Excavator mulchers. Brands, thoughts and skid loader mulchers

[t320pilot]

I really like my Rut Mfg disc mulcher on my KX 057-5.
No case drain hose to add and it mulches just fine up to about 6". Pine trees are easy of course compared to oaks.
Owned it over a year and it has already paid for it self several times.
Price is right for homeowner use too.
If you are going to mulch every day for a business spend the money on a drum mulcher with a case drain.

 

[Todd727]

I also have a Cimaf Cimaf DAH-066. Running it on a Yanmar SV-100. Great mulcher, expensive, but does a nice job and has a hydraulic door.

Cimaf was sold to Morbark and then Alamo bought Morbark. I've heard quality may have gone down. The former Cimaf people started up ShearEx and they seem to have the same quality as the original Denis Cimaf.

 

[Hay Dude]

As I do more research on mulchers, naturally I learn more and see more/other options.

Unfortunately for my bank account, I have now started looking at tracked skid loaders with mulcher heads. Sure, I know them well and rent one twice a year to do land clearing/mulching work for customers.

Now I am comparing a small mulcher mounted on my excavator to buying a tracked skid loader with a wider mulcher. I understand the differences, but there’s also another component to this.

Let’s say I invest much greater $ into a tracked skid loader/mulcher. Now I can bring my excavator along to pick up/stack/move logs or dig up stumps. I can get my farm tractor out of the woods and get rid of tire/cab damage. I can also remove the mulcher from the tracked skid loader and install a myriad of other handy attachments like bucket, bale spear, snowplow, etc.

It never ends….

 

[GrandpaSmurf825]

I have lot's of free time since I am on "house arrest". I had rotator cuff surgery January 13th so I can't drive. Physical therapy starts the 11th. Here are some links that might or might not be useful.

This one shows several dealers in your region.

Excavator Attachments | Diamond Mowers

Transform tough terrains with Diamond Mowers' Excavator Attachments. Clear brush, mulch trees, and shape land with precision and power. Shop online now.

diamondmowers.com

This one is mulchers only. Made in Canada. Shows some New York dealers.

Best Mini Excavator Forestry Mulcher, Mulching Head & Brush Cutters for Mini Excavators - Torrent Mulchers

Looking for the ultimate mulching solution? Torrent Mulchers offers exceptional brush cutter attachments designed to tackle the toughest jobs. Request a quote today!

www.torrentmulchers.com

This one also appears to have dealers in your region .

Excavator Drum Mulcher | Heavy Duty

Blue Diamond's Heavy Duty Drum Mulcher is the ideal excavator attachment to quickly clear land by mulching forestry material, such as trees and stumps.

www.bluediamondattachments.com

Excavator/Boom Mulching Head 3.5-10 Ton

Mulching head mounts on small excavators, backhoes, and booms while keeping Fecon’s durable design.

fecon.com

This is an Italian company. Dealer List wouldn't load for me.

Mulchers for Excavators

For mulching trees, branches and vegetation, exposed stumps, underbrush, bushes and agricultural debris.

www.fae-group.com

https://www.bobcat.com/na/en/equipment/excavators/compact-excavators/e88

Just some different options.

 

[Hay Dude]

I have explored a myriad of brands, prices & sizes of excavator mulchers. I have located a Loftness excavator mulcher that I think would suit me well.

Now I am re-thinking my strategy of a excavator mulcher to a tracked skid loader mulcher altogether.

One or the other is going to happen. One is much cheaper. The other more expensive option gives me a lot more versatility & capability.

 

[hayden]

I think there is a lot of advantage to having an excavator with bucket & thumb, plus a mulcher, both available at the same time. When clearing, I typically take two passes for just this reason.

The first pass is with bucket & thumb to clear large downed trees, knock down and pull out trees that are too big to efficiently mulch, stack logs, move/remove rocks, etc. Basically prepping the area for mulching.

Then the second pass is with the mulcher to finish clearing and grind stuff down. I have done this for quite a lot of pasture edges and opening up old overgrown woods roads.

With one machine, you need to be really deliberate about separating out the bucket work from the mulcher work since you will need to change attachments in between. But of set up right, changing them is pretty quick. It also means that only one person can be working at a time. That's fine for me because it's just me doing the work, but if you want to work with a helper, two separate machines will move faster working together. But it's also more equipment to move from place to place.

Another consideration is the difference between mulching with a track skid steer vs an excavator. The skid steer will probably be faster on even ground, but will be limited on road and pond banks, and very uneven terrain. The excavator will be able to do road banks and pond edges that a SS can't get to, and reach into areas where the SS can't go.

 

[Rustyiron]

Found a used Loftness 200 series 41” for $17,000 with low wear on it. Has spade and planer teeth.

His pins are 55MM and spacing is 12”. Same as mine, so that saves me building a mount for it which is nice.

View attachment 4830516

That ready to go coupler can be a substantial savings. That might just be your sign!
Never had a drum mulcher, only my disc. From my "research" they leave a pleasant, more park/mulch like setting over a disc.
In my case, with lots of rocks and doing forestry thinning the course woody material is the price of not wanting to engage the ground with the cutters.
YouTube is a pretty good "virtual demonstration" even if it's mounted on a SS/CTL. Just keep in mind that a big SS will probably have more hydraulic flow and pressure than most excavators.... which equals more HP.
I was figuring that you primarily would be beating back the woods creeping in on the fields and a courser (and faster) grind with a disk type mulcher that could also be tuned up a little with a simple HD rotary cutter behind a tractor after mulching. In my estimation a faster technique with lower equipment costs and upkeep.
I did buy a FAE "flail mulcher" (tractor 3pt/pto) with heavy cast hammers for further processing after my disc treatment. I just haven't had a chance to test it out yet.
This was NRCS work/grant on portions of my woodlands along with constructing several seasonal water crossings (fordings) and patch cuts for wildlife.

 

[WM75Guy]

As I do more research on mulchers, naturally I learn more and see more/other options.

Unfortunately for my bank account, I have now started looking at tracked skid loaders with mulcher heads. Sure, I know them well and rent one twice a year to do land clearing/mulching work for customers.

Now I am comparing a small mulcher mounted on my excavator to buying a tracked skid loader with a wider mulcher. I understand the differences, but there’s also another component to this.

Let’s say I invest much greater $ into a tracked skid loader/mulcher. Now I can bring my excavator along to pick up/stack/move logs or dig up stumps. I can get my farm tractor out of the woods and get rid of tire/cab damage. I can also remove the mulcher from the tracked skid loader and install a myriad of other handy attachments like bucket, bale spear, snowplow, etc.

It never ends….

CTLs are pretty handy. I have a project to clear out about 560' of fenceline along the back of my property, 20' on my side and 10' on the neighbor's side. I went with a JCB 270T CTL with the side door so I can get in and out easily. I can rent a forestry mulcher when I need to do the fenceline project. I also wanted something to move square bales with my Steffen 10-bale grapple. That way my WM75 that I use for mowing isn't tied up moving hay. The 270T should be here by next weekend, they have to install the backup camera and get the wiring harness connector so I can tie in the 3rd/4th function electric valve on the hay grapple. I also have a brush grapple and pallet forks that will fit it.

 

[Hay Dude]

This is what I am looking at. It’s a huge leap past an excavator mulcher, or even a large skid loader with a mulcher.
I don’t think it’ll happen, but the seller is practically throwing it at me. Lightly used & fairly low hours. It can be used for typical skid loader work, too. But with it’s massive weight and HP, it’s like a small bulldozer. I would use it for work other than mulching.

Just don’t know if I want to make this big a leap.
Lamtrac 6140. 140HP Cummins. 17,000lbs. 50GPM. 10mph

Like I said, it would be a big financial commitment. Really need to think this one over.

Excavator mulcher I found is $15K. That doesn’t scare me. The Lamtrac 6140….a little scary.

 

[anomad]

If you get the Lamtrac I'd like to rent it while you are in hay mode. Shipping would cost a small fortune, but man I could use that for a month or so.

 

[oldnslo]

I am envisioning about 1/2 the work needing something to “grind down” thick branches/small trees along field edges, then of course the typical saplings and brush in larger “area clearing”.

My machine has a 44GPM flow, but I have yet to be able to find the aux flow.
Aux hydraulic hoses layout.

View attachment 4830276

Have you been able to determine if the aux flow is a separate pump dedicated strictly for aux functions or does that pump supply other functions. If other functions do you know which ones they are?

Reason for asking is that will the cutter head lose flow when another function is operated.

 

[mikester]

As I do more research on mulchers, naturally I learn more and see more/other options.

Unfortunately for my bank account, I have now started looking at tracked skid loaders with mulcher heads. Sure, I know them well and rent one twice a year to do land clearing/mulching work for customers.

Now I am comparing a small mulcher mounted on my excavator to buying a tracked skid loader with a wider mulcher. I understand the differences, but there’s also another component to this.

Let’s say I invest much greater $ into a tracked skid loader/mulcher. Now I can bring my excavator along to pick up/stack/move logs or dig up stumps. I can get my farm tractor out of the woods and get rid of tire/cab damage. I can also remove the mulcher from the tracked skid loader and install a myriad of other handy attachments like bucket, bale spear, snowplow, etc.

It never ends….

Consider renting

I've rented 100+HP CTL drum mulchers and more recently an 8-10ton mini-x with a drum mulcher.

Most have been FAE drum mulchers.

The CTL mulchers are better if you plan on doing a lot of ground engagement for clearing shrubs, small trees, dead wood. The excavator mulcher does really well for long reach needs i.e. ditches, pruning branches up high along field edges.

If you are doing a lot of land clearing the CTL is better. For maintenance cleanup I'll keep renting the mini-x. I'd get a mini-x for trail work. I wouldn't go smaller than an 8T mini-x or 100+HP CTL. You absolutely need high flow if you want to be productive.

The equipment and mulcher heads get a LOT of abuse and wear and tear and require a lot of maintenance. You will have breakdowns. The benefit of renting is I get a late model machine, breakdowns are someone else's problem, and I can write off 100% of the rental costs in the year I rent.

I rent because I want the job done quickly and efficiently. I don't need another hobby fixing and maintaining more machinery.

 

[Hay Dude]

Consider renting

I already do. I rented twice this year to the tune of $10,000 which is considerably more than payments on a machine I would own.

I've rented 100+HP CTL drum mulchers and more recently an 8-10ton mini-x with a drum mulcher.

Most have been FAE drum mulchers.

Ours are almost all CAT 275’s or older 299’s with Caterpillar branded mulching heads.

The CTL mulchers are better if you plan on doing a lot of ground engagement for clearing shrubs, small trees, dead wood. The excavator mulcher does really well for long reach needs i.e. ditches, pruning branches up high along field edges.

Yes, I know, just rented one 3 weeks ago for a full week. I also have miles of field edges waiting to be done. That’s why I am leaning towards buying a mulcher for my excavator rather than a much more costly CTL.

If you are doing a lot of land clearing the CTL is better. For maintenance cleanup I'll keep renting the mini-x. I'd get a mini-x for trail work. I wouldn't go smaller than an 8T mini-x or 100+HP CTL. You absolutely need high flow if you want to be productive.

Yes, definitely. I have been renting to do this type of work for about 10 years now and the amount paid in rents equals a very nice machine. My excavator is likely to get the nod for a mulcher as it is much less expensive.

The equipment and mulcher heads get a LOT of abuse and wear and tear and require a lot of maintenance. You will have breakdowns. The benefit of renting is I get a late model machine, breakdowns are someone else's problem, and I can write off 100% of the rental costs in the year I rent.

I rent because I want the job done quickly and efficiently. I don't need another hobby fixing and maintaining more machinery.

Understand I am a farmer and have a LOT more experience than you fixing equipment already. It’s part of my life. I am not going to buy a worn-out POS, but not a new machine, either.

 

[Rustyiron]

I also have a Cimaf Cimaf DAH-066. Running it on a Yanmar SV-100. Great mulcher, expensive, but does a nice job and has a hydraulic door.

Cimaf was sold to Morbark and then Alamo bought Morbark. I've heard quality may have gone down. The former Cimaf people started up ShearEx and they seem to have the same quality as the original Denis Cimaf.

How do you like the Yanmar? I've been drooling over those and their incredible ground clearance. It's on my final 2 machines with the other being the Develon. Standard machine is loaded with stuff that's optional on others. They're just a little to "new" for me. That has disappointed me in the past with a Deere SS.

 

[Hay Dude]

Getting quote on new FAE mulcher for my Excavator.
Already have offer from seller for $15,000 on used Battle axe 200 series 41” unit delivered, but needs carbide blades (has planer blades).

 

[hayden]

You probably have a pretty good sense of the used muncher market at this time. If you started with the excavator muncher, and later decided to move up to a track steer, do you think you could sell the excavator mulched without too much trouble?

 

[Hay Dude]

You probably have a pretty good sense of the used muncher market at this time. If you started with the excavator muncher, and later decided to move up to a track steer, do you think you could sell the excavator mulched without too much trouble?

I would keep both since the excavator can reach so high. Perfect for hay field trees creeping in beyond field edges.
I wish I never saw that Lamtrac lol.

My “process” of doing this began with getting an excavator mulcher to do overhanging trees, but continue to rent a CTL for more wide spread work. Upon researching for a Excav mulcher, I began to get tempted on a CTL mulcher. Would like to end up with both someday in the near future.

 

[Rustyiron]

I wish I never saw that Lamtrac

You didn't mention the "practally giving it to me" price.
Now understanding that someone else here might be interested..... I'm not holding you to respond.

 

[Equatorial Malaise]

For anyone looking at the Rut products I can whole heartedly recommend them.

My place was clear cut about 4 years before I started work so I was mostly dealing with 4-5 foot pines and taller poplars. I got the Rut brush mower for my Hyundai 60cr-9 which is the most economical attachment they had. It far exceeded my expectations in performance and customer experience. That thing tore through acres of pines and even ate half rotten stumps.

I've got their auger being fabbed up right now. Nice thing about Rut is you give them your pin to pin measurements and they build the mount to suit. They also size the motor to your machines flow.

 

[Hay Dude]

So I ended up asking for quotes on Loftness and Baumalight.
Loftness retail is like 24k. Baumalight is allegedly less, but haven’t got actual dealer quotes back yet.

Amazing that these mulcher heads are close to what I paid for my used 9.5 ton excavator