Dragging trees out of clearing, best method?

[Richard]

20 years ago, farm was (selectively) timbered. Behind the house, are some old trees with tons of little trees and scrub trees. Looking to clear a section behind the house and take it all down.

"Trees" are anywhere from say, 2" diameter to several at 24". I'm debating on getting several burn barrels so I can just start cutting in place and burn. I'm on a hill and the only way to drag things out is over the septic field..... NOT going to happen!

Enter idea: I can go down the field a bit.... start clearing some woods over there and take out the smaller stuff making a "road" through the woods to behind my house and then use THAT as ingress/egress to drag stuff out (presuming that I don't burn in place)

Now I'm wondering if I go that route, what a more efficient way to extract the downed trees might be. I want to drag them to my burn pile which happens to be below the ingress point. (this was planned)

I'm thinking just chain whatever behind my (International) 1066.... or maybe cut things up and put into 8' wide loader bucket of industrial backhoe... (more body work for me and that would wear me out AND pose more opportunities to trip/fall/cut my face off, other)

Wife's cousin next door, has Deere with loader/backhoe. It's around 40HP if I recall (whatever it takes to NOT need DEF, he's under that limit)

Smaller than my 1066, it would get in/out easier but I'd have to section some of the trees.

Then the question.....how to attached said fallen tree to tractor. and here's the thrust of my questions....

Isn't there a grapple that attaches to 3-pt? (pretty sure there is) Would it take the use/abuse of being put onto the 1066? Would it be a better fit for the smaller Deere?

Yesterday, I cut a path between the ingress point and behind the house. Left 3 feet standing of all I cut down so I can SEE them and, have some leverage with backhoe to remove them (I always like to get the stumps out and most of this would take a flick of the hoe to remove, only a couple large trees are back here)

Cut a path....next is get hoe up there and while driving backwards, pluck all stumps out, set aside.... fill front bucket on way out and get them to burn pile. THEN I get to the mess behind the house. (I had cut a lot of this down several years ago....so it's not a clearing as I left the larger trees but now, we're looking to take it ALL out, the crap on the ground AND the larger standing trees)

Just trying to figure out with machines at hand, what the most efficient way might be to drag the trees out.

 

[Yander]

This situation has a new tractor with grapple written all over it. If that isn't an option (since you say with machines at hand), buy a grapple for your cousin/neighbors tractor and tell him it is his after the project as long as you can use it to get your project done and you would fix anything you may break in the process. You could also buy a good used compact and add a grapple to do the project and sell it all after the project. I've done the buy sell of used tractors for several years and I've not lost much money, if any, on any of the deals. I think you would want a 40hp compact for the job you are talking about. I would say bigger but you have your JCB for larger things.

I like the idea of creating the road to drag things out but I would still want a grapple to drag things if you are over 40. If you are under 40, in good health and enjoy physical work, maybe a grapple is a nice to have. That sounds like a lot of manual labor to me. It will also take much longer. I would expect a good tractor with grapple would cut a lot of time off the project.

As far as the size tractor to be under DEF, I believe it is 25hp. So his tractor isn't that big. But my tractor isn't over 25hp and I think if I added a grapple I could get a lot of work done with it.

 

[M59]

Richard,

Several points. Post some pictures as appropriate so contributors have some idea/ understanding of your project's scope.

In general, a FEL grapple is preferred for your project as this keeps the load away from your tractor, which a 3 pt grapple will not do. I once made mistake of hauling a 30+ foot tree to trash pile using the backhoe's thumb by swinging the tree parallel to tractor and pulling down trail. At some point the tree, at furthest point, encountered another standing tree and the tree end close to tractor pushed my R rear fender in. WHOOPS. Lesson learned. Need to ONLY move trees and brush with grapple.

Only you are capable of estimating the work at hand so you need to decide the time and labor effort cost vs renting cost. I suggest renting a grapple if your tractor or neighbor's tractor has SSQA feature or renting tractor and grapple.

 

[Richard]

Grapple is going to have trees perpendicular to tractor....wider swath through woods. I'm looking to drag in line with tractor so I can keep it under 4-lane highway in width. (a bit of an exaggeration)

I'm soon to be 63 so appreciate the idea of using my energy to put diesel into a tank, rather than using my energy to cut/pull/carry and otherwise wear myself out! Let the machine to the hard part.

 

[Richard]

Cutting up and tossing into loader bucket would make more sense (to me) than clearing a wider swath through the woods.

I was remembering those grubbing tongs..... I've looked them up since posting the first comment. I thought they were 3 point mount... seems I'm wrong in that presumption OR, haven't found them yet. I'm siding on I'm wrong. They need some height to grab log and work so something needs to get them up in the air.

I'm not going to buy a skidder attachment. Not enough work to justify that.

 

[M59]

Richard,

I have cleared acres of land with access frequently no wider than 20 feet. Drop trees and cut to 12-14 feet ( trunk and tops ). Grapple up everything and move to dedicated trash pile. I don't burn anything, just pile up and let rot. Saves time and risks associated with burning. Fortunately I have ravines and drop off convenient for disposing of cutting trash.

 

[bcp]

Towed logging arch of a size to match your tractor.

logging arch at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

Bruce

 

[airbiscuit]

Does your 1066 gave a backhoe? If yes, attach the skidding tongs to that.

If not, put a short boom on a 3pt trailer mover, and use skidder tongs.

 

[airbiscuit]

 

[2manyrocks]

Using what you have, a logging arch is worth considering or at the very least, some kind of skid plate to keep the butt end of the log from digging in while being towed. Back in the day, the cheap way was to use an old car hood.