3pt hitch mulcher

[musselmark]

How effective would this be on a TN75 4x4 tractor. I have 5 acres of spruce branches and stumps to deal with after having it clear cut.

TMG Industrial 55" 3-Point Hitch Forestry Brush Mulcher, Category 2 Hookup, PTO Driven, Driveline Shaft Included, 70-110 HP, TMG-TMB55

The TMG-TMB55 3-Point Hitch Forestry Brush Mulcher is a powerful 360° freelance tooth machine ready to tackle shrubs, saplings, matted grass and other tough vegetation on your land. Make laborious clearing projects simple and efficient by putting the harnessed power of your tractor to work. This...

tmgindustrial.ca

 

[dieselscout80]

Can you go slow enough in reverse to use it?

Per tractor data only two of the TN75 four transmission options go less than 1.5 MPH the Synchro Command Plus and dual command.

 

[musselmark]

16 forward and 16 reverse speeds. It will go very very slow, mine is a 2005 TN75 DA, "16-speed partially synchronized with power shuttle"

 

[2manyrocks]

Haven't used one, but my impression is that a HST transmission is preferred in order to be able to slow down to whatever is needed depending on what has to be mulched. The thickness of the material could vary enough that a fixed ground speed might be difficult to maintain.

I think the skid steer versions only mulch a few inches into the ground and can't get to the roots if that matters to you like for future plowing?

 

[dieselscout80]

16 forward and 16 reverse speeds. It will go very very slow, mine is a 2005 TN75 DA, "16-speed partially synchronized with power shuttle"

With that having .4 MPH and the power shuttle meaning you have a wet/hydraulic clutch, so damaging the clutch shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[dieselscout80]

Haven't used one, but my impression is that a HST transmission is preferred in order to be able to slow down to whatever is needed depending on what has to be mulched. The thickness of the material could vary enough that a fixed ground speed might be difficult to maintain.

I think the skid steer versions only mulch a few inches into the ground and can't get to the roots if that matters to you like for future plowing?

That mulcher has a 70HP minimum.

Not sure there are any 70 HP hydro transmission tractors anymore since IHC went out of business.

 

[rScotty]

16 forward and 16 reverse speeds. It will go very very slow, mine is a 2005 TN75 DA, "16-speed partially synchronized with power shuttle.

Well, you've got a nice tractor and the right transmission to run it. I wish I could say something constructive, but I've never run one of those or even seen one in use.

Questions I'd have is what is your ground like for rocks, and are they talking tractor HP or PTO hp?
And how are you going to deal with spruce stumps over 7"? Most of our spruce stumps here are much larger than that.

What are the other options? Rent an excavator or dozer? Forestry crew? How would any of those compare pricewise for 5 acres?

And what do you do with that implement when the job is done? It's not handy for much else.

rScotty

 

[musselmark]

I could hire someone to mulch it but they charge 500+ an hour. 2 days would pay to buy the mulcher. Yes most stumps are bigger than 7", more like 12-15. I can rent a D4 for 2 grand per week or a wheeled loader with root rake.

 

[2manyrocks]

12-15" seems like a lot for a 55" wide mulcher especially if you run into more than one at once and something more like a stump grinder that only deals with one stump at a time would be less likely to damage your tractor.

 

[rScotty]

12-15" seems like a lot for a 55" wide mulcher especially if you run into more than one at once and something more like a stump grinder that only deals with one stump at a time would be less likely to damage your tractor.

That's what I was thinking. It seems like there are two jobs here. One is branches and needles; the other is big stumps. There are ways to deal with either, but I doubt if one tool will do both.

But back up a minute...what size chips does that TMG leave? Is it adjustable for fineness?

Calling somethng "mulch" doesn't make it fertile. This is conifer chipping. The chips are going to be there for a long, log time. I've got conifer chip piles that are now 8 years old & still sterile. How are you going to deal with the chip piles? You can leave it on the ground of course, but it takes years before anything will grow in a an area covered with an inch of chipped pine/fir/spruce needles & branches. The chips have to be raked and removed it you are wanting to plant the ground...so you still end up with a pile of chips.

A common solution is to grapple/rake the branches into a pile before chipping them. A pile of chips is much easier to deal with chips distributed over several acres

Getting rid of conifer chips is a huge problem for Forest Services and fire mitigation projects. Conifer chips aren't very useful or desireable. At least not yet. Nice opportunity for some creative person, though. You may want to do some research on conifer chip piles.

rScotty

 

[musselmark]

I want to get most of it replanted with trees from dept of forestry. It is a mess now with up rooted stumps, brush/branches and hundreds of intact stumps. I have a grapple for the brush/branches but there's too many stumps in the way .

 

[mikester]

I highly recommend renting a 100HP CTL with a mulcher before you buy one for your tractor. Unless you really hate your tractor then buy one. Top up you life insurance if you go the tractor route.

I've been renting these machines in spring the past few years and they see a LOT of abuse. They will pick up a log on the ground and fire it like out of a cannon. Sometimes it will go 300 feet forward, sometimes it gets fired into your undercarriage. The CTL's I rent all have armoured steel underplating and a 1" thick bullet proof lexan windshields. Your tractor has nothing for undercarriage protection.

The other secret is to grind standing trees in place - easier than grinding them on the ground. You can't do that with your 3PH tractor. On the ground the trees can become projectiles and will easily wedge themselves into the grinding head stopping everything in a heart beat.

After renting and seeing how they operate I would never buy one of these heads for any machine I owned.

 

[mikester]

I could hire someone to mulch it but they charge 500+ an hour. 2 days would pay to buy the mulcher. Yes most stumps are bigger than 7", more like 12-15. I can rent a D4 for 2 grand per week or a wheeled loader with root rake.

I'm renting a 100HP CTL with Fecon head by the week, works out to CDN$120/hr not including fuel and operator time. I seem to average about 5 gallons per hour of fuel.

They are rated to grind up to 8". I would not recommend trying to grind larger. Get a 25-30 ton excavator and root rake.

 

[rScotty]

I want to get most of it replanted with trees from dept of forestry. It is a mess now with up rooted stumps, brush/branches and hundreds of intact stumps. I have a grapple for the brush/branches but there's too many stumps in the way .

Replanting sounds good. I'm guessing you are not going with conifers again (else why remove existing?) so if you amend the soil around the rootball of each replanted tree they should get enough of a start to not mind the chips. At least I've had success doing that in our sandy Rocky Mountain soil. I've also experimented with mixing dirt and/or sand to the chips to get surface plants to grow. Wild rasberries like a mixture of sand and chips, not much else does....

Conifer/needle chips are handy for covering areas where you don't want grass to grow, and they do keep the moisture in. They are often used by landscapers for both purposes.
rScotty

 

[rScotty]

I'm renting a 100HP CTL with Fecon head by the week, works out to CDN$120/hr not including fuel and operator time. I seem to average about 5 gallons per hour of fuel.

They are rated to grind up to 8". I would not recommend trying to grind larger. Get a 25-30 ton excavator and root rake.

After spending way too many hours digging out stumps with a backhoe, I don't think a backhoe is the right way to go. JD 310 at more hp and twice the weight of the M59 is no any faster at digging up stumps. My conclusion is a hoe OK for individual stumps in a backyard, not for a whole lot of stumps in a field. Have not tried an excavator. When I do, it will be one large enough to remove the stump, not just dig around it.

A local guy who cleared some pine/fir forested acres used his Case 580 hoe to dig behind each tree and then pushed the tree over - causing the root ball to pop out of the ground. When it works, it's awesome.