3 weeks and still in one piece

[Hebbster]

Well, I've had my new L3130 for about 3 weeks and I've got 37 hrs on her already. Graded the driveway (twice). Once when it was dry and afterwards the dust was unbearable. I waited for a rain, graded it again and rolled it down with the truck. Now it's just like pavement.

Now I'm busy creating my wife's worst nightmare. She's very attached to trees, even dead ones. I've cleared about 1/2 acre of almost dead fir and to me it looks much better. I can see into the future when the brush is gone, stumps pulled and lawn mowed. She however, can't see past the brush piles and I'm starting to get calluses on my ears. Wait 'till I get 20 acres cleared.

I've attached a picture of the tractor with some of the mess in the background. I'm pushing the brush into piles with the loader. Not the best tool, but with a little patience it sure beats dragging it all by hand. It'll get 90% of it. I bet a tooth bar would be the ticket.

I've skidded out about 7 chord of wood from what I've cleared. The largest was a spruce log about 24" at the butt and 30' long and was no problem at all. I won't be removing any trees larger than that, so it should handle any skidding that I need to do.

 

[GerardC]

Glad to hear your enjoying your machine. I'm sure your wife will appreciate your efforts once all is said and done /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif. G

 

[KiotiJohn]

Hebbster, you're right. The toothbar will make a huge difference in being able to load up the bucket with that kind of brush material. I've sure been more than happy to have mine, as most of the time I don't have to get off the tractor anymore to load the bucket with leaves/twigs/limbs etc. all mixed. Before the TB, the loader mostly just pushed them out of the way while culing. Now the TB grabs and holds. Good luck with that big job. You have a great outfit for getting it all done. John
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[jinman]

Hebbster, do you have a boxblade? By using the boxblade as a reverse pusher and a toothbar on your loader, you can do amazing things with brush piles. Of course, stumps play havoc with the FEL or boxblade, so if you have lots of them, you just have to "suffer" through it or dig them out.

A small set of clamp-on forks can also be a great addition for working with brush. Slide them under a pile and you can lift and carry with ease. Sorry! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I guess I've just spent about $600 of your money. I'm good at that. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Good luck with your project. The "mess" in the background looks like normal clearing and cleanup to me.