TODAYS SEAT TIME

[MossflowerWoods]

Yesterday I managed to get about an hour of seat time (finally!).

The bucket was on so I used it to dig into a pile of slash and dirt.

I am still learning how to use the bucket, plus having a jumble of 4' to 7' small log chunks jumbled in amongst the dirt was just not very effective.

I also tried to see if backdragging the mulched debris with the bucket & tooth bar was more or less effective than the grapple. I did manange to clear some tractor trails, but the grapple is simply more effective.

So I changed it out. I discovered the hyd QD's are SO MUCH EASIER 2 handed :thumbsup:

So I learned a couple things, and made a little progress clearing the pasture space.

It was good enough.

Be well,
David

 

[lstinthot]

His error was ignoring the 2 inch tree in the way and attacking the 10 inch tree. Pushing over tree's with a tractor is doable. You just have to be very very careful. There are several dangers, Never push over dead trees, they always break off up higher and fall on your hood or your head. Never ram a tree, apply power slowly. Dont overdo it, by trying to push over too large a tree, and breaking or bending something. Push trees a couple of days after a rain, preferbly, so the upper soil is firm, but the roots are still in looser wetter soil. Look first for widomakers or dead branches liable to break off and fall on your head. But if you dont feel comfortable doing it don't do it. Now again his error was not removing the 2 inch tree and keeping his work area clean before he attacked the larger tree. Always clean your work area, as you clear land, never leave anything that your tractor has to work over, be that small trees, large rocks or holes. Clean and repair, then move forward for the next victim.
One advantage to pushing over trees is there is no stump left to deal with.

James K0UA

Thought this was going to be a quick push since it was already a leaner and ground was soft, ended up cutting smaller tree with chainsaw to get it out after the fact. You always have time to do it right the first time.

I could have used the chainsaw, just don't like it when they are already leaning. I guess this one was not ready to give up yet. Will take chain saw to it, then use backhoe on stump.

Widow makers are throughout my woods, I learned that lesson a few years ago. You don't know what you don't know when you start playing with heavy equipment in the woods. Was pushing a dead tree with a JD450 (track loader), had the bucket up high just pushing, then started to rock a little. It started raining limbs, 3 and 4 inch limbs 3 and 4 feet long. Fortunately I had a heavy duty canopy on that tractor. One of the branches came down like an arrow right into the radiator cover. Many others fell on the canopy. That is when I realized I was lucky to have the tractor I had and not an open type.

 

[Window Geek]

There was a"little" trees and limbs to clean up after the early snow storm. The brush forks did great. Gotta wait till January for the burn permit. Should be even more fun then!

 

[IndyIan]

I moved a couple yards of dirt and gravel to make a level pad for my tractor shelter. I had no trouble digging into the turf but big clods of grass are annoying to work with and take alot of driving on to get packed in.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

There was a"little" trees and limbs to clean up after the early snow storm. The brush forks did great. Gotta wait till January for the burn permit. Should be even more fun then!

Window Geek,

Please tell us about the rack I see attached to yout ROPS.THAT looks very interesting!

Thanks in advance,'
David

 

[Verticaltrx]

Window Geek,

Please tell us about the rack I see attached to yout ROPS.THAT looks very interesting!

Thanks in advance,'
David

Indeed, looks like a good place to haul a chainsaw.

 

[pmetal]

Attacked my brush pile this weekend. (I'm sore in places I didn't know existed! :laughing

Rented a 6" chipper, and man, was that thing awesome!

Unfortunately, I didn't take a "before" pic, but in the first picture I marked how high the pile was. I'd say about 15 feet tall, probably 10 feet deep.

Used the tractor to pull the brush and trees out to be chopped and sawed up. NEVER could have done all this work without the tractor. :thumbsup:

The outcome...

Will probably use the chippings on some of the trails behind the house.

Ended up with small wood pile. I was gonna use it as bonfire material, but I found out one of the new neighbors has a wood-burning stove, so I invited him to come take whatever he wants. I'll use the left-overs for the bonfires.

Still have some clean-up to do, but we put a HUGE dent in it.

Loving the Bobcat, that's for sure! I'm up to 16 hours on it, with many more to come (hopefully).

 

[hotdogL553]

Another problem to look for when pushing over trees, is the root ball.
Depending on the tree, the root ball can get lodged under things like
FEL, axles, engines and the like. When the tree falls over if the root ball
is big enough, it really gets your attention when the front of the tractor
raises up. It can turn you over. Be careful all.
Thanks, Hotdog
Semper, Fi

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Rented a 6" chipper, and man, was that thing awesome!

If I might ask, how much was the rental on the chipper for the weekend?

Did it have an hour meter? How long did it take to chip that much?

Thanks in advance!

David

 

[pmetal]

If I might ask, how much was the rental on the chipper for the weekend?

Did it have an hour meter? How long did it take to chip that much?

Thanks in advance!

David

It was $250 for the weekend. I picked it up Friday afternoon and had it back to them this morning by 8:00 a.m.

There was a meter on it. I glanced at my receipt this morning and I want to say I had ran it for about two hours. Not even long enough to empty the gas tank. I will double check that tonight when I get home.

Some of that time it was idling while we pulled more debris from the pile. Hook up the chains, pull three or four trees out, cut the limbs, pile 'em up, etc... If I had everything ready to be chipped, it would have gone a lot quicker.

I was probably out there for about 8 hours on Saturday, had two friends come by for about 6 hours to help (and what a help it was!!!), and 3 or so by myself on Sunday.