looking for some advice

[Keeven]

im looking for some advice from people who are in the land clearing business, im 25 years old and wanting to start a small land clearing business, coming from a family of small business owners i know it takes lots of hard work a long hours to run a business. I have been looking into buying a Takeuchi TL26 and a rotary brush cutter, i will be selling my off road toy to fund the purchase of the skid steer an brush cutter. my question is will i be able to be efficient with this for now? or am i wasting my time? i would like to buy a mulcher head later on but thats out of the question right now

[jca57jd]

That would not be a bad start in my opinion as long as you offer other services such as grading, ect; with the loader. However keep in mind that you will have to buy another loader to do adequate mulching. I am 24 and already own a ctl and recently bought a rotary mower for my low flow machine. The mower has easily paid for it self after 6 months, however it would be hard for me to survive on mowing all alone... I think you are on the right track but figure in doing other types of work with your loader until you develope a good rep on mowing.... It can be hard to survive with other mulcher around if you are in a area with mulchers around already! Best of luck to you!

[Keeven]

Thanks for the response, the TL26 I wanted sold do u think a bobcat 743 is to small of a machine for what I'm wanting to do? Keep in mind I'm goin to start with smaller jobs an weekend only type thing for now till I can make a name for myself

[jca57jd]

Unfortunately the 743 would be to small if you are wanting to be able to run a good roatary mower that will take down decent size trees 4". The 743 is a light low horsepower unit that only produces 11gpm. You can run some of the low flow rotary cutters with that machine but you will find that the hydraulics will bypass on you a good bit do to only having 11gpm on that machine. You should look at the hydraulic gpm ratings, and the lifting capacity a little closer! I would try to get at least 16-18 gpm if you ate going to get a low flow mower. The more gpm you get the better off you will be! I would also try to stick with tracks if you can because I often find my self getting simple mowing jobs that are not accessible to a tractor and bushog due to getting stuck with tires, not to mention the flats you will end up with if you don't fill the tires with foam!

[yellowdogsvc]

In my opinion, anything less than a 75 hp machine with 19-23 gpm would be frustrating to use with a mower. If you get a job where you need to lift or dig a big stump, you will be at it all day with a small machine and then you probably won't be able to lift it. The older, smaller machines, just weren't designed for running modern attachments. Not enough pressure or flow.

I'd either rent or save up for a machine in the 75 hp (minimum) class. You could get by with something like a Bobcat 773-s185 with the 56 hp Kubota turbo. The high flow made something like 26 gpm at 3,000 psi which will run a 5' mower pretty good. Low flow was like 16 or 18 gpm at 3000 psi. That will also run a mower okay but the machine is very light and though it has a lift rating around 1850 lbs, you will feel a mower out front.

If you can find a G series 863 with cab and air, it would make a good machine to dig, grade, and mow with even if it's low flow. I owned 2 of them and believe they were underrated in lift capacity.
I have also owned Cat and a CAT 256c or 272 would fit the bill, too, and you can find them used since the D series is out. I'm sure CASE and JD have some good machines in the 75 hp class, too.
I've been mowing and mulching with compact equipment since 1998 and have owned a lot of machines in the Bobcat line up. Anything from 863 up will fit your needs A LOT better than s185 down.

[Keeven]

Thanks for the response's looks like I'm goin to need to buck up and get a larger machine

[Keeven]

I ended up buying a 2050 mustang with foam filled tires, now to save for a brush cutter an root grapple

[creekbend]

Best wishes in regards to your endeavor. One step at a time. Hard work and patience will pay off in the end. Don't give up on your Dream. You can succeed.