Building a "Brush Hauler"

[have_blue]

What's a brush hauler? Dunno, never heard of one!

All seriousness aside, I need a very low wagon to haul brush. I trim my fence rows 1-2 times a year, and have the darndest time hauling and piling up the brush.

What does everyone use to haul brush? I don't have a flatbed trailer, and don't see buying or building one. I scratched up my truck hauling limbs, and for a while I piled it up on my 6' bush hog. Both were slow and laborious.

I was thinking of building something say 6'X8' or a little bigger. Real low to the ground, maybe using 4 cheap 10" caster wheels from HF. Weld the frame from 2" square tubing, with some smaller cross bracing. Maybe make the bed to fit 1-1/2 sheets of plywood, or most likely no plywood at all. It would most likely be pulled with the drawbar.

Maybe dump the brush by tipping it up sideways with the front loader.

I can see it being handy for a few other things too, but not hauling bricks.

Ideas appreciated!

 

[EdK]

I use just forks. I find I can fit quite a bit on them.

For extra capacity I once attached a 10' chain to the lower portion of the rear guard and stretched it out on the ground about 6-5' beyond my 4' forks. After building a large pile of brush, I attached a come-a-long to the top of the fork guard and to the chain. Tightened that sucker up and got easily triple the load.

Normally I just use the plain forks as the load is pretty big and I don't have too far to drive with it.

 

[workinallthetime]

guess it depends on how far you are hauling them, i just stack all the butts the same way and hook a chain up and drag em off. I use a small chain because it grabs better and hook it up to choke the pile while pullin.

 

[RollTideRam]

The best method I have is my grapple. Just lay all limbs in the same direction and start the tractor. I should have took some pics, I just did all the cedar trees along the driveway Monday. JC

 

[studor]

I have brackets welded inside my FEL that I can stick 2x6's in (or metal). Put the bucket down -- stack the brush on a pair of 8 foot 2x6, lift, drive to the burn pile, dump, repeat as required You can stack a lot of brush on that area (4 x 8 ft) because it does not weigh that much. I have used a carryall framed platform but it does not work as well IMHO -- except to see where you are going

 

[Kernopelli]

guess it depends on how far you are hauling them, i just stack all the butts the same way and hook a chain up and drag em off. I use a small chain because it grabs better and hook it up to choke the pile while pullin.

Ditto here. I have hauled some huge bundles of limbs this way.

 

[RobJ]

Ditto here. I have hauled some huge bundles of limbs this way.

Same here, use the atv a lot of the time. 30' chain laid flat, pile into the chain near the atv, then double the chain over and hook it up(its not choked). Pull the load to the drop off point, unhook the chain and pull it out. Keeps the chain clean!!

If I have some problem stuff I may use a 50' cable and choke the load. I find this is harder to unhook because the choker will embed itself into the pile.

Cheap and easy.

 

[jmc]

Lately, a root grapple. You can roll the glob of brush a little to compact it before grabbing it with the grapple to get 2 or 3 times as much in one load as you would think possible. Depends on the size and type of brush though.

Before the grapple, as I trimmed the fence row, I'd line the cut limbs up in a row, side by side, then come along with the FEL and push the whole bunch to their grave. After a while, the pile would roll and several limbs would duck under the FEL so you had to back up a few feet and start again. No big deal.

John

 

[simplicityguy92]

if you can find a small pickup thats d.o.t.ed but still runs get it
i haul brush all the time with mine
unloading is real easy just back up real fast and slam on the breaks.

 

[workinallthetime]

here is another trick im sure alot of you know, when im loading brush on my 18 foot trailer i lay a chain down first, then bind it with that chain to haul it. when i get to the dump site i hook the chain to a tractor or a tree and pull off, ths pulls all the brush off the trailer and off i go

 

[SkunkWerX]

Forks on the bucket, that is a good way to do it.

Another would be to lay two pieces of chain, or strap on the ground.
Pile the brush on top of them, then cinch them around the pile and hook to a chain on your FEL.

Unless you have a 2nd tow vehicle, the problem with the trailer is having to unhook it from the tractor, then hook up again when it's time to roll.

You said Fence Line? How long is the fence line?

I picture using FEL forks, driving along the fence line, stopping to cut, piling on the forks, and continuing along. If you have a carry-all attachment for the 3Pt hitch, you can keep saws and pruners back there.

 

[have_blue]

You said Fence Line? How long is the fence line?

I picture using FEL forks, driving along the fence line, stopping to cut, piling on the forks, and continuing along. If you have a carry-all attachment for the 3Pt hitch, you can keep saws and pruners back there.

Yes, I get the picture too. I have about 1/2 mile of fence line. Sometimes it's a long way to the nearest brush pile, that's why I was thinking about something that would carry a big pile of brush. My bush hog was 6' wide and ~7' long, and I could carry a surprisingly big stack on it, but the frame and driveshaft got in the way. That's why I was thinking something just a couple of feet bigger would carry a huge pile, and be easy to load and unload. Something like a grapple would take forever, because I would spend all my time traveling. A huge fork could possibly get me a fair amount of brush per trip, and nothing could be easier to dump. Maybe take some 2" square tubing and angle the ends sharp. The forks would be even easier to store than the flat foldable wagon I had in mind. Now you guys have me thinking, and that can be dangerous.

 

[EddieWalker]

Bob,

I've been thinking about something to do the this too. My full sized, one yard FEL fills up too quckly and it's a workout climbing up and down it over and over again to pick up the branches that I want in the burn pile. I have a wagon that I pull behind the four wheeler, but that fills up too fast too.

I'm thinking about a dump trailer that I can build and haul around with either the four wheeler or my small tractor. I prefer the fourwheeler since I won't have to remove an implement in order to do clean up. That means an electric lift of some kind. Since this is still just in the dreaming stages of my mind, I'm thinking side dump.

If I build it based on a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 inch plywood for the bottom and three fixed sides, the amount of lift to dump the load would be very minimal. With the load being sticks, I don't expect the load to be very significant either, so an electric lift should work real good.

Eddie

 

[patrick_g]

I have over 3 miles of fence and am still putting up more. I like to load brush onto my util trailer with the pallet forks on the tractor. I like to place a rope or chain or both on the bed before loading. leave plenty of slack up front and in back. Then when it is time to unload you tie the rope/chain to fixed object and drive away. Alternatively you can use the tractor to drag it off by the rope/chain. If you pull the trailer with the tractor it only takes one person to do it all.

Then if the brush isn't where you want it, use the tractor/pallet forks to move it the last bit. Be careful as it is not impossible to shove a stick through your radiator when shoving on brush, I did.

I now have a dump trailer too. I think that to use it I would have to cut up the debris so it will fit in the dump bed easier. The bed is 7x12x 2 feet deep. brush does not compact very easily and I don't want to have to cut it up like firewood so I haven't used the dump on brush yet but I may.

Pat

 

[rcrcomputing]

1977 gmc dually with a 12' flat dump bed. Works nice. I have way to much money in this old thing though.

 

[meadowlarkponds]

Hey Bob,

I like the dump trailor for this job...used it extensively on a land clearing project and after finishing the project, have found lots of other uses for it.


How's your pond and fish (Pacu) doing?

 

[Renze]

A squeezing clamp on a front loader would hold as much brush as my 6 meter hay wagon - Last month i finished the hay wagon, the brush clamp is planned for next winter.

 

[TDVT]

Sometimes we burn ours but usually haul it about 4 mi where there's a guy that grinds wood chips with a HUGE machine & he welcomes all sorts of brush, logs or untreated lumber scraps. The eternal brush pile I guess.

Anyway, I haul the stuff on my 5 X 10 landscape trailer. I will hold quite a bit & it has only foot high sides (railing) If I were to extend them like a stake body I'm sure it would hold quite a bit more. As someone already noted it's bulk not weight. I load it butt ends to the back & it's also much quicker to unload than you might think. Occasionally I'll pull the whole pile off at once with a chain but usually don't bother.

I was thinking of building another, a little narrower for the woods & without the PT deck. Just some cross rails & high stake sides.

 

[SkunkWerX]

The other answer is get a PTO Chipper and instead of hauling,
chip them in place as they are cut.

You could get a fair amount of chips into a 4x8 trailer (like Eddie was talking about) towed behind the chipper.


Otherwise, a flatbed trailer with open stakes [sticking up vertically] would probably do the trick, like they haul timber with on 18 wheelers.

Once it's full and ready to off-load, you could remove the stakes (uprights) and push the pile of brush off the flatbed with the FEL.


.

 

[workinallthetime]

something like this, modified w/ verticle risers to haul more brush
Country ATV, heavy duty ATV wagons for off-road use.

pretty cheep considering what it would take to build a small trailer, also craigs list around here has beat up old trailers everyday, they can be had from 100.00 to 3000.00. at least you could get your rolling hardware that way and modify as needed