How do you make use of the Hy-Reach Tree Shear

[jmc]

Vernon,

A separate attachment would work in some of my clearing jobs but it would be nice to cut, pull, drive in further, cut, pull and so on without changing attachments.

Your grapple boom would be a simple project with many different ways to do it. Buy what you can off the shelf and have a fabricator weld up the rest. One way might be to start with a Quick-Attach adapter plate purchased from the local Bobcat dealer. Also find a source for hydraulically actuated backhoe thumbs. Tell your fabricator how long the boom is and let him weld one up based on material he has on hand, possibly scrap, to keep the costs down. (Usually with scrap materials its cheaper/ easier to overbuild than do detailed stress analysis.) Give him a weight budget if necessary. Mount the thumb on boom as well as a stationary mating claw to the boom end.

John

 

[texbaylea]

jmc

I wish the Hy-Reach was set up to grip and pull. I asked the manufacturer about this (add gripper jaws at the ends of the cutter blades) but the response was that the standard unit might be damaged by this. They did suggest the contractor model would be heavily enough built to be able to be used for this purpose.

There is a lot of weight on the end of a long lever arm with this unit. I think that if you went with the contractor model it would take an L tractor with the LA853 loader to handle it properly. The cutting heads are the same but the support structure is heavier.

Vernon