractor cleared just over a quarter mile of power line across the front of our place with (guessing) a thirty ton Hitachi and maybe a twelve or thirteen ton Kobelco excavator.

The Kobelco was brand new with quick hitch and twist and wrist and bucket, and he took a grab and ripper tooth every where he moved . . . all this marvellous technology and they smoothed the whole five hundred by forty yard clearing with a twelve foot long by one foot iron bark log selected from a pile . . . just picked it up with the grab, trimmed the ends off with a chainsaw and started grading. With the twist and wrist he followed all the contours and covered all the big stumps that were cut of near ground level. I loved it. (big grin)

Cheers.

 

[whitemike]

Tones, you misunderstand where i am coming from. I not talking about a stump removing race or how pretty the grinding leaves job. The gentleman asked about what to buy to have on hand to clear land and build some ponds and i am sure road work/ditching. I gave him an answer that was practical in a general sense, not a dedicated machine to just grinding stumps. I not gonna even gonna take you up on your big stump race but when you do get done and sit there to watch me finish with mine you can also sit there when i dig that ditch that needs digging and that pond that needs building. That is why i gave SMLWinds the replys i did, i hope it helps him and gives him something to think on. One thing we have in my area are old headrows. The trees are cut off above the old web wire, i am curious to what a grinder does in this case.Also those big trees with wire in them has a root system that can spread many feet in each dirrection, if they are not removed when the farmer comes along with the sub-soiler bedder he is gonna brake shear bolts if anything left underground less than 16-18"s. I own a dozer, a excavator mounted Seppi rotary mulcher and an excavator. Out of the three the excavator stays the busiest cause it is just more versitile. Now when a job calls for the dozer or mulcher they do their jobs great. You are in the stump grinding biz and i can tell you promote it, cause if all i had to do was grind stumps i would also. just like the KG guys swear by their way, i can just picture one going down a row of stumps, i bet it folds them over in no time. But if had to give advice to Winds on what one machine i would choose the leatherman knife of the woods, an excavator. Not a dedicated single blade that i have to foldup/ park and go get something else for my other jobs. I just trying to give sound advice not promote anything.

 

[td25c]

Yair . . .



I hear you td25c it is remarkable how machinery, attitudes and methods change but the dirt and trees remain the same.

I just love it though when there is a confluence of methods.



Cheers.

Aint that the truth Mate !:thumbsup

Like you say it's horses for courses

 

[td25c]

I own a dozer, a excavator mounted Seppi rotary mulcher and an excavator. Out of the three the excavator stays the busiest cause it is just more versitile. Now when a job calls for the dozer or mulcher they do their jobs great. You are in the stump grinding biz and i can tell you promote it, cause if all i had to do was grind stumps i would also. just like the KG guys swear by their way, i can just picture one going down a row of stumps, i bet it folds them over in no time. But if had to give advice to Winds on what one machine i would choose the leatherman knife of the woods, an excavator. Not a dedicated single blade that i have to foldup/ park and go get something else for my other jobs. I just trying to give sound advice not promote anything.

That sounds like a good combination Mike .:thumbsup

I'll preach on about an excavator paired up with a dozer or " high lift" / track loader . They are the most versatile team players I've ever used .

Aint nothin gonna stop them . Tackle any type of job with no complaints . They complement each other depending on the present situation .

About those knuckle heads still using Rome K/G blades keep in mind it's just an attachment to gain advantage .

When we get done cuttin & hacking the K/G gets swapped out for a dirt blade on site just like changing an excavator bucket .
http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?263-Some-Holmes-750-action&p=2647&viewfull=1#post2647

 

[old-iron-habit]

There is a fellow on another forum with a Rome K/G blade on his old D7. He set a camera on a tripod and proceded to rip apart a six ft oak stump about 18" high. He split it into a dozen pieces pulling the root sections up, piled it up, and left no hole to fill. It took under 4 minutes. It was a enjoyable feat to watch him working with the old girl. Should be able to find it on U-tube.

 

[SMLWinds]

Guys-I have continued to research and investigate things. I value everyone's opinion and advice so far!

It sounds like the tried and true method is an excavator and dozer. I also realize that those are versatile machines that will be nice to have around when the clearing is done.

With that said, before I go that route, I want to do a little more investigation on mulching. A few area farmers I spoke to this past week were real advocates of the mulching route. They said if you get a mulcher (or "tiller") that goes into the soil that you can quickly prepare the land for crop production. I am told that some mulching heads (I hear them called soil tillers sometimes) can get as much as 20" below grade.

What thoughts to folks have on soil mulching/tillers? What brands are out there with a mulching head that will go below grade more than a few inches?

While I do see the value in the excavator dozer combo, I could very easily buy the mulching head/machine if it is better and resell it or just wait a year or two and buy an excavator and dozer. So, I may be able to have them all within a few years but right now want what is best for clearing the land to start with.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[hvy 1ton]

This is probably what the farmers are talking about. They leave a nice finished product going forward, but makes piles backing into the stumps. http://www.fae-group.com/en/product...lcher-and-forestry-tillers/tillers/ssm-ssm-hp



Here's a video of one hitting 22" pine stumps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJnTb7v9pw8

 

[kk1744]

I am going through the same thing as you but only on a much smaller scale (about 20 acres)...dealing with an old xmas tree farm with 18-24" stumps that are now 2 years in the ground since cutting....At first I was close to having the logging company that cut the tress come in with their forestry mulcher and prepare the land but I just couldn't get myself to hire something done that I could do myself (I'm weird like that) So I purchased an older Link belt excavator- 14 ton (which I've learned is too small to be fast at this type of work)..first field I used the dirt bucket and made a real mess of things just because of the amount of dirt/hole that was left from each stump ,even though I tried filling back in what I could...second field, I found some blades (from an old ditch witch cable plow) and welded them together and used the ears from one of the extra buckets that came with the machine to make a ripper...so basically it looked like a 2 pronged fork...that worked WAY better...1 swipe on each side of the stump to loosen the roots and then came in from behind and plucked it out...once I got proficient , I was removing about 35-40 stumps an hour...all I did after that was run over it with a disk several times and then seeded it this spring...I now have a beautiful field of timothy and rye and hope to have some animals in it next spring...knowing what I went through , I would suggest a forestry mulcher just based on the amount of acres you have ( and I would do the same if faced with this sort of project again)...I thought I'd be done in no time and I still have about 8 acres left . I don't regret buying the machine though because I needed to do some ditching and other things with it and it looks like (knock on wood), I 'll have something left of it to sell when I'm done.