Richard
Elite Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,827
- Location
- Knoxville, TN
- Tractor
- International 1066 Full sized JCB Loader/Backhoe and a John Deere 430 to mow with
Well, I now have 2 days (about 4 hours total) of experience on the mighty JCB backhoe /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Though there are a number of items we are looking to do, I can obviously only do one at a time. Soooo, I have started to clear some of the trees off my land. I only have about (guessing) 50 trees or so that I want to come down. Many of them are 4-inch pine trees up to maybe 18-inch diameter pines. I am also taking out the cedar.
So far I have been able to push over the trees I have approached. Since the house is in the middle of the lot with hills to consider, I have to be very careful not to OOPS and push one the wrong way. As such, I have to drive this behemoth of a machine backwards into the woods, wedging it between some trees so I can get one in the front sights and push it AWAY from the house. So far, piece of cake. The 5 trees I pushed over last night and then dragged into field took maybe 90 minutes or so. Yard is scratched up a bit, but nothing like I would anticipate a dozer to do. I haven’t approached the BIG trees yet, probably 8 to 10 inches diameter the current max. On the trees that are large, I doubt this thing will push them over /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif, so I might take the chain saw and cut my wedge to fall away from house, then instead of making the felling cut, bring out Brutus and THEN “simply” push it over /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif. Followed up by digging out the remaining stump. Once I clear up/out the trees, I can try to bring this thing in closer to the back patio that we are trying to grade down. Of course, my better half wants the patio done NOW and the trees I can do later. She doesn’t seem to sense that this thing won’t physically FIT in the area (with the trees/hills complicating the issue) so I just go on my merry way /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.
This has been an interesting experience so far, must say, I DO enjoy it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Since this thing needs a new paint job, would anyone get mad at me if I painted it Kubota orange and put “L-99” stickers on it and sent a photo to Del??? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
So far I have been able to push over the trees I have approached. Since the house is in the middle of the lot with hills to consider, I have to be very careful not to OOPS and push one the wrong way. As such, I have to drive this behemoth of a machine backwards into the woods, wedging it between some trees so I can get one in the front sights and push it AWAY from the house. So far, piece of cake. The 5 trees I pushed over last night and then dragged into field took maybe 90 minutes or so. Yard is scratched up a bit, but nothing like I would anticipate a dozer to do. I haven’t approached the BIG trees yet, probably 8 to 10 inches diameter the current max. On the trees that are large, I doubt this thing will push them over /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif, so I might take the chain saw and cut my wedge to fall away from house, then instead of making the felling cut, bring out Brutus and THEN “simply” push it over /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif. Followed up by digging out the remaining stump. Once I clear up/out the trees, I can try to bring this thing in closer to the back patio that we are trying to grade down. Of course, my better half wants the patio done NOW and the trees I can do later. She doesn’t seem to sense that this thing won’t physically FIT in the area (with the trees/hills complicating the issue) so I just go on my merry way /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.
This has been an interesting experience so far, must say, I DO enjoy it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Since this thing needs a new paint job, would anyone get mad at me if I painted it Kubota orange and put “L-99” stickers on it and sent a photo to Del??? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif