First of all, the stress that a mulcher puts on an excavator is exactly what the excavator linkages are NOT designed for. Excavators are designed to mostly pull towards the main frame and push away from it. Look at the pin orientation and realize that the mulcher head will be constantly twisting the pins and bushings at the end of the stick and the boom-arm connections. It's also going to slap the hell out of the swing pinion and main gear. These connections take the brunt of the force but force is also transmitted throughout the entire structure. Plan to do bushings a lot more often if you want to keep a relatively tight machine.
If you want efficiency, let the excavator do what it does best and let it lift and position the head. Supply hydraulic power to the head via a separate engine and hydraulic system WITH A BIG COOLING SYSTEM. When you trash the mulcher hydraulics, at least you don't trash the entire excavator hydraulic system. I've been through this a few times. Thankfully, I've never wasted the Komatsu's system.
Cooling a mulcher system demands a LOT of air flow and big heat exchangers. A stock excavator is not designed for the dust, debris and cooling demands that a mulcher will produce. Only true forestry designed machines will excel in such an environment.
What a good
excavator mulcher setup will allow is tackling most anything you need to take out. With practice, you can slap off 16" diameter trees at 20'+ height and drop or sway the top with some finesse. You can then initiate a good crack and chase that crack to within the last 2'-3' of the stump to speed up the process. It blows off bigger chunks but speeds up the process. If I have a decent size right of way job with lots of over-the-edge cutting, the excavator is the choice tool.
If I can handle the job without the excavator, it is my last choice tool to put on a job. It may seem fast to some eyes but a good quality finish is not there without a lot of extra time, chips are not well contained and cause extra liability and all that lifting time is wasted time without a cut. With a good track machine I am ALWAYS cutting in forward and reverse. The excavator does not cover anywhere near as much ground per day unless it's specialty work that requires reaching over the edge like roads, levees, railroads or other situations. You also need a wider work area with an excavator to handle the tail swing and boom swing requirements. I've lost count of how many trees over 48" diameter that I've eaten with this machine. It will go through anything given enough time. 300 hp 8.3 Cummins, about 80+ GPM @ 5,000 psi. I really need to put a bigger pump on but I rarely use this machine any more. It's what got me up and going but I realize there are better options for me these days.
These were pics from an electrical right of way a couple years ago. Most of the surface is exposed limestone or limestone-chert mix. Too steep for anything else to be useful.
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