What size Excavatorfor Land Clearing?

[sjm1580]

I am looking to rent an excavator to clear 10 acres of flat land with palmettos and slash pines to 20" diameter. I am looking to rent for two weeks to give myself enough time. So far I have found two local options:

1) 18,500 lb machine with a hydraulic thumb
2) 30,000 lb machine without a thumb

I have a Kubota L5740 with a root grapple to clean up the material that I remove with the excavator. Just wondering if the 18,000 lb. machine would be able to handle the larger pines, as I sure would like to have use of the thumb. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[farmerlund]

I would try to find a 30,000lb at least with a thumb. 50,000 lb would be nice with thumb. sometimes the rental rate for a larger machine is not much higher (30,000 vs 50,000) but will do way more work=less rental time.

 

[stumpjumper83]

In my opinon, and I've never been to Flordia, but I have killed a few trees in a few different states, neither of those two machines are a good option. I would look for something from 50 - 70k pounds in excavators with thumbs, If I was determined to use an excavator. I hate to break it to you, but your Kubota isn't going to like 20" pine very much, you may find yourself using your rented piece to move them.

If it were my job, I'd be looking at a 40k pound or heavier dozer or track loader. Either one are very effective at land clearing.

 

[JimP]

I have an 18,000 lb excavator with hydraulic thumb (Volvo ECR88) and a Kubota 5240 with grapple. My technique is to drop the trees with a chainsaw, move the trunk in pieces and dig the stump. All hardwood here and rocky soil. The 18000 lb excavator works but it is slow digging bigger stumps (18+ inches) in this soil, requiring more digging and repositioning to get the stump free. Bigger is definitely better for stumping. I've done clearing with and without a hydraulic thumb. I would strongly suggest getting an excavator with a thumb, preferably a hydraulic thumb. I've had a lot of stumps that the Kubota would not lift. Sometimes scraping the dirt off the stump will get the weight down enough for the Kubota to handle. Otherwise you can roll them with the grapple or carry them with the excavator. Good Luck. Jim

 

[mitch504]

I'm no expert on little hoes, the smallest I've worked is a 160, but I've cleared a many an acre of 20" pines in the southeastern US. You can count on a thick taproot 8-10' deep. A 215 size hoe will have to take a bucket of dirt out on 3 sides, then reach up high and push the tree over, very easy, 5-10 minutes a tree. If the tree is cut down first, you can count on a LOT more digging to get the stump up.

It's possible to do the job with either one of those machines, but I doubt if a fairly inexperienced operator is going to clear an acre a day, every day, with either of them. I know you won't with an 18,000 lb machine. With very good tractor loader backhoe (18000 lb), you'd be looking at 30-45 mins per stump.

 

[monster76]

what part of Florida are you in?

 

[CM1995]

Welcome to the Forums sjm1580!:drinkup

What is your experience with excavators and clearing?

 

[sjm1580]

what part of Florida are you in?

Naples

 

[sjm1580]

Welcome to the Forums sjm1580!:drinkup

What is your experience with excavators and clearing?

Not enough to claim to be an expert.

 

[sjm1580]

I'm no expert on little hoes, the smallest I've worked is a 160, but I've cleared a many an acre of 20" pines in the southeastern US. You can count on a thick taproot 8-10' deep. A 215 size hoe will have to take a bucket of dirt out on 3 sides, then reach up high and push the tree over, very easy, 5-10 minutes a tree. If the tree is cut down first, you can count on a LOT more digging to get the stump up.

It's possible to do the job with either one of those machines, but I doubt if a fairly inexperienced operator is going to clear an acre a day, every day, with either of them. I know you won't with an 18,000 lb machine. With very good tractor loader backhoe (18000 lb), you'd be looking at 30-45 mins per stump.

Thanks for the response. Very helpful.

 

[monster76]

You should be fine with a 35000 to 40k lb machine the soils up that way from the digging and clearing ive done done on the west side of florida have all been loose and sandy soils and the trees dont take much to bring them.down only thing i can tell you it at least a rigid thumb to make life allot easier so you can pluck and place trees where you want them more Efficiently

 

[sjm1580]

You should be fine with a 35000 to 40k lb machine the soils up that way from the digging and clearing ive done done on the west side of florida have all been loose and sandy soils and the trees dont take much to bring them.down only thing i can tell you it at least a rigid thumb to make life allot easier so you can pluck and place trees where you want them more Efficiently

90% of the trees are in the 3"-6" range. With a few in the larger range. What are your thoughts on trying to use the 18k machine with a thumb?

Thanks for the help.

Steve

 

[mitch504]

3-6", the 18,000 pounder will walk right through them; and if you only have a few big trees, it will get them too, I just don't know how fast.

10 acres is a lot to clear in 2 weeks, for small machines. The biggest factor is, what are you going to do with the debris? Do you own the Kubota, so you can take stuff down with the hoe steady for 2 weeks if need be?

Is this your property, or are you trying to make a profit?

 

[sjm1580]

I do own the property and the Kubota. My idea was, to knock everything down with the excavator, return it and then pile the vegetation in burn piles with the Kubota. If I rent the smaller 18k lb. machine I am likely to rent it for an entire month as the price drops a lot for a monthly rental. Sound like a good plan?

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . I still cannot come to terms with the concept of using excavators for clearing.

There are a few video clips on the net and I have gone out of my way to watch excavators clearing right of way and such like and for all intents and purposes they appear (to me) to a complete and utter waste of time and money . . . and unless rigged for timber work bloody dangerous as well.

As stumpjumper83 has mentioned a trackloader or decent D7 size dozer is the tool for clearing but the dozer would need a tree-pusher to just walk up and tip the larger trees.

Any concept of chain sawing trees and then digging out the stumps seems really odd and the only time it can be justified is if you want to mill the timber.

The trunk for leverage and the head of the tree for weight are worked to your advantage when tipping.

Cheers.

 

[CM1995]

Scrub hit a good point on taking large trees down with an excavator can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. However, depending on the job, I prefer an excavator for clearing with a 953 as cleanup. I won't use a dozer for clearing as the sites I do are small (1-10 acres) and it's more efficient with an excavator as burning is usually not allowed so all the brush has to be either ground on site or hauled off. If it's a tree in a tight spot on a small job, I'll go with an excavator every time.

I don't understand the cut first and then dig stump method either, it's just more work. It's much faster to take a tree down whole. If the wood is salvageable, saw the logs with the trees on the ground and then clean up stumps and limbs, stack your timber for haul out.

Back to the original question. An 18K pound machine is going to take a while to clear 10 acres as others have said. Even if the trees are small 3-6", it's still going to take a while compared to a larger machine due to reach and working area.

Your Kubota will be overwhelmed and it will take a while to clean up 10 acres of debris after it's on the ground. For reference, if I were bidding the job I would plan on 5-7 days with a 320 hoe and a 953 to get it cleared and stacked for burning. That being said, it's tough to give advice without seeing the property.

 

[JimP]

I'll second Scrub Puller's comments to be careful. Many of the trees here have broken branches hanging up high. Others have rotten sections up high. I have pushed over a few trees with the excavator but don't feel comfortable pushing over big trees with only an excavator rops over me.

I can pull 3-4 inch trees out of the ground pinched between bucket and thumb with the stick close in. I never tried but 6 inch trees would probably push over pretty easy. Deciduous tree stumps hold a lot of dirt. I had to scrape them clean and use a blower to burn them. Hopefully yours will burn better.

Also be careful of stacking with the Kubota. Our trees have branches every which way and I have had branches go though the back of the grapple and into the front guard. Near miss to the radiator! Consider adding screens to the back of the grapple and front of the grill guard. The bottom also has a number of linkages/cables/filters that can be damaged running over branches.

Scrub Puller I agree my method is slow. But I'm working solo in a small area with what I own. Timber sales pay for fuel and small sections of a tree are easier to handle with small equipment.

Jim

 

[sjm1580]

I'll second Scrub Puller's comments to be careful. Many of the trees here have broken branches hanging up high. Others have rotten sections up high. I have pushed over a few trees with the excavator but don't feel comfortable pushing over big trees with only an excavator rops over me.

I can pull 3-4 inch trees out of the ground pinched between bucket and thumb with the stick close in. I never tried but 6 inch trees would probably push over pretty easy. Deciduous tree stumps hold a lot of dirt. I had to scrape them clean and use a blower to burn them. Hopefully yours will burn better.

Also be careful of stacking with the Kubota. Our trees have branches every which way and I have had branches go though the back of the grapple and into the front guard. Near miss to the radiator! Consider adding screens to the back of the grapple and front of the grill guard. The bottom also has a number of linkages/cables/filters that can be damaged running over branches.

Scrub Puller I agree my method is slow. But I'm working solo in a small area with what I own. Timber sales pay for fuel and small sections of a tree are easier to handle with small equipment.

Jim

Great advice, Thanks!

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Of course I put my big foot in it again . . . I keep thinking pile it up and burn and then rake out the ashes.

I guess its a completely different story if the material has to be loaded out and hauled . . . a dozer would be of limited use although I would imagine a track loader with a four in one could be handy.

I'll keep my trap shut in future. (big grin)

Cheers.

 

[JimP]

I hope not! I learn a lot from these discussions. Jim.