JKR
Silver Member
I agree get a dozer or excavator guy. It would be a lot less money and time doing it your self with a 4 in 1 bucket.
Does anyone have a 4 in 1 bucket?
- Thread starter construction freak
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bumperm
Veteran Member
That "hire a dozer" advice flies in the face of entrenched male logic:
"I have a tractor, I am tool self sufficient, I'll do it myself, by God!" This is the very same spirit that opened up the west with no more than an Arkansas Toothpick and a muzzle loader. You dozer advocates are playing with fire here! :c)
"I have a tractor, I am tool self sufficient, I'll do it myself, by God!" This is the very same spirit that opened up the west with no more than an Arkansas Toothpick and a muzzle loader. You dozer advocates are playing with fire here! :c)
rustyshakelford
Veteran Member
Lol. I know what you mean but I'm also practical and being a Dozer man, I know what it's like having to come in and finish these types of projects. The usual answer was "I wish I had called you before I started, this was much faster and cheaper" there will be plenty of work or play with the tractor once it's cleared but wanting to use a mx5100 and loader for 15 acres would be a long process and the likelyhood of damage or injury is high.
Brett
Redneck in training
Elite Member
I forgot to add that there will be a lots of tractor hours to pull out tree roots left behind by the dozer, discing and general clean up.
jenkinsph
Super Star Member
I agree with the others, clear it with a dozer and clean up what is left with your tractor. That is the most effective and cheapest way to go. There will be plenty of uses for your tractor after the initial work is done and that is where the tractor will be handy to have.
OP
construction freak
New member
This is getting serious. This is Dad on the line here. My son started this thread as he was reading up on this on his computer and I was reading up on my computer. He started this thread and I sure am glad he did. You guys are an absolute wealth of information and all responses are very much appreciated. I had a guy with a forestry mulcher come out and chew up the boundaries so I could get a survey done. It leaves a big mess unless he goes over it a few more times. He said he could get the whole thing done for 8,000. I am sure he would do a good job but that is a little more than I can see paying. Six months ago, a dozer came through and pushed out some logging roads. He just pushed up dirt and trees and made a big mess. I already talked to a guy with a dozer and track hoe. He said as cheap as I could get off was 3000. He could push up debris in a pile but due to the dirt on the root ball would not burn completely and would take several years to rot and then I could clean it up then. Bringing the dozer and track hoe he could get it cleaned up really nice, but leave a hole in my wallet. I figured I could do it myself and have a grapple or 4 in 1 bucket out of the deal for the same price as the dozer coming out and leaving a big mess. Using the tractor to get the yaupons up is easy. Put the bucket on the ground, tilt down, and drive into it. It pushes roots and brush right out of the ground. Just pick it up an put it in a pile. The larger trees that you cant push over, I took a sub soiler and triple welded everything on it, and turned it around backwards. You can back up into the root ball and break the roots, then push the tree over with the loader. Poor folks have poor ways. Instead of hiring out the job for 3000, and having a mess, I would rather do it myself and have a piece of equipment out of the deal. I guess I am down to deciding weather to get a 4 in 1 bucket or grapple. Most are pointing us toward a grapple, but the bucket seems like a much more versatile tool. I feel like I better listen to the voice of experience but I just dont understand what you can do with the grapple that you cant do with the 4 in 1 bucket.
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rustyshakelford
Veteran Member
Be careful using that sub soiler in reverse. 3pts aren't designed to push but to pull. Sorry you had a bad experience with a Dozer man. You place looked like an easy job. Just because someone owns a Dozer it doesn't make him an operator. Good luck cleaning up around your place. Those youpon are terrible and hard in things. When broke up the spears can and will mess up whatever is in their way
Mulchers have their place, it's just not on my place. They leave a mess unless you have a skilled operator that takes time to do it right.
Brett
Mulchers have their place, it's just not on my place. They leave a mess unless you have a skilled operator that takes time to do it right.
Brett
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I own a 170 hp dozer that I learned the hard way is the wrong tool for clearing land. It's a lot of fun pushing trees over and going through everything, but even with a rake, it's very time consuming cleaning up the mess it creates. If you use a dozer, you really need something else to come in and pick up the debris and carry it to the burn pile. I put a grapple on my full sized backhoe to do this and the speed and end results are night and day to just using the dozer. My burn piles are not full of dirt and they burn everything including stumps completely. Once I get it going, the coals get so hot that I can put an entire tree on the pile and it's completely gone by the next day!!! I've also found that I can take out bigger trees faster with the backhoe by digging down on either side of the tree, through the roots, then pushing it over faster then I can with the dozer. For smaller trees and saplings, it's just a lot cleaner to push them over with the hoe bucket, then slide them towards the backhoe and pull them out of the ground, roots and all. Doing it this way does not disturb the ground and there is no need to smooth it out afterwards. Then I puck them up with the grapple and carry them to the burn pile. Fast, clean and easy.
The ultimate land clearing tool is an excavator. Unfortunately it's terrible at getting the debris to the burn pile, so you need another tool to do that. Which is the same problem that you get from using a dozer, but you tear up less land with the excavator then you do the dozer. The dozer just tears everything up!!!! The best single, all purpose tool is the backhoe. At 80 hp, it has enough power to take out any sized tree and enough lift to pick up most of the trees out there. Sometimes we have to cut up a really big tree into thirds, or even a few more pieces to get it to the burn pile. Sometimes we just wrap a chain around it and pull it to the burn pile, then push it up onto the pile to get it to burn cleanly. If I hadthe money, I would buy a cabbed 4x4 backhoe with a 4in1 bucket to clear land instead of my 2 wheel drive, open cabbed backhoe. But for under $20,000 you can get what I have and do it at your own pace, then sell it when you are done, or realize you can't live without it and keep it.
Eddie
The ultimate land clearing tool is an excavator. Unfortunately it's terrible at getting the debris to the burn pile, so you need another tool to do that. Which is the same problem that you get from using a dozer, but you tear up less land with the excavator then you do the dozer. The dozer just tears everything up!!!! The best single, all purpose tool is the backhoe. At 80 hp, it has enough power to take out any sized tree and enough lift to pick up most of the trees out there. Sometimes we have to cut up a really big tree into thirds, or even a few more pieces to get it to the burn pile. Sometimes we just wrap a chain around it and pull it to the burn pile, then push it up onto the pile to get it to burn cleanly. If I hadthe money, I would buy a cabbed 4x4 backhoe with a 4in1 bucket to clear land instead of my 2 wheel drive, open cabbed backhoe. But for under $20,000 you can get what I have and do it at your own pace, then sell it when you are done, or realize you can't live without it and keep it.
Eddie
Redneck in training
Elite Member
I have another experience with clearing trees with a dozer. I guess not all dozers are created equal. I think the 6 way blade is the key. The guy would stick a corner of the blade under the tree, lift it up and then push severing the roots with the blade leaving most of the root ball in the ground. Then back dragging smoothed the ground. When he had several trees out he pushed them on a pile. When he was done I had about 30 acres of more or less smooth ground with some roots sticking from the ground. It took me about a week to chop them off or pull them out with my tractor so I could prepare the land for planting.
rustyshakelford
Veteran Member
You have a big Dozer. 1150 right? In my opinion those are great for moving a lot of dirt or pushing a kg plow. That wouldn't be my choice for clearing his type of property. A JD 450j or case 550 or 850 with a 6 way blade make short work of this. Once you get all the youpon out, I roll it and get the dirt out. I cleared my place that way and all that's left is a mound where all the ashes are. It's hard to beat a Dozer underbrushing then have the track hoe or backhoe come and dig the bigger trees that are left. Ive tried clearing out youpon in a few small areas with my grapple and I'm sure it's mostly my inexperience with it but it's a pain. Hard to get under the roots with out cutting them and leaving speers
That's how we'd do it. Use the the corner of the blade and roll it. For a real finished product the Dozer can go over it again with a rake and clean it up more
Brett
