Clearing Trees

[Hillbilly]

I can see where the excavator would work well on the larger trees,but for small stuff the dozer is going to do the job a lot quicker and cover a lot more area.And it all goes back to size, a large dozer (D-6) is not going to stand on its "tippy toes" unless it is some really large diameter trees and a good dozer operator knows his limits whether a spectator knows it or not,I have seen dozers standing almost straight up and pulling himself backwards on the winch at the same time. And as far as the crater size holes a dozer can skin a little dirt off and fill the holes in an go on. Are you wanting a road cut anywhere?
It also boils down to how particular your are about the looks of the place,even the brush and small stuff is going to have to be put somewhere,and an excavator is going to spend a lot of time with 2" and 3" stuff.But then again the guy with the excavator who is there looking at your job,ought to know more about what he needs to get the job done.

 

[BLJ]

If the loader is a good size machine and on tracks,he should be able to do a good job.If it is a rubber tire loader I would find a track loader.A track hoe does a good job on clearing,but on 3/4 acres it is not need.

 

[PTRich]

Last time I cleared some land I dropped all the big trees, skidding out the logs I wanted with a tractor. Then hired a brand new D6 high track. It was a lot per hour but it had a 10 foot blade, 6 way. He was able to pop stumps much like an excavator because of the extreme angles it could dig in. He pushed all the stumps, small trees and brush down a hill for me. Back bladed the land. When he was done it was ready for york rake and seed.

 

[Egon]

The D6 would be a perfect for clearing the trees. Some that do clearing for a living have a " root rake blade " . This is a blade with sturdy forks/ tines that can act like a harrow ony they dig in and remove the roots. Then when the operator is piling the debri the dirt has a chance to fall off through the rakes. The real serious clearing is/was done with 8's or 9's knocking done the trees and digging stumps while the smaller 6 followed up and piled the debri. They all had expanded metal shielding for the operator so stray trees could be deflected and not impale the operator.

Egon

 

[MarkV]

Bxmark,

It does sound like the guy has done this a few times. I guess it is one of those things where everyone finds a system that works best for them and the equipment they have. Sort of like some of us maintain gravel roads with a box blade and some with a rear blade. All that matters is the end result and the time it takes to do it.

Dummy,(doesn’t sound like the name fits) has brought up the questions I would ask. I would also ask how long he would guess it would take. We just had a guy with a D6 Cat cut a road/trail across three 40 acres sections of family land. He spent a bit less than two days to create a rough grade road and set two culverts. The entire property is pine of varies sizes no rock to speak of. We just pushed trees into piles to be dealt with later.

Let us know how things go, clean up and finish grade should be a great project for your tractor.

MarkV

 

[Egon]

Now what size rubber tired loader might you be talking about. One with a 5 yd. or so bucket just might surprise you in what it can do.

Egon

 

[JoeR]

In the Central Florida area, the average cost is 1,000 per acre. They usually have a loader and track hoe. Like someone else said, they push over the trees with the track hoe. The root rake would shake the dirt out of the debris, then the track hoe would dig a hole and bury the debris. The leftover fill was spread around the field by the loader.

Good luck,

Joe

 

[dummy]

"The root rake would shake the dirt out of the debris, then the track hoe would dig a hole and bury the debris."

And what happens when the debris in the hole decomposes? Are these sites marked for future non-use? Burying is not a very good long term solution. A local developer is now in the process of trying to build on an old landfill and things aren't going real well for them.

 

[JoeR]

The areas were cleared for grazing land. We have 2 lots which make up 8 acres. The local ordinance is one homestead per lot; therefore, the debris was put into the back part of the lot about 500' behind the house. In Florida with the sandy soil, we don't seem to get big depressions in the land after the debris decomposes. The water table is only 7 feet down, and the sand seems to fill in the pockets without creating large depressions. Most of the time we would burn the debris, but the drought that lasted from 1998 to 2000, has made it difficult to obtain burn permits.

Joe