Best way to get rid of 1 to 5 inch diameter inch trees to clear access road?

[woodlandfarms]

So I have a BUNCH of trees I am clearing off of 40 acres. They are primarily alders, ranging from 1" to 20" calipers. On the 1 to 4" calipers I honestly just push them over. Your 1460 should do the job easy. Secondly I would consider pulling them out, altough with the 1460 you can get pretty high with the bucket. The pickle fork idea is also a good one.

 

[tigers2007]

+1 for the Piranha bar. I ripped more crap out of the ground with that then any other shrub ripper invention. You save so much more time by keeping your butt in the tractor seat. Before I had the bar my neighbor and I would switch roles with the chain style shrub ripper and it was quite physical. That piranha bar is bulletproof.

 

[EddieWalker]

Wait until spring, after most of the rains have happened and the soil is soft. Around here in East Texas, April and May are ideal months for soft soil. Then you should be able to push them over with our front bucket. Here, when the soil is soft, I can push over 12 to 18 inch pines without too much effort, but a month earlier, I just spin my tires, and a month later and they wont budge.

 

[PILOON]

I'd get a spare quick attach plate from PT, go to a used forklift seller (they are out there) and buy 1 heavy fork. Weld it to the quick attach plate. Push the fork under the ground and pop the trees out. I do that with 2" trees all the time with my little PT425 and PT's pallet forks. Don't pry with the end of the fork or you'll bend it. Drive it all the way in to the hilt then use curl and dump to pry. Should be a cheap attachment to build. QA plate is $350. Fork shouldn't be but that much. Welding is cheap. Your machine has ridiculous hydraulic power. Go slow.

I do a similar operation however I made me a clamp on HD pin using an old truck axle as my 'tooth'.
Made it about 16 inches long with a ground down tapered tip.

My method is to slightly tilt my bucket and drive the 'pin' under the root ball.
Next I curl the FEL bucket and usually the root ball pops free.
Since the root ball is plucked it generally comes relatively soil free.

Now my method is only valid for smaller saplings.

For more mature saplings/small trees I use the 'tooth' to loosen soil around the base and resort to a cable/chain attached higher up and pull it over.
My preferred is my 3/4" poly rope since it acts like a HD bungee cord.

Most difficult trees are the hardwoods that develop a tap root and that's where you learn new tricks.

 

[PowerTracManiac]

WOW! Really appreciate all the great suggestions!
I am going to try the grubber and chain idea with a helper to start. Just bought the grubber HD at northern tool. So I can at least get started this weekend.
The piranha bar idea looks good and the pickle fork idea is quite interesting and would prolly very effective but it would take alot of time for me to get that up and running.
For a quick piranha bar what do you think about just cutting a few 1 to 2 inch v grooves in the bucket leading edge with a grinder and sharpening them?
Then I could line up the sapling with the cut out v groove, drive up and pinch the tree in v of the leading edge of the bucket and just rip the saplings out by driving forward while tilting the bucket up?
There are quite a few of these 1 to 4 inch saplings but they are spread apart enough that I have room enough to attack 1 at a time.

 

[PILOON]

WOW! Really appreciate all the great suggestions!
I am going to try the grubber and chain idea with a helper to start. Just bought the grubber HD at northern tool. So I can at least get started this weekend.
The piranha bar idea looks good and the pickle fork idea is quite interesting and would prolly very effective but it would take alot of time for me to get that up and running.
For a quick piranha bar what do you think about just cutting a few 1 to 2 inch v grooves in the bucket leading edge with a grinder and sharpening them?
Then I could line up the sapling with the cut out v groove, drive up and pinch the tree in v of the leading edge of the bucket and just rip the saplings out by driving forward while tilting the bucket up?
There are quite a few of these 1 to 4 inch saplings but they are spread apart enough that I have room enough to attack 1 at a time.

I would think it would weaken your bucket edge to the point of causing damage.
However a clamp on tooth bar (while somewhat less effective) would greatly improve your attack as the teeth would penetrate.
I'd add that back dragging with a tooth bar (Clamp on type) is great for clearing the smaller stuff as well as rough grading.
Simply amazing as to all the weeds and saplings that you can 'rake' by back dragging.

 

[MossRoad]

WOW! Really appreciate all the great suggestions!
I am going to try the grubber and chain idea with a helper to start. Just bought the grubber HD at northern tool. So I can at least get started this weekend.
The piranha bar idea looks good and the pickle fork idea is quite interesting and would prolly very effective but it would take alot of time for me to get that up and running.
For a quick piranha bar what do you think about just cutting a few 1 to 2 inch v grooves in the bucket leading edge with a grinder and sharpening them?
Then I could line up the sapling with the cut out v groove, drive up and pinch the tree in v of the leading edge of the bucket and just rip the saplings out by driving forward while tilting the bucket up?
There are quite a few of these 1 to 4 inch saplings but they are spread apart enough that I have room enough to attack 1 at a time.

I wouldn't cut any notches in the leading edge of the bucket. You'll regret it later because it'll stick rocks and roots and stuff in there when you don't want it to, and it could weaken the bucket. Heck, you can bend the bucket without notching with enough force. Before our PT, I had an IH2500b tractor loader with oversized lift cylinders. I could drive up to 10" diameter trees, put the bucket up against the tree about 8' off the ground, start pushing down and pretty much drive the trees over. Then I'd reach under the rootball and attempt to pop them out of the ground. After a few hundred trees, I bent the bucket over time, and had to cut it, heat it, pound it flat, and weld on new cutting edge.

I'm fairly certain your machine will have enough oomph to push over 4" trees with your bucket, then pop them out of the ground. If I can do 2" trees with the PT425 @ 1500# you should have no issue with the PT1460. How much does that thing weigh?

 

[PowerTracManiac]

5600 pounds is what they put in the info I read?
I'll report back after I play with it and see what it can do.

 

[MossRoad]

Take it easy and go slow. I'll bet it has plenty of power to push them down, then dig the roots out. Also depends on the tree species. I have thousands of locust trees in sand. While that old IH2500b could knock them right down, when I'd go to pop the root balls, the area about 15-20' around the tree would lift up our of the ground like 2" thick spider web of roots! Sometimes dozens of roots. Tough as vines. Couldn't cut them with the bucket. Had to saw most of them and use loppers on the smaller ones.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

When I had my acreage I had small alders, cedars, firs, and etc all over the place. Up to 3-4" depending on ground wetness I just pushed them over with my BX. One push several feet up depending on size, next get under the exposed root and push right into your pile. made nice bonfires. Sometimes did several 1-2" at a time. No need for expensive rental equipment.

Ron