Help me manage my expectations for this tree puller, please

[FTG-05]

I have one of these mounted on the front of my Deere 3520. It's a bit much for it, but it does a pretty decent job. The limitations are due to the size of the tractor and FEL, not due to the device itself. Your Kubota is a bit bigger than my Deere, so you'll experience less of the limiting factors. I use mine primarily for pulling up honeysuckle and dead ash trees.

As others have mentioned.... Expect to rock back and forth to break the trees loose. Even a "small" tree can get a bit stubborn. Also, be VERY AWARE of what my come down out of that tree when you're shaking it. It's pretty scary to have stuff come down on you!! I now wear a forestry helmet with a face guard when I'm using my puller. I also keep the ROPS raised. Also, with my dead ash trees, I generally try to cut them down to 3' or 4' now as that minimizes the amount of stuff coming down on me.

Also mentioned was the use of copious amounts of ballast. I'll second this suggestion. Without ballast expect to have your rear end come up on a regular basis.

One of the reasons I went with the Notch Tree Puller was the fact that the pulling point is centered on the puller rather than being offset to one side. I wanted to minimize the chances of tweaking my FEL frame.

Looks good, but I despise web sites that don't show price. Plus they don't show distributors/sellers etc. Do they want people to buy their stuff or not?

Enough rant. How much did this unit cost?

 

[Stupit]

Just FYI. I just got an email that the Titan Tree Puller (on Titan's website) is on sale right now for $728.10 and free shipping to your home. If you decide on it all you need is a set of matching couplers to whatever is on your Kubota. They come with skid steer style couplers. I bought my 3/8" couplers on amazon.

 

[FTG-05]

Ordered! The $53 difference to buy direct from Titan vs. $675 is partially offset by not having to drive +80 miles to go pick it up.

Thanks!!!

 

[ovrszd]

Very good price!!!! As your respect for this tool grows you'll wonder how you got along without it.

 

[Coyote machine]

Uh, how about a big fat "NO!" on that. I'm +62, broken back with shot knees, walking around trying to cut down hundreds of trees ain't gonna be happening! If it was, I'd already done it.

The seller was asking $675 for it and I believe he is a regular farm equipment seller on Craigslist. I called him and he's already sold it but he may have another in a couple weeks or so. That's OK, I'm not in any hurry.

Don't shoot the messenger, I was suggesting what I did to keep you safe from trees and branches possibly falling back on you. I know the risks from working as a pro tree climber/surgeon in my younger years.
Glad you got a good deal on what you wanted - read any directions that come with it, and be careful.
Show some pics of the tool, and before and after on the area you clear...

 

[Aquamoose]

I just might bite the bullet and buy the same tree puller featured & hope my laser with 2k breakout force would do fine. Who knows, if it isn’t enough, I might add a second hydraulic ram to do the pulling if I require more force.

A DNR representative will be coming to my property to assess how much the state will pay me to thin out my stands. Who’d thunk that the state would pay me to play to do precisely what I want to do?

 

[bdog]

Instead of guessing why not just do a test? These things aren’t magical they just clamp on the tree. Go out there now and chain on to some trees and see what you can pull out. It will be slow and tedious but you will quickly find out if this attachment will work for your application or not. I am guessing you will be disappointed. My skid steer can lift close to 6,000 lbs I think and it can’t yank much of a tree out of the ground.

 

[Aquamoose]

Instead of guessing why not just do a test? These things aren’t magical they just clamp on the tree. Go out there now and chain on to some trees and see what you can pull out. It will be slow and tedious but you will quickly find out if this attachment will work for your application or not. I am guessing you will be disappointed. My skid steer can lift close to 6,000 lbs I think and it can’t yank much of a tree out of the ground.

Very, very true!!! Sometimes we need someone to point out the obvious. I’ll do that to a 4 foot test tree stump to try to mimic the pushing & tugging as well as pulling it straight up.

Thank you!

 

[Coyote machine]

Instead of guessing why not just do a test? These things aren’t magical they just clamp on the tree. Go out there now and chain on to some trees and see what you can pull out. It will be slow and tedious but you will quickly find out if this attachment will work for your application or not. I am guessing you will be disappointed. My skid steer can lift close to 6,000 lbs I think and it can’t yank much of a tree out of the ground.

Excellent point! I can attest to this from having done this while clearing a big field of trees. I would cut the tree to around 3' high, then push and pull with my bucket attached. And in many instances with my backhoe ripper tooth. What I found is the ripper would get the roots loosened at ground level or below, then I would use the bucket edge near the top of the tree stump to force the stump away from me. Sometimes I'd have to go around to the opposite side and do the same. Eventually I'd defeat it, but not without a fight.
I must state, that without the backhoe ripper tooth to tear at/out the roots around the tree's entire circumference virtually none of the trees would have given up their ground!

Very, very true!!! Sometimes we need someone to point out the obvious. I’ll do that to a 4 foot test tree stump to try to mimic the pushing & tugging as well as pulling it straight up.

Thank you!

Skip the pulling it straight up test; I can tell you it won't work, unless dealing with saplings, or trees mired in a shallow swamp. And, from my experience using my bucket to push on hundreds of stumps, the way it worked best is to have ripped the roots first, all the way around, THEN push at the very top leading edge with the full force of the tractor and bucket, forward, away from me while the front wheels climbed off the ground causing tremendous pressure against the stump's roots. Often having to do this numerous times from different angles. I was 'pulling' 8-12" stumps this way.
YMMV.

 

[TSO]

Excellent point! I can attest to this from having done this while clearing a big field of trees. I would cut the tree to around 3' high, then push and pull with my bucket attached. And in many instances with my backhoe ripper tooth. What I found is the ripper would get the roots loosened at ground level or below, then I would use the bucket edge near the top of the tree stump to force the stump away from me. Sometimes I'd have to go around to the opposite side and do the same. Eventually I'd defeat it, but not without a fight.
I must state, that without the backhoe ripper tooth to tear at/out the roots around the tree's entire circumference virtually none of the trees would have given up their ground!



Skip the pulling it straight up test; I can tell you it won't work, unless dealing with saplings, or trees mired in a shallow swamp. And, from my experience using my bucket to push on hundreds of stumps, the way it worked best is to have ripped the roots first, all the way around, THEN push at the very top leading edge with the full force of the tractor and bucket, forward, away from me while the front wheels climbed off the ground causing tremendous pressure against the stump's roots. Often having to do this numerous times from different angles. I was 'pulling' 8-12" stumps this way.
YMMV.

Dude, you've got to stop with the blue font. It's impossible to read on the app and it hurts the eyes!

 

[Coyote machine]

Dude, you've got to stop with the blue font. It's impossible to read on the app and it hurts the eyes!

Try asking nicely, or PMing me about your concerns instead of demanding what I should do to make your life easier! I haven't used the blue font in forever, and it's perfectly legible. Maybe you need to get your eyes checked! Are you trying to read the post from a cell phone or tablet?

 

[Oldoak]

I would do as Coyote Machine suggests in post #49. Accept, after cutting or breaking as much roots as possible, I wouldn't cut the trees until after trying to push them over. That way you can push higher up on the trunk of the tree with the bucket and use the leverage and weight of the whole tree to help uproot and topple them.

Edited to correct spelling.

 

[Coyote machine]

I would do as Coyote Machine suggests in post #49. Accept, after cutting or breaking as much roots as possible, I wouldn't cut the trees until after trying to push them over. That way you can push higher up on the trunk of the tree with the bucket and use the leverage and weight of the hole tree to help uproot and topple them.

Certainly a variation of my theme. I hesitated to recommend this particular method because it increases the risk factors of dropping branches/leaders and other things that can go wrong, especially if a first time use scenario. It does work well, especially if done with a tracked mini-ex.

I suppose if the OP showed us pics of his stand of trees it would make it WAY easier to figure out a best practices method to safely remove them...

How about it OP? Some pics from different views would help us and you solve this issue for you...

 

[Dave M7040]

I would do as Coyote Machine suggests in post #49. Accept, after cutting or breaking as much roots as possible, I wouldn't cut the trees until after trying to push them over. That way you can push higher up on the trunk of the tree with the bucket and use the leverage and weight of the hole tree to help uproot and topple them.

A word of caution on pushing trees over.

I have a brand new (in 2012) Kubota M7040, Deluxe cab, FEL, my first new tractor, my baby.

I pushed over several pine trees about 20' high using the FEL and my very heavy blower on the 3 pt. Very proud of myself and my tractor

Then I pushed one over and had a hard time backing up.

The stump and root ball came up under my tractor as I pushed. It snagged the guard for the fuel tank which had an angle arm bracket as the leading edge of the guard.

The angle arm was ripped off the aluminum under-pan for the fuel tank.

6 years later I still see the bend angle piece under my tractor and leave it as a visible reminder.

Now, I use a ladder and get as high up in the tree as I can and attached a very strong nylon tow strap for larger trucks.

I use the strap as it is much easier to lift than my 50 ton rated chain.

Now I assemble enough chain so that I am far back from the tree and cannot be hit as it comes down.

If needed, I can move around the tree leaving the strap in place and dragging the chains.

This is why I am a strong advocate for the puller with the additional hydraulic cylinder. Someday I hope to buy one.

Dave M7040

 

[TSO]

Try asking nicely, or PMing me about your concerns instead of demanding what I should do to make your life easier! I haven't used the blue font in forever, and it's perfectly legible. Maybe you need to get your eyes checked! Are you trying to read the post from a cell phone or tablet?

Didn't realize you would be so sensitive about it ... but know that it was said in a half joking manner which of course didn't translate thru the keyboard. I'm reading it from a phone, android app.

 

[JHurt]

I have one that is similar to this one, built by a local machine shop. I wouldn't be without one now! My property is 20 acres of overgrown fence lines, and pasture, Mostly evergreen trees in the 6-12 inch range. I have cleaned up around my pond with it last year which was mostly locust trees. Any of those getting close to 6" where just to much for my tractor to pull easily. I'm super diligent about not pulling backward once I have a hold of a stubborn tree, afraid that I would damage the loader. And I can tell you from experience that you want to make sure what level is as well! Couple of scary moments on the backside of the pond dam when I was still new to using it, and to a tractor with a loader on it. My wife was NOT impressed! She left me to fend for myself, stating I was making her nauseous from watching.

 

[JohnnyMX]

I had an issue with old pasture that was let go and it resulted in hundreds/thousands of sumac, multi-flora rose and large bushes. I ended up getting a Land Pride STP-25 which is basically the same thing that you are looking at. I think that the STP-15 is the tractor or lighter duty variety. I just cleared out one field in about 8 hours total by using the tree puller to uproot them and make piles and then went back and moved the piles with the grapple. Some of the bushes are 6-8" clumps, the biggest tree I pulled was probably a 5" sumac. I am hitting them while the ground is a bit loose but most of them are just coming up with lifting them straight out. Some required using the curl, driving forward, lift and repeat. My puller has root cutters (not as pronounced as those on the Danuser Intimidator) to go around and cut under the roots. I haven't tried that yet so can't comment. I basically just found that pulling up with the tool tipped down let me lift most of my trees out and kept the tree pointed away from me and the tractor.

I was going to just cut them flush but then realized that my rototiller would hate me. My loader is the LA1065 on an MX5200 with loaded rears and a 5' box blade if that gives any sort of frame of reference.

 

[DeereHunt]

I had an issue with old pasture that was let go and it resulted in hundreds/thousands of sumac, multi-flora rose and large bushes. I ended up getting a Land Pride STP-25 which is basically the same thing that you are looking at. I think that the STP-15 is the tractor or lighter duty variety. I just cleared out one field in about 8 hours total by using the tree puller to uproot them and make piles and then went back and moved the piles with the grapple. Some of the bushes are 6-8" clumps, the biggest tree I pulled was probably a 5" sumac. I am hitting them while the ground is a bit loose but most of them are just coming up with lifting them straight out. Some required using the curl, driving forward, lift and repeat. My puller has root cutters (not as pronounced as those on the Danuser Intimidator) to go around and cut under the roots. I haven't tried that yet so can't comment. I basically just found that pulling up with the tool tipped down let me lift most of my trees out and kept the tree pointed away from me and the tractor.

I was going to just cut them flush but then realized that my rototiller would hate me. My loader is the LA1065 on an MX5200 with loaded rears and a 5' box blade if that gives any sort of frame of reference.

JohnnyMX
- Its now 2021. I am looking at the landpride stp-25 for my John Deere 5303 with 512 loader. Wondering what you are thinking of it now?

 

[Aquamoose]

Ah, I remember this thread! I ended up building my own puller from scratch to suit my specific needs in my densely packed forest of pine, fir saplings. At first it was just the puller with a guard to prevent the tall saplings from falling back on the tractor but quickly realized that if I were to pluck & move it to a pile close by, it would snag up above and cause the sapling to snap at the top of the jaw (first pic) so I made “pincers” to hold it upright while transporting it (second pic). It worked like a charm!

 

[buck12]

Ah, I remember this thread! I ended up building my own puller from scratch to suit my specific needs in my densely packed forest of pine, fir saplings. At first it was just the puller with a guard to prevent the tall saplings from falling back on the tractor but quickly realized that if I were to pluck & move it to a pile close by, it would snag up above and cause the sapling to snap at the top of the jaw (first pic) so I made “pincers” to hold it upright while transporting it (second pic). It worked like a charm!

View attachment 681939

View attachment 681940

Nice setup!