clearing land

[EddieWalker]

A dozer is just about the worse machine there is for clearing land. If the ground is soft enough, you can get quite a few small to mid sized trees down with it, but you will also break some off and leave stumps. While that's kind of fun and you can be fairly productive, the mess you create is a nightmare. Once they are down, getting them to the burn pile becomes the problem I have a rake on my dozer and it works alright for short distances, but you still get quite a bit of dirt in your burn piles. My 170 hp, 40,000 pound Case 1550 burns about 30 to 40 gallons in a full day of operating, and depending on what I'm clearing and how far I have to move it, I can get an acre thick with trees cleared up in a week, then a few days of burning, and then another full day or two of cleaning up the burn pile. Two weeks of work per acre is pretty good if you don't break down and the weather holds.

I also have a New Holland 555E full sized backhoe with a grapple on it instead of the front bucket. This is much faster at getting bigger trees down and cleaner at taking down the smaller trees. You don't tangle them all up with the backhoe, and the grapple allows you to pick up most of the trees and carry them to the burn pile. It's easy to stop once so many are on the ground, then clean up the area, and go back to taking out trees. The burn pile burns a lot better and you have less to clean up after it's done. I've found that I can clear the same about of area with the backhoe as I can with my dozer in half the time.

If I had the money, I would get a 16 to 20 tonne excavator with a thumb to take out trees, and a front end loader with a grapple to get them to the burn pile. But that would also take two people working together. Doing it by yourself, the backhoe is about as good as it gets.

Eddie

 

[rustyshakelford]

A dozer is just about the worse machine there is for clearing land. If the ground is soft enough, you can get quite a few small to mid sized trees down with it, but you will also break some off and leave stumps. While that's kind of fun and you can be fairly productive, the mess you create is a nightmare. Once they are down, getting them to the burn pile becomes the problem I have a rake on my dozer and it works alright for short distances, but you still get quite a bit of dirt in your burn piles. My 170 hp, 40,000 pound Case 1550 burns about 30 to 40 gallons in a full day of operating, and depending on what I'm clearing and how far I have to move it, I can get an acre thick with trees cleared up in a week, then a few days of burning, and then another full day or two of cleaning up the burn pile. Two weeks of work per acre is pretty good if you don't break down and the weather holds.

I also have a New Holland 555E full sized backhoe with a grapple on it instead of the front bucket. This is much faster at getting bigger trees down and cleaner at taking down the smaller trees. You don't tangle them all up with the backhoe, and the grapple allows you to pick up most of the trees and carry them to the burn pile. It's easy to stop once so many are on the ground, then clean up the area, and go back to taking out trees. The burn pile burns a lot better and you have less to clean up after it's done. I've found that I can clear the same about of area with the backhoe as I can with my dozer in half the time.

If I had the money, I would get a 16 to 20 tonne excavator with a thumb to take out trees, and a front end loader with a grapple to get them to the burn pile. But that would also take two people working together. Doing it by yourself, the backhoe is about as good as it gets.

Eddie

Eddie

Normally I agree with you on things but not this time. I can underbrush 1-2 acres a day and burn it as I go. Digging the trees and shoving in to a pile takes maybe another day if using a hoe. You have such a large dozer it's more prone to breaking them off. If you cut the roots before shoving it might work better. With a smaller tractor, 15-20k machine it doesn't have the grunt to snap them off so your forced to cut roots and work around a little more. With a dozer I can leave the ground looking nice and ready to go without a big mess. If I'm cutting logs to sell it will take some more time to measure, cut, buck, limb and stack.

On a large scale project like 300+ acres, a hoe would take forever. Like I said earlier,have it logged and but a big dozer with a kg or v blade look shearhead mentioned. Get it pushes up in piles to burn, sell the Dozer when done

On raking, you can spend the same if not more time raking than you do clearing. Very tedious

Brett

 

[ShearHeadMS]

I think I did pretty good, job totaled 3 acres and I had it done in a day and a half

 

[rustyshakelford]

I think I did pretty good, job totaled 3 acres and I had it done in a day and a half

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Have you ever come across a good precleaner for a deere. The case's have a great one and keep the air filter cleaner longer. I'm having to clean out the filter 1-2 times a day on the 450j. Granted it is terribly dry and dusty but its rediculous.

Brett

 

[GreensForestryMulching]

Have you ever come across a good precleaner for a deere. The case's have a great one and keep the air filter cleaner longer. I'm having to clean out the filter 1-2 times a day on the 450j. Granted it is terribly dry and dusty but its rediculous.

Brett

Donolson Power Cores are pretty impressive filter set ups if you wanna change up your factory design. I swear ive knocked over 5lbs of dust out of one before that was still not pulling a filter minder closed.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Donolson Power Cores are pretty impressive filter set ups if you wanna change up your factory design. I swear ive knocked over 5lbs of dust out of one before that was still not pulling a filter minder closed.

Is that the one that has the clear bowl and you just knock the dust out if it every so often? Those work great and keep the filters cleaner alot longer..

Brett

 

[ck21084]

This maybe off topic and complete non since but how long would it take in theory to bush hog a section with a 15 ft rotary cutter? Is this something that would require you to start over when you finished? I just can't fathom how you would manage this much land.

 

[ShearHeadMS]

With my 120HP Massy I can cut plenty in one day, I cut 55 acres a day with a 95HP kubota with a 9 foot krone mower. A 15ft bush hog is a little much, I wouldn't dare pull it with one of mine except the 180HP JD I got. It really depends on your grass and how much rain you get if you need to start over when finished, but it's never a endless loop

 

[Coyote machine]

Call me ignorant, but what is a "half section"? Is that a technical measurement? Otherwise how much land are we talking?

320 Acres. A full section is one square mile, 5,280'L x 5,280'W

 

[Bison]

This maybe off topic and complete non since but how long would it take in theory to bush hog a section with a 15 ft rotary cutter? Is this something that would require you to start over when you finished? I just can't fathom how you would manage this much land.

Not much to it,...5 long days with a 100 hp tractor and 14' haybine.
Why one would use a bush hog to cut hay is beyond me

 

[Bison]

I found a 77 komatsu D75S-3 track loader crawler(size of a D7 cat) with a 3 yard bucket with a heavy grapple but don't know a thing about these things,.. what bad to watch out for when i go look at it?. It has powershift transmission ,weighs 48.000 lb and can lift 30.000 lb with the loader and seems to have enough grunt with 200 hp
I wonder how these machines would perform pushing and piling trees, i would almost say they would be more versatile than a straight dozer.
I know one of you advised to stick with cat but this thing is decent priced at 15 grand and only 300 ml away

What say you?

 

[rustyshakelford]

I'm not familiar with that machine. Check out

Heavy Equipment Forums and ask your question there. There is a great bunch of very knowledgable guys over there.

Brett

 

[EddieWalker]

Never had or ran anything Komatsu, but I see a lot of them around. The most important thing about any machine is being able to get parts for it. Is there a dealer close to you? Are they helpful? Do parts still exist for it?

Eddie

 

[ShearHeadMS]

The kamatsu should be fine, and it should handle anything you want. Main thing is how is the tracks!?

 

[Bison]

The kamatsu should be fine, and it should handle anything you want. Main thing is how is the tracks!?

Found out this morning,...Only 30% left

 

[ShearHeadMS]

Don't even look at it agai! Save yourself the heartache!

 

[redprospector]

30% left means that the tracks will be off 70% of the time.

Andy

 

[redprospector]

Woops, double post.

Andy

 

[Todd727]

30% could be years of service depending on what you are planning on using it for.

 

[ShearHeadMS]

Todd has a point, I'm so use to throwing newer tracks on everything I have I forgot how to keep a poor mans dozer running. Check the rollers and pins on this dozer, if one side is wore down flat, just have them turned. The bottom rollers need to still have flanges on them so the rails won't rub on the track guards. Check your sprockets too, if you can near about cut a cigar on the tip them its time for new ones.