Tree shear on tractor

Sawyer Rob · Jan 17, 2016

My neighbor has a 12" tree shear he puts on his CIH JX65, he really likes it and has told me more than once that it works pretty good.

His main use for it is, cleaning up fence rows...

SR

stuckmotor · Jan 17, 2016

nybirdman said:
Shear is (was)_powered by the tractor hydraulics.I never tried any trees bigger than may-be four inch.
My tractor weighs about 7,000lbs.Again;way to slow for my liking.I would rather leave the grapple on and cut by hand.

nybirdman,
Thanks again. I asked how you powered the shear because my loader has a pump that's supposed to have a greater flow rate than my tractor hydraulics. I was thinking it might be faster if I powered it from the loader pump.

ovrszd · Jan 17, 2016

stuckmotor said:
ovrszd,
From my reading, a Bobcat is what I need, but they cost more than I can shell out. When you used the shear on your tractors, was there a problem with it moving the loader sideways?

I totally understand the money thing. My Brother paid $31,500 for a used Bobcat. Wayyyyyy above my league.

I meant to mention the FEL stresses and forgot. I didn't notice any lateral stress on the FEL at all when using the Shear. If you look at the link I posted you can see that the horizontal movement of the shear jaws is minimal. Much more lateral movement in a jaws type puller such as Xfaxman posted. Lastly, when digging in hard material with an FEL you will put far greater lateral stress on your FEL. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Xfaxman · Jan 17, 2016

Many years ago when I had a tractor without a loader, I had a 3 point cedar tree cutter.

So if you really have to cut them, this is another option.

And a TBN thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/246690-tree-shear-my-little-ole.html

nybirdman · Jan 17, 2016

stuckmotor said:
nybirdman,
Thanks again. I asked how you powered the shear because my loader has a pump that's supposed to have a greater flow rate than my tractor hydraulics. I was thinking it might be faster if I powered it from the loader pump.

Not that the shear itself was that slow just the whole process.One of my wild ideas that didn't work out. Fortunately I didn't have a lot of money invested in it.The only thing I had on my tractor that was worse was a stump bucket and it didn't take me long to get rid of that.

ovrszd · Jan 17, 2016

nybirdman said:
Not that the shear itself was that slow just the whole process.One of my wild ideas that didn't work out. Fortunately I didn't have a lot of money invested in it.The only thing I had on my tractor that was worse was a stump bucket and it didn't take me long to get rid of that.

I built a stump bucket. Pretty disappointing what it would accomplish. Maybe I had my expectations too high.

Industrial Toys · Jan 17, 2016

Shears are neat, but I too question the efficiency of the operation. I hate moving a lot of equipment to do small work. On an excavator might be a different story. But then you could rip out the whole thing.

ovrszd · Jan 17, 2016

Industrial Toys said:
Shears are neat, but I too question the efficiency of the operation. I hate moving a lot of equipment to do small work. On an excavator might be a different story. But then you could rip out the whole thing.

If clearing a large area of a mass of 6-12" trees a Shear is the fastest way. But then you have to deal with the stumps.

If clearing a large area of smaller trees a Puller is the fastest and most efficient way. But then you to deal with the holes left after pulling.

Again, it totally depends on the use of the land afterwards.

A Shear or Puller on a SS or CTL is amazingly fast.

An Excavator is not as fast. But you have a lot less equipment involved.

Excavator versus Shear??? I'd take the Excavator.

Piston · Jan 18, 2016

Agree that the excavator is the best tool for the job when pulling trees out of the ground, I was impressed with a small 6k lb unit that I rented for a job on small trees about 4" in diameter. I've always been interested in something like the Turbo Saw or the Brown Tree Saw.

I've "internet shopped" quite a bit with these and was going to buy the Brown Tree Saw last year for a job but it ended up falling through, too bad because it would have paid for itself on that one job. It seems to me that for a tractor implement the Tree Saw is the most efficient way to take smaller trees down, say under 14" or so. Basically anything you could use a shear on (using a tractor as the driving force) it seems the Tree Saw would be quicker. Not only that but you can cut at ground level (depending on rocks) and leave the FEL grapple on for material handling.

Unfortunately most of the youtube vids on these units only show small bushy trees in a field and not backyard hardwoods like I'm dealing with in New England. Compared to a tree shear, I imagine it would work considerably better. (Assuming the operating platform is the 60hp tractor you mention)

My neighbor has a 16" tree shear that cuts at ground level, and with his ASV-100 it makes quick work of it, but he also has something like 40+ GPM and over 3500psi for hydraulics. I think a tree shear wouldn't be very effective for clearing trees on a tractor. Course, even with the Tree Saw, you still have the stumps to deal with like Richard mentioned, although at least they would be somewhat level to the ground and easy to mow over, but if planning on plowing the land then all bets are off, unless you grind each stumps afterwords (there is another implement) ....man it gets expensive to clear your own land with a tractor! :laughing:

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