Can a tractor clear this?

[kthompson]

As you have learned by now there are many ways to do your task and each has advantages of it's own. Over the last I think 8 years we have been clearing and regarding some logged land which includes a pond and the banks from it being dug over 40 years ago. I have a compact 27 hp Kubota and do use it with a 5 foot rough cut mower and I would never put it on brush like that of any amount. Now if I could back over it with the cutter yes but never the tractor first. Sheet metal, hyd tubing, plastic and such including me on the seat do not hold up well to such brush being pushed over. I would not my larger any tractor either to drive over such to cut but would cut with a cutter that is offset so it cuts outside of the tire. Tractors ARE NOT logging equipment. I really do not care how small the tree is they are rough and tuff compared to the paint job and hyd tubing and lights.

Again there is good merit to probably all suggestions here just your picking what is best for you. My choice for such and my owning it helps a lot is small excavator with a thumb. You can pull the small stuff real quick, you can turn and pile and be to the next tree if within reach in easy two minutes. Now those too big to pull you can dig.

You can rent these and if you do you do not want anything less then 7,000 pounds and heavier is better unless you are the one hauling it. IF YOU RENT ANY EQUIPMENT do price it for the week. Here three day rental equals a week in price. So plan the work and take off the time and get it done in one week and not two week ends. You still may be better off to find a small company and hire them.

I strongly suggest you pull the stumps in your yard. We did not when we built where we now live and 16 years later still filling in rotting stumps holes. Really think this is our last year.

One other suggestion, take pictures. Not for us which would be liked but for your own. Take them from beginning and in all stages. Such memories are priceless. kt

 

[DavesTractor]

A decent size mini-ex with a thumb would be great. Something 8000-12000 lbs gives you good reach. You can sit in one spot and remove a bunch of little trees and brush, then swing it all into a pile. Then move, repeat. I have a Vio55 and I think it's a real kick to sit on that thing and dig and pull and pile...too much fun. I guess a guy could get tired of it, but I haven't yet. Stress relief.

I also like the idea of hiring the foundation guy. My son is a dirt contractor, and they often show up to a foundation/septic/utilities jobsite with a small dozer, mid-size excavator and a skid steer. They can get a lot of work done in a day.

 

[DieselBound]

I've pushed my B7800 head first into a lot of heavy brush. Not because I'm a idiot, but because IN that brush are logs and stumps. Over the years I've had to push out stuff like that before I can run the mower. And, I also don't know how soft the ground is: I find it easier to push myself out with the loader than pull myself out with it.

900+ hours and I've broken or maimed:

- broke radiator/cooling system petcock
- broke a tie rod end
- knocked off the hydraulic return hose (ONLY time I was left stranded- had to tow out of the brush after running chainsaws to clear a path forward)
- loosened a loader arm hydraulic hose line fitting (thought I'd blown out the cylinder- I had done that, though not in brush [breaking tire beads off rims about 5 years ago)
- broke the lower plastic grill piece (new one was like $80)
- tore up the mesh that's behind the grill pieces (replaced with some stuff I found along the roadside! [but it too is getting hammered])

Here's an example of what I've dealt with (with just my B7800):

Before:



After [there's a small stump to the right which was from a clump that included a HUGE maple stump that I chipped away at and finally popped out with an excavator- buried in-place]:

 

[chsdiyer]

Hey everyone, sorry to pick this back up but I wanted to apologize for not following up earlier. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to provide all the feedback and didn't want to be that guy that never responds. Still haven't been able to close on the land yet, but hopefully soon. I do have a real good image of the land in google earth from 2010 which was taken just after they cleared the land selling off a bunch of trees. That gives me a good general idea where we want the house which is the basis for the original 2 acres to clear. I also have lidar imagery of the property to show me where the high and low spots are. I have "cleared" some land before with my brother. We used a chain saw to clear out the small brush to see the land better and then he let the foundation guys do the main clearing. KT i'm definitely a pictureholic. We spend the last years renovating our house which was from 1839 and I have A LOT of pictures of that process. I love seeing the before and after.

Here's my revised plan:
Take it slow (at least as far as the clearing goes). I'm going to get a chain saw and clear some paths through the and clear out the rough area where we want the house to be. It wont be two acres though, i'll start probably with just clearing 1/2 - 3/4 maybe. I'll either let the foundation guy clear out the stumps I leave behind or I might rent a small excavator and do it my self for fun. Especially if i can get a deal with the septic guy if i dig my own hole for that. perhaps not. I'll definitely take pictures and post the project here. Thanks again for all the suggestions and helping me avoid a lot of aggravation and unnecessary cost!

 

[AxleHub]

Chsdyer,

Regarding your septic guy letting you dig his hole for the tank and then discount the price. I don't know the permit laws fir your state, but in Wisconsin they are pretty clear and our County is pretty specific on them too.

Typically pitch of the hole bottom is a big deal. Typically they want an over dig of the sidewalls depending on if itbis sand or loam or clay. My relative dig the holes for the septic guy on theur 3 propetties which were all sand. Note the septic guy still had to do the trenches for pipe layout to the drain field and squaring up the bottom of the tank laying area and firmness of compaction.

There is a lot involved in tank height placement depending on lower level bathrooms and drain field type and positioning . . its all about pipe tapering etc.etc.. I'm telling you all this because I don't know how
much of a discount you may get.

My neighbor ended up with a septic tank buried with 11 rings on top (just under 12 feet of ground above the tank) . . that was an expensive excavation and just the rings are hundreds of dollars each . . all because of lower level needs and lot situation.

 

[chsdiyer]

sounds like i'll probably get an anti-discount and charged more for screwing it up and making his job harder. :newhere:

 

[Garandman]

//I feel like clearing the land quickly would require a larger tractor than i'll really need in the end so i'd probably be buying more than I need and could use that money else where. //

You could hire pros to do the initial clear and then do the remainder over time.

We hired a forester to clear some big trees near the house, power line and fences. They came in with two men, a 50hp tractor, and 90hp chipper and cleared them out like Grant took Richmond. They left all the hardwood logs, ground all the tops, softwood and saplings. $1,800 and done in a day.

Then I used my newly-acquired tractor to move the logs and do clearing of the smaller growth. Used a 60" brush cutter, set it first 9" high or so, then moved down once I could see what was underneath.

Untouched since 1987.

Couple of hours later.

 

[mike69440]

I'd get a quote on having someone come in and clear it for you and I'd get a quote on a weekend rate for a bobcat rental with a grapple bucket. See how many weekends you could rent it for VS paying someone to do it.

Now if you buy your own tractor.... You don't say how far you live from the land. How are you going to get your tractor back and forth to it or are you going to store it there? Is it going to be big enough to do the job you need done? Stuff like that.

When we bought our land, we needed a driveway cut in from the highway, a 400' road, gravel, slag, and mowing between government trees for 5 years. The quote for putting in the driveway and leveling the roadbed was about the same price as a very used 50hp tractor loader. So we bought the very used tractor loader, cut in our own driveway, spread our gravel (found on-site) and purchased slag, and mowed for 5 years. Then we sold the tractor and got about 1/3 of the money back, too, and bought a smaller tractor for maintaining the place. It worked out well for us. But you gotta put pencil to paper and add up all the costs. If you value your own time, don't fool yourself about how long it takes to do things with a smaller tractor.

Wear and tear on your tractor is really worth avoiding.

Rent a real excavator for a weekend, a small full size with blade and thumb. Don't be fussy, you have a tractor for clean up, just go to town and wreak havoc and enjoy! The tractor will still have plenty to clean up. Consider a 3 Pt carry-all and grapple on the tractor.

 

[DieselBound]

I agree with blb078.

Life isn't black and white. There are extremes. Just as one can abuse a machine one can WAY under-use a machine. On the later I have to wonder why someone bought that equipment in the first place. As long as one is factoring in use vs cost then I'd think that one can figure out what makes the most sense to them.

I have used the crap out of my B7800. Have put over 900 hours on it: bought it with 750 hours. I consider it fully depreciated: total lifetime cost is averaging $14,40/hr and declining; my NX5510 will take over 2,700 hours (18 years at hours/year usage rate of my B7800) to get to this point. It looks beat to heck. But, if I were to add up the costs for all the things that I've broken I can tell you that it's very little/small (and little down time). Will I beat my NX5510HC like I've beat my B7800? Probably not. So, again, it's all situational, making blanket statements doesn't often comport with reality.

I recently had a professional come in and take down a huge cottonwood tree that loomed large over my house: I don't have a saw big enough; and, I didn't want to take the risk (I"m a novice). Another guy I'd had assess the job had said that he'd just quoted someone else $3,200 to take down and haul off a similar sized tree. I paid $400 (and had a second tree thrown in for free). I achieved the cutting up and "hauling away" part via my chainsaw and an excavator (buried most of the cut up wood). Excavator was used for several other things, it cost $1,000; figure $500 for it's work for the cottonwood "disposal" activities. OK, so here's the part relevant to this discussion... I KILLED my $700 saw! I was running that saw non-stop (perpetual snow storm of chips!) and I cooked it (big tree, me running it non-stop AND temperatures were in the 90s). Total abuse of the saw, shouldn't have done that (and in the future I likely won't!). I got the job done. $400 + $500 + $700 = $1,600, or HALF what the one guy was suggesting. Keep in mind, however, the saw wasn't new and had spent several years in the "depreciation" cycle; therefore, that figure of $1,600 should be adjusted, so let's deduct 1/2 the cost of the saw for this operation-> $1,250. If I'd gone about it slower my saw might not have cooked; but, sometimes you HAVE to get stuff done in a short period of time. No picture of my saw, but here's my other "abused" tool (posing with the downed cottonwood):



This stump was much smaller, at 44" at the butt, than an old cedar stump that I dug and buried during the same excavator rental period.

 

[AxleHub]

Like ever othet action in life there is smart, dumb, or unknowing.

Operating any piece of equipment falls under that situation.

Unknowing is when you either don't have knowledge if something or experience.

Smart is applying learning and past knowledge to not replicate past mistakes and to enhance past successes.

Dumb is not considering past risks or mistakes or the cost to yourself or others from the results.

Equipment is designed to be used . . not abused . . unless it is considered expendable.

One other thing I seldom understand is statements like "it has xxx hours on it and I've worked it hard".

The number of hours of use on most tractors can be a significant 4 digit number if properly cared for. And if improperly used even a couple hundred hours can be half of its life.

I had a coversation a while back with someone who bragged that his motorcycle could redline at a number in excess of 115 mph and that he did it once a week or more (not on racetrack). He wanted to sell it. He wondered if I knew anyone who might be interested lol. Every biker I ever met has cranked it up once or twice to see how it goes . . but to redline it thru the gears every week is not a bike I'd ever own.