Post puller….

[shooterdon]

View attachment 775135I bought a new MTL attachments puller back about 2 years ago. You have to be easy as it will just cut small saplings in half.

I had the same problem. I have purchased a wireless camera and plan to use it so I can tell when I have enough "pinch" without pinching through the smaller trees.

I have used chain to pull trees but a puller like this means not having to get off and on the tractor. When I was using chains, my fiancé would drive the tractor and I would handle the chains.

Another benefit of the puller is I get much less exposure to ticks when pulling trees with it. Staying in a heated/cooled cab makes a long day shorter.

I paid $1000 for my puller and while that is not cheap, I look at it as a 20 year investment. If I ever decide to get rid of it, I doubt I will lose much on it and I have a tool that makes things easier for me.

 

[caver]

I have used chain to pull trees but a puller like this means not having to get off and on the tractor. When I was using chains, my fiancé would drive the tractor and I would handle the chains.

That's what I was doing. I had one of those Brush Brubber units that work well on small stuff and as you said not having to wade into the tick farm to attach the grubber. The on and off tractor was getting real old.

 

[SmallChange]

I got that little oak out this morning. I'd cut it off a few feet up and was working it back and forth with my cable hanging from a FEL adapter plate. I poured a bucket of warm water, with a little soap in it, into the hole while working it around, reasoning that this would break up the adhesion of the clay and gravel soil anchoring it in place (the reason that trees are more likely to blow over after a soaking rain).

 

[oosik]

I've used my grapple - Land Pride SGC1560 - to pull brush. It comes out in clumps. Give it a good shake and pile it up. Move the brush pile to the burn pit when done. My pine stands are too thick to get in with the Kubota. I thin the stands by chainsaw felling and then chip.

820 pound grapple on my 10,050 pound Kubota M6040.

 

[BnRidge]

I've used my grapple - Land Pride SGC1560 - to pull brush. It comes out in clumps. Give it a good shake and pile it up. Move the brush pile to the burn pit when done. My pine stands are too thick to get in with the Kubota. I thin the stands by chainsaw felling and then chip.

820 pound grapple on my 10,050 pound Kubota M6040.
View attachment 775542

Could you define brush. What kinds of things do you have that need removing in WA.

 

[oosik]

The brush here is called Buck brush. Grows to two feet high - thick as the hair on the back of a hound dog - as big in diameter as the base of your little finger.

I use the grapple to move large rocks and chunks of pine tree trunk. Also - clean up any pine trees that fall or I cut down.

 

[fuchifarm]

I sometimes use one on my skidsteer that I bought when I had a m7060.
A few things I have learned to do to improve the uses of this attachment are:
1. Grab the tree up high and clamp down tight. Pull down and curl out to snap off the top of the tree. (20ft tree can be cut in half makes smaller burn piles).
2. For 3+ inch hardwoods first close the jaws and use the implement like a spade to pull the top soil off root system and cut part of the roots. (significantly reduces dirt pulled up with the tree and increases the size of tree that I can easily dislodge)
3. For smaller than 3in first spread the jaw and drag the open jaw across the ground and pinch closed once clear of the tree. (disturbs less soil and the pinch cuts roots on tractor side of tree making it easy to push the tree forward and lift to remove it)
4. For larger pines that you can't just lift out of the ground use the closed jaw as a spade to make a hole behind the tree and then push the tree over snapping the tap root at the depth of the hole.
5. For small sapplings < 2in grab the first one pull it up move to next one spread jaw drive forward grab it and pull. Rinse and repeat till too much in jaw to easily work with before backing up and dumping to the side.
6. Anything much larger than 5 to 6 inches then this is the wrong tool. I switch to my fixed hoe (Dipper stick on a skid steer plate). I can push over 12in trees no problem by grubbing the roots all the way around the tree and then pushing it. I doubt most tractor loader arms could handle the stresses of the hoe though.
7. A tree shear down in the dirt would probably be a better choice for most trees over 3inches. Come back through with a multi shank subsoiler to clear the roots.
8. Don't use it to pull posts you plan to reuse. Posts will be crushed no matter how careful you are. Maybe you could add a pressure relief valve set to really low to allow the use without crushing the posts. Maybe like 200-300 psi. 2500psi of a tractor will crush posts of all types pretty good. However it does makes quick work to crush concrete off the bottom of metal posts. Do it over a tarp to ease cleanup.