land clearing techniques

[firetrack]

Land clearing

Deas Plant - the good old days, not sure they were that good with some of the older tractor comfort levels.
We used Komatsu D60(with D80 motor) and D7E to pull the 6500 acres. This job was at Aramac(north of Barcaldine) D60 had plenty of power but was too light as some of the deseert ghost gums hang on pretty well. I currently use D4H series 11 to build and maintain firetracks for state gov't in the Fraser Coast area. It has PAT blade and rippers and is about the right size for the job as it plenty of plate on the ground and handles the wet areas well.
After reading some of the threads here I'm sure half of these guys have only read about dozers and not done any hours on them. I wouldn't like to emply some of these guys at all as to my way of thinking they have no clue. I've worked in PNG, Solomons, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillipines and Thailand - not always as operator - so I've seen a bit of country being cleared and developed. Australians are certainly the most efficient and most innovative in making attachments to suit jobs - Phillipinos are pretty good operators but can be rough. Rest of them you wouldn't on your machine.
Regards

 

[Dozer575]

So is the job going yet?

 

[KMB83]

they better be wrapping up.

cuz its suppose to get to single digits and negatives on the low side till the weekend. that'll drive the frost pretty deep....

 

[fiat41b]

No the job has not started yet but it should go sometime soon.

Kmb83 your not that far from me I bid the Walmart in Beardstown last year but had no luck and from what I was told the guys that got the job moving the earth looked like a bunch of fresh monkeys off the boat.

 

[D6c10K]

There's a 90' length of anchor chain listed on the GSA auction page if someone's interested...probably not long enough for chaining trees but might be useful.

http://gsaauctions.gov (under construction equip)

 

[KMB83]

fiat,

slow response on my part.

your right, beardstown is next door. there is a big (18,000 head/day) packing plant so there is a wide cultural draw to the area. say like needing to speak: spanish, chinese, or kenyan at the local high school? what kind of help the wally world contractor got is anybody's guess.

from the looks of their equipment i would say a middle of the road to low ball type outfit for that kind of work. stuff was older looking, sorta beat up. the last mental image i have of driving by was being fascinated they were working as it had just rained and it was a muddy mess. but who i am i to talk i got a '72 D5 and a '94 320L hoe.... then again i aint trying to bid wally world jobs, just keep the ditches clean for me and a neighbor or 2.

the wally world in jacksonville, that outfit got it done. they needed the whole jobsite just to park the equipment. guess thats whats needed when you build in the middle of a natural creek bottom

hows "now you see them" (UCM) now you dont, getting along on that clearing project? jan to feb was not a good time to work dirt in this area....

 

[Dozer575]

So are they working on it yet? How is it going?

 

[fiat41b]

no not yet i will let you know asap

 

[Dozer575]

Was wondering what the weather is like there? Hmm do they need a dozer operator?

 

[fiat41b]

its thunderstorming and around 60-70 today the ground is a quagmire really deep mud with the heavy freeze coming out of the ground and they have started the job is going to be a real mess probably good thing its not mine Freesen has the power to control those who hired them in a way that they wont have any penalities for stupidity they will control what days they can work and so forth.

 

[Dozer575]

Get some pictures.

 

[fiat41b]

clearing

yeh pictures i will try to get up to SPRINGFIELD to get them photos soon right now im trying to fix machine shed door that strong strait winds blew down by the way President Obama just arrived in town for
ABE LINCOLNS 200th birthday party Happy birthday Honest ABE.

 

[fiat41b]

Well went by the site and all i could see were some cut down trees by chain saw and just about 3' left standing this was only in selected areas i could see where they piled up the trees i piles and also noticed there track marks but i did not see any yellow iron
i bet they quit for now do to the weather and ground conditions there was no machines in site and no silt fence put up yet or the rock staging area (parking lot) like i said before
Freesen INC. will get their way.

 

[Dozer575]

Yeah if its a deep swampy muddy mess it will be slow clearing. 3 foot stump? What diameter are the trees? So what are they doing selling the wood for fire wood?
I know a logger that has a big job but no one wants to buy the wood.

 

[fiat41b]

the stump was lef 3'tall i guess they probably cut some trees for fire wood as those trees were looked about 8 to 10" diameter

 

[PSDF350]

Why so high for such a small tree?

 

[Iron Horse]

I always tell my clients to leave them that height . Makes them easy to plick out with the excavator . Also , in long grass you can see them before they dissembowell your machines .

 

[td25c]

My favorite for clearing is a rome plow or k/g blade.They work well on midsize and large dozers.I use one with the 16b and love it.watch out for suface rock outcropings in my area.Excavater works good to when the ground starts getting soft on the bigger trees.

 

[fiat41b]

Just found out that Freesen is not going to do this job the city has taken it upon their-
selves i dont know what happened with that maybe they are going to cut all the trees
with chain saws.

 

[KMB83]

oh buddy....

is this is actually city workers or fellas trying the orange teletubby fashion statement?

actually as i type this up, i'm sayin blago/burris/ryan/(insert illinois politian) can work on digging those stumps out.....

ha