FEL VS TREE

[flINTLOCK]

I plan to do a fair amount of brush-hogging in the spring for food plots. Several of our future plots are slashings- many fairly closely spaced trees up to 2 inch that have grown up in areas we had clear cut about 8 years ago. Would a typical FEL bucket for a 35 HP tractor easily allow you to push the trees over before running over them with the tractor and cutter. Otherwise, we'd have to chainsaw everything that size. We will probably end up renting a dozer to clean up the stumps after cutting.

 

[rk246]

Mine knocks over many this size, you have to be careful going backward though wo they don't stick up through the hydraulics or other tractor parts...

 

[5030]

That's a question with a lot of varibles. An old tractor with a lot of mass could easily down a 2" tree, but a new CUT, especially a small framed one probably would be stressed, maybe to failure by performing the same task. Besides, there are buckets and buckets and loaders and loaders .

I relaize that's somewhat ambigious, but could you be a little more specific.

Honestly, I'd suggest a bigger tractor than 35 horse and are we talking about 2 wheel or FWA?

 

[grandad]

A 2" tree should be no problem to push over, but trees like that often tend to snap off as you run over them, leaving a sharp, split stalk that just loves to get caught in linkages, hydraulic lines, etc., especially when you try to back up. Don't ask me how I know this. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

It usually works better - for me at least - to pop them out of the ground entirely with the FEL. It helps if the ground is moist and they have a small root system,

But sometimes the chainsaw is the last resort.

 

[have_blue]

I sharpened the lip of my bucket very sharp, level my bucket, and run over trees up to 3" and shear them off flush with the ground. Some of the sheared stumps leave a strip of bark, but no serious wood to worry about. My trees are mostly chicken trees, with a few hackberry and yaupon. If your trees are oak, it may not work on 3 inchers. I have actually sheared off chicken trees (Chinese tallow trees) up to 5" dia., but had to use 4wd and a low gear. That takes all the fun out of it, so I limit the size to 3" or so. The very sharp lip on the bucket also makes it possible to small trim limbs up to 8' or so. It snips them off flush with the trunk with nearly zero effort. The bucket still works fine on dirt, if not better than normal.

 

[flINTLOCK]

To pop them out with FEL, do you need a tooth bar? Hooks welded onto bucket could hoist chains wrapped around trunk. Very time consuming I imagine.

 

[IslandTractor]

A toothbar is very helpful for "popping" small trees out of the ground. Still not nearly as fast as just mowing over them with a brush hog however but definitely easier than with a plain bucket. The breakout force of your FEL will be the critical factor. Just drive the toothbar under the base and curl the bucket while moving slowly forward.

 

[BigDogues]

Do a search on this site for "tree-getter". A really neat attachment that I think you would find very useful. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[BigDogues]

Here is one of the threads I had in mind.

 

[Highbeam]

I have been pushing over 4-5" alder trees as recently as this weekend. Piece of cake. The problem is that once pushed over there are still roots on the bottom that hold the stump/tree down, more loader power would allow me to rip the stump out liek I do with the small ones. I can get them out but it takes a few minutes breaking up the roots. The smaller 3" and down trees easily push over and the toothbar allows me to hook the flipped stump and extract the whole thing leaving most dirt behind. Without the toothbar it was much more difficult. My soils promote shallower root systems and are currently moist.

A million single stems would be a huge time sink. If they are only two inchers or so and the stumps manage to flip up and still be low enough to drive over, I would just set the loader down low and drive over the whole mess with the mower behind chopping. If the stems are so thick that you are not able to keep moving forward then take smaller bites.

The FEL with toothbar and the brushhog should get this job done.

 

[Egon]

I have several prongs that can be bolted to bucket on my Kubota B7100. Using the prongs to cut roots and the bucket to push on the tree has worked for me. This is only a 16 HP. tractor.

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rmlucasco]

I have a NH TC33 and it will put down trees up to 4", not that it's a good idea. The aspens and sassafras in the 2" range go right over and are easily chopped up. I made the mistake of trying to go over a multi-trunked 3" red maple and knocked my hydro filter off and cracked the fittings. A hydro tractor doesn't work without the hydro. If you mow the trees. Stay under 2" and drive over them slowly, backwards with a brush hog.

 

[Highbeam]

I don't recommend the backwards trick. The typical brush hog was not designed to be a battering ram, your tractors gears and such are designed to provide power forward, and the 3ph system isn't designed to push. I have bent things by backing brush hogs into the brush. Not good. Now if we're talking about lifting the deck, backing OVER the brush, and then lowering the hog then I would agree that that is a useful method.

 

[rswyan]

I've used my B2910 (30hp net, 22hp PTO) to push over quite a few trees, ranging from small stuff a couple inches in diameter to quaking aspens which were probably 6" or 7" and 30'+ tall. With the toothbar on, I center the bucket on the tree, with the tree between a couple of teeth, about 6' up and push .... whether it is easy or hard depends alot on the root system of the particular tree ... some trees with a heavier root system require that at least some of the roots be cut first. It does require some degree of care to avoid damaging the tractor when the rootball come up.

 

[California]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have several prongs that can be bolted to bucket on my Kubota B7100. Using the prongs to cut roots and the bucket to push on the tree has worked for me. -Egon )</font>

Egon, could you post a photo of this attachment?

 

[Egon]

California :

Have not a picture handy but it is simply two truck springs bolted to the inside bottom of the bucket. There are also two shorter springs bolted on the inside top of the bucket to stop any logs I lift too high from rolling back over the bucket. Complicated it is not. The springs were free and are far stronger than the power of the little tractor. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon

 

[California]

Thanks for the explanation!

 

[cisco]

3" would raise the issue of type of tree, and likely root structure, and at 4" it gets a bit dicey, regardless, but the 2" - no problem (unless you don't wear hearing protection, in which case it'll be kind of noisy).
I've an L3410 with standard FEL (yup, have toothbar, but it's not needed for this stuff), and when I was clearing my property had a heavy duty Woods 60" brush cutter. Now that things are cleared, I've a Woods 72" brush cutter, of medium duty capabilities.
Anyway, in the land clearing mode, I just put my GST tractor in a low gear, FWD, with the FEL lowered to a few feet off the ground. Heavy brush (in my case, wax myrtles, raspberry tangles), pine saplings, small oaks, sweet gums and the like were toppled, and the brush cutter osterized them. It could take a number of passes to get the debris down to coarse mulch, but by a year I could go over the area with the newer and only medium duty brush cutter, sans FEL, and just have a finely mulched base with "field grass" growing through.
Yup, 4" plus diameter trees met my Stihl chain saws, and DR Chipper.

 

[RalphVa]

I've run over and chopped up 2" trees with my little 4010 and LX4. However, you can end up with some problems with the tree sticking where you don't want it, stobs in the ground at all kinds of angles, etc.

So, when I decided to clear a persimmon grove to make lanes to be able to keep it cleared out with the LX4, I just chain sawed the trees (easy with 2-3" OD ones), giving them and extra cut right at ground level once I got them down. Then I chopped them up with my MacKissic chipper/shredder. Hauled the 4 FEL loads of mulch up to my mulch pile for my garden next spring.

Ralph