Clearing land, stupid or crazy?

[Verticaltrx]

I've done a fair bit of land reclamation on different scales and there are some situations where a tractor is appropriate and some where it is not. Some pics of the land would be beneficial to help us really see what is involved.

If it is mostly underbrush a tractor and bush hog will do the job in fairly short order. Even if it is fairly dense you should be able to get it all cut in a few days with a 6' cutter and 40hp tractor. Realistically with a setup like this you are limited to trees 2-3" and smaller. When you get into larger stuff is when it really starts to take some time.

Having done a lot of this type of work myself, (300+ acres over the years), here is my recommendation for a tractor:

-4wd
-HST or power reverse
-open station (no cab)
-high breakout force on the loader
-more weight is better
-narrower buckets are better
-tooth bar is a must, 4n1 bucket or grapple are nice but not needed
-size of machine is limited only by your budget

Attachments:
-loader with tooth bucket
-heavy duty 5-7' bush hog
-backhoe if budget allows
-other loader attachment: tree puller/shearer, grapple, root rake, etc

With a backhoe you can dig out most any size tree within reason. With a loader the conditions can greatly limit how big of trees you can dig/push out. There are some situations where my little B3200 can get 10" trees out, whereas there are others that a 10" tree stops our M9540 in its tracks. If you have many trees in the 8-12" range that need to go the best two options are either hire an excavator or a track loader. A dozer can do the job, but the two aforementioned machines will do it faster and cleaner.

Hope some of this helps

 

[andyz171]

What size Bush Hog are you running on that L4240 as I'm leaning more towards it of the L3940.

 

[powerstroke444e]

I have cleaned up several small tracts of ground that were left untouched for 10 to 15 years with a B26tlb and a m5400 kubota. most was to big to mow so we grappled and backhoed most of it then disked and mowed to get it where we wanted it. I would get a grapple and get a heavy mower with slip clutch on it. I would guess a few weekends and you should have it done.

 

[BoFuller]

Interesting thread. If I had the time, I would go for it. If I didn't have the time to spare I'd probably buy a D5 or D6 and then sell it when done.

 

[catfishdaddyengineering]

Before I bought my tractor, I needed 10 acres cleared of 3-4 YO growth after clear-cutting from before we bought the land. The timber crew had left all the smaller pulp size laying where they were because of low pulp prices. Anyway, I got a mulcher to come in and clear it. Took him 24 work hours (3 days) and $3000. Best money that I ever spent! It looked like bags of mulch thrown out, except for a few bigger logs that I burned. I then bought my tractor and can handle brush cutting without tearing it up. I could have done it myself, but was super busy at work during that time. I just finished up an additional 5 acres with my tractor.

 

[andyz171]

This post is full of great info, but why no cab??? I have found an amazing deal on a 2010 Kubota L3940 4X4 HST with a cab, only 30hrs on motor. Thanks, Andy

I've done a fair bit of land reclamation on different scales and there are some situations where a tractor is appropriate and some where it is not. Some pics of the land would be beneficial to help us really see what is involved.

If it is mostly underbrush a tractor and bush hog will do the job in fairly short order. Even if it is fairly dense you should be able to get it all cut in a few days with a 6' cutter and 40hp tractor. Realistically with a setup like this you are limited to trees 2-3" and smaller. When you get into larger stuff is when it really starts to take some time.

Having done a lot of this type of work myself, (300+ acres over the years), here is my recommendation for a tractor:

-4wd
-HST or power reverse
-open station (no cab)
-high breakout force on the loader
-more weight is better
-narrower buckets are better
-tooth bar is a must, 4n1 bucket or grapple are nice but not needed
-size of machine is limited only by your budget

Attachments:
-loader with tooth bucket
-heavy duty 5-7' bush hog
-backhoe if budget allows
-other loader attachment: tree puller/shearer, grapple, root rake, etc

With a backhoe you can dig out most any size tree within reason. With a loader the conditions can greatly limit how big of trees you can dig/push out. There are some situations where my little B3200 can get 10" trees out, whereas there are others that a 10" tree stops our M9540 in its tracks. If you have many trees in the 8-12" range that need to go the best two options are either hire an excavator or a track loader. A dozer can do the job, but the two aforementioned machines will do it faster and cleaner.

Hope some of this helps

 

[Verticaltrx]

This post is full of great info, but why no cab??? I have found an amazing deal on a 2010 Kubota L3940 4X4 HST with a cab, only 30hrs on motor. Thanks, Andy

I've found that a cab on a tractor is more of a liability than benefit when working in the woods. You constantly have to watch what you are doing to keep from tearing the mirrors off, busting the glass out, crunching the fiberglass top, etc.

 

[plowindeeper]

I cleaned up 40 acres of 15 year old cutover with a 48hp took 3 months 1st had forest service come out and do a control burn cost $250 cleaned up underbrush so dozer could see what he was doing no playing in vines waited 2 months for a little rain to settle ash and for small trees to die out dozer(d-6) come and worked for 33 hours at $150 hr excavater 10 hours at $175 hour me and tractor both took a beating it was all worth it total cost from start to finish $18,000 beautiful geen pasture with oak trees scatered arround would have went with excavater only if I could have afforded it cleaner job on 8 acres I would burn it first if allowed in your area then deal with whats left it saved alot of work for me

I wanted to buy a dozer and then sell when done sooo glad i didn't they guy on dozer worked 1st six hours got stuck had to winch him self out 2 more hours later hose busted in belly of dozer caught fire cost him $18500 to fix 20 hours later top end of moter went down that dozer went to shop and he had to bring another to finish

 

[BoFuller]

This post is full of great info, but why no cab??? I have found an amazing deal on a 2010 Kubota L3940 4X4 HST with a cab, only 30hrs on motor. Thanks, Andy

I cut the lower branches off of about 15 trees around the site where I plan to build, to help prevent a rodent problem. Trying to get in under there with the back scraper was a mess just with the ROPS, I can't imagine what it would have been like with a cab. I don't think trees and cabs mix well.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Before I bought my tractor, I needed 10 acres cleared of 3-4 YO growth after clear-cutting from before we bought the land. The timber crew had left all the smaller pulp size laying where they were because of low pulp prices. Anyway, I got a mulcher to come in and clear it. Took him 24 work hours (3 days) and $3000. Best money that I ever spent! It looked like bags of mulch thrown out, except for a few bigger logs that I burned. I then bought my tractor and can handle brush cutting without tearing it up. I could have done it myself, but was super busy at work during that time. I just finished up an additional 5 acres with my tractor.

I agree.

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I have watched this very machine work and he really moves too. It leaves everything mulched if there is many trees and it is all cut below the surface.

This is the way I would go then use my own equipment to maintain.