Rake Can a Root Rake be used to Clear Land?

[coolray112]

I am looking at a 84" Root Rake that is Installed instead of my Bucket for my Tractor for Clearing 3"-4" Pine Trees. This Item is Listed for about $1,800. I Know it will be Less Effective than a Bull Dozer with a Root Rake, But I can take it Slow and I enjoy spending my Time on my Property. It is listed at the Rakeshop.com I have a 72hp Kubota 4x4 with Weights on my Wells. Does anyone have any info on how Stout this Item is? I have about 30 Acres to finish Clearing. I have Cows and Goats on the on this Property trying to thin it out for me. I have Killed 1 Bush hog trying to Clear this land. I have Hired some Work out and it has Averaged, $1,250 a acre for Track hoe and Dozer pushing everything in a pile for 15 Acres. I have Also Tried the Grinder and Skid Steer that I知 Highly Displeased with being that they averaged $2,800 per Acre for 3 Acres and it has Left me with a Mess to push up and Nothing will grow until the Chips are Moved. I have Also bought a 75 model Ford 4000 Backhoe, (It works Great for Removing Old Stumps) But it is Very Time Consuming, I average about 1/3 Acre for 8-9 hours running time. I know the Rake will pay itself off just in the Burn Piles that I have Burning. I'm looking about clearing 1 Acre a Day if it Possible. I have No Rocks in my Area where I live in North Louisiana, just Red Dirt. Any Info on this will be appreciated. I have attached a Photo of the Root Rake. Thanks. :confused3:

 

[HCJtractor]

I have the same size tractor and a similar but narrower grapple. I use it to clear land also. Those trees are pretty big. Problem I have with pines is they are so flexible they are hard to uproot. My opinion is you're expecting a lot of this setup. But maybe I'm wrong and I think the root rake will be very useful even if it doesn't do all you hope. But hey, if it was me , I'd give it a try. I'll be interested to see how it works. But I don't see it being able to just push over and uproot swaths of trees like a dozer can. Trees that big require me to tackle individually

 

[coolray112]

Yeah, I'm not Expecting the same Result as a Bull Dozer being that I dont have the Traction (HP to Ground Ratio). A Dozer can Push Until you have a Pile to big to Climb over. I'm thinking this will be short 20'-30' Max Runs and then having to clean around and come behind the the Oraginal Pile. And this will be a little lighter than a Dozer set up being that it will be attached to the Front end Loader. I can up root the Pines with my Bucket, but I also get loads of Dirt in my Burn Pile. I think that will work for most of my needs, and it will be well worth the $$$. If I can use this to Clean at 1/4 rate of a Bull Dozer just on the Smaller Trees, it will Save me Alot of $$$ and save me some time of Being on my Backhoe.

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

You probably can but go slow would consider putting a clamp on root rake aka making it a grapple would be real handy pile stuff up to burn less dirt in pile.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I used to push over 6" pine trees with my 50 HP Yanmar 4220 and FEL. With your larger tractor and the root rake, you should have no problem at all with 4" trees. If may take some digging and lifting or perhaps putting the root rake high up on the tree to push it over (that is how I did it with my FEL) but it should go. It works best in wet soil so the roots come out easier.

 

[Gary Fowler]

OH and if you don't succeed from one direction, try the other side. Sometimes they are hard to push in one direction but flip sides and the come right out. Around my place the roots seem to grow toward the North more so than the South so pushing from the south side will push them over easier.

 

[Deerherd]

I agree with Rocky that having a grapple would make things much easier to transport brush/trees to your piles. I find the tines on the rake you posted interesting in that maybe the curve helps with trying to pop things out of the ground?

I have the W.R. Long root grapple that has worked great for me, but have not fed it a steady diet of 3-4" pines. The lower tines are shorter and have spade points with replaceable teeth. It has a cross bar that limits its digging depth to 12-14 inches.

I also have a stump bucket from Titan that works real well popping on those smaller pines. The size you describe are a one shot deal. I posted a video on TBN digging out a 12" pine stump a little while ago, a search for Titan stump bucket should turn it up if you are interested.

When clearing up an area I use the stump bucket first on the bigger trees and clean up with the root rake, it's been a great combination. The stump bucket will also easily carry whatever tree/stump you dig up, but it also carries a lot of dirt. I usually drop it where I dig it up and roll it around with the grapple to knock off most of the soil.

The downside to these attachments is you need a pretty substantial tractor, which you seem to have covered. Good luck!

 

[HCJtractor]

Good to know that Gary. I never knew that. I agree that pushing trees down is not a problem. But often I have to "dig" them with my tines, one at a time. Some pines are limber, and when I push, they just bend over. Then I have to then use my tines to dig and uproot. That is the function that the rake style he is considering won't do, and that is the function I do the most when clearing. And there are many posts debating the narrow grapple vs. the wide one. I'm firmly in the narrow is better camp when used for digging and uprooting. My concern is his acreage, as that could be zillions of trees. Guess it depends on how thick they are. I would also hesitate to buy that type of "rake". I've never used that style but have tons of experience with my narrower grapple with a thumb. I think one with a thumb would be more effective moving the debris he is going to create. With that rake style he would be limited to pushing piles rather than carrying debris to pile sites, and the second most common use for mine is picking up debris and carrying to piles. But just my thoughts

 

[HCJtractor]

Here's what I use

 

[HCJtractor]

One other thought from my experience. No matter what style you get, make sure you protect your grill and radiator. When using your tractor in a wanna be bull dozer mode, limbs and trees can easily get past the tines and damage you'd front end. I learned this the hard way. I would advise making a guard to prevent this.

Also this type of work is really hard on the clutch.

 

[murphy1244]

This is what I use Error

 

[murphy1244]

Here's some more, notice the mesh on the rear of the grapple. This was made at Michigan Iron.

 

[rd_macgregor]

You probably have twice the horsepower of my Kioti DK45, but I suspect that traction will be the limiting factor, especially with 84" engaged.
I have an old field grown up in spruces and have been picking away at it for the last few years. Most of these trees are now just over the size I feel comfortable mowing with the brush cutter, 3"-6"dia, but they uproot fairly easily. I've recently thought about just cutting them all off flush and letting the stumps rot away (only takes a few years here). I intend to mow the field, but don't have plans to cultivate it, so might be able to get away with this approach (and it would leave the ground a bit smoother than uprooting all the trees).
What use did you intend for your land once it is cleared?

 

[Xfaxman]

The advantage of a stump bucket is it puts all of the pushing force on one tree.

Cut some roots.


Pushed it over.


An 84" root rake might work if the pine trees aren't too close together

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would think the design the OP posted would work great. With the curvature, it looks like the tines would be digging in and the top pushing over at the same time, a great combination.

 

[Deerherd]

The extra 24" on the bigger grapple doesn't make much of a difference in my experience. I had the same grapple that Murphy has and it was nice on my DK, but I can tear up more by accident on my current tractor than I could on purpose with the Kioti. With AG tires and almost three times the weight and horsepower, it's a huge difference. The Kioti was nice though......

 

[AaronS]

Txdon has a grapple from the same company with the same teeth design. The OP might want to send him a message to ask about his experiences.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I can tear up more by accident on my current tractor than I could on purpose with the Kioti. With AG tires and almost three times the weight and horsepower, it's a huge difference.
View attachment 391890

I can attest to that BTDT a lot. I hooked on to a 10-12" diameter pine tree with my disk once when moving forward to pick up some limbs and pulled the whole tree down. Bent the axle on my disk but never even strained the engine on the LS and I was just idling forward at direction of my ground man.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I agree that 84" is a lot of width to push with. Having something that wide and pushing with one side of it runs the risk of exerting too much twisting force on the loader arms and bending or breaking something on the loader.

Since you have the backhoe, how about digging up some of the roots on a few trees and then going in with a root grapple and pushing them over and hauling them off? That's what I'm doing on my place. I use the little Kubota backhoe with a ripper tooth to cut through the roots, which makes it easier to push them over with my stump grapple. And I then haul them off with the grapple.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

What about tractor protection? A solid back would help roots and branches going through the rad