TractorByNet.com - View Single Post - Mechanical Brush Clearing Attachments for Compact Tractors

darkviper · 10-23-2008, 02:33 PM

With 30 horsepower you are very limited. I would recommend paying someone that has a skid steer with a mulching head. Cost you about 2-300 per hour if it is like it is around here. They are faster then a dozer too if it is small growth. The problme is that a 30 HP tractor can not pull anything that will work on trees much larger then say about 4-6 inches. And that would only be a pine tree, nothing hardwood. Now you could get yourself a back hoe. About 5-$6000 would get you in one of them. And about another 1-$2000 in repairs later as they are not designed for that kind of work. 23 acres is a lot of land to clear. Even with something like a JD 750 or Cat D6 that is going to be a weeklong job for an skilled operator. The good thing about the mulch head is you wont get the destruction of you good trees that you will with the dozer. Plus the mulch and the fact that it gets everrthing under the grpund about 4 inches depending on the machine. Look at it this way

40 Hours dozer for a week @ 125.00 per hour $5,000
40 hours mulch head and skid steer @ 250 per hour $10,000

Backhoe attahcement for tractor $5,500
Tractor and backhoe destroyed because a tree came up the wrong way and fell on it $15-$20,000

Plus the lost time from work. You just cant offset the cost of getting the right machine for the job.
I would very seriously consider hiring someone me personally. If it were say an acre or two mmmm maybe i would try it. But not 23.

10-23-2008, 02:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
darkviper Silver Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 155	Re: Mechanical Brush Clearing Attachments for Compact Tractors With 30 horsepower you are very limited. I would recommend paying someone that has a skid steer with a mulching head. Cost you about 2-300 per hour if it is like it is around here. They are faster then a dozer too if it is small growth. The problme is that a 30 HP tractor can not pull anything that will work on trees much larger then say about 4-6 inches. And that would only be a pine tree, nothing hardwood. Now you could get yourself a back hoe. About 5-$6000 would get you in one of them. And about another 1-$2000 in repairs later as they are not designed for that kind of work. 23 acres is a lot of land to clear. Even with something like a JD 750 or Cat D6 that is going to be a weeklong job for an skilled operator. The good thing about the mulch head is you wont get the destruction of you good trees that you will with the dozer. Plus the mulch and the fact that it gets everrthing under the grpund about 4 inches depending on the machine. Look at it this way 40 Hours dozer for a week @ 125.00 per hour $5,000 40 hours mulch head and skid steer @ 250 per hour $10,000 Backhoe attahcement for tractor $5,500 Tractor and backhoe destroyed because a tree came up the wrong way and fell on it $15-$20,000 Plus the lost time from work. You just cant offset the cost of getting the right machine for the job. I would very seriously consider hiring someone me personally. If it were say an acre or two mmmm maybe i would try it. But not 23.