Moving brush

[JCA]

Hi folks. Wasn't sure whether to post this on Attachments or Projects.

What's the best way to hook up with a nice-sized bite of brush from a brush pile and haul it off to a dumping spot? Bucket with grapple? That would cost a lot of money (or time if I made it myself) and it would only take small bites. Bucket hooks and chains? Pallet forks and chains? Wrap a chain around it and drag it? What'do'ya think?

I've got a bunch of brush piles around my property I want to get rid of. It's hilly, so can't get a truck in there. Not so hilly, though, that I can't get a tractor to the brush piles, or at least near. I've been thinking I'd buy a chipper, but they're expensive, and I'm not sure that it's the best solution to my problem, with my tractor's limited HP (of the tractor I haven't yet bought, that is) and a manual feed (can't afford hydraulic). And with a wife and a little boy, I'm worried about safety. So I'm not just trying to figure out how to do this job; I'm trying to figure out what attachments and accessories to buy with my tractor.

I've got a good place to dump brush; I could also burn it once I get it out of the woods. The hard part is getting it to the dumping/burning spot: small sandpit (for burning) next to a cliff (for dumping). It's a quarter mile or so. I can get my pickup truck back there ONCE I get the brush out of the woods. So I could haul it all the way back with the tractor, or I could dump it in the back of the pick up truck and drive it back. Whatever works best.

So what works for you?

Thanks,
Jim




So that's the job I want to do: get the brush out of the woods, up the hill, and into the back of the pickup truck.

 

[OkeeDon]

We selectively cleared 5 acres; took out all the trash (Brazilian Pepper trees and wild grape vines), leaving the native growth. There was a lot of trash. We ended up with 48 large piles of brush spaced throughout the property. Grape vines come up like a carpet and bring a lot of dirt with them; we weren't successful in burning. I thought about a chipper, but vines are tough to chip, especially when loaded with dirt.

So, since we were scheduled to get a large excavator to dig a pond, we decided to bury the trash growth in a remote corner of the property. All I had to do was move the piles.

Even with the large, rented Cat 416C with a root rake (picture attached), the only thing that worked was a rake full at a time. We tried pushing it. We tried pulling it. We tried piling it on a flat bed trailer; that worked, except it was harder to unload than moving it a little at a time.

I spent 6 days or so on the big tractor, snatching a rake full of brush, then traveling distances up to 700 feet to dump it. Load after load; until I finally had a "pile" about 10' high, 20' to 30' wide, and 200' long (picture in the next post).

Now, I have a better way -- I bought a 6' x 12' dump trailer which I can unhook, fill, then hook up again and pull with the tractor. But, it was too late for one of the dirtiest jobs I've ever done. Sorry I don't have any magic bullets or good news; the only good news is all the seat time you're going to get.

 

[grandad]

Jim, it sounds like you have an interesting challenge to test your ingenuity. But that's half the fun of tractoring, I have found. Since every situation is a bit different, what works for one person may not be your best solution. Here are a couple of things I have done just to get your wheels turning. Maybe others will have even better ideas.

I've had to move many tons of fallen trees and ones I have felled... mostly pine... out of the woods to a burn pile. However the distances are less than yours and it's mainly across a smooth open field, so we have generally been able to simply push the piles with the FEL.

Sometimes you have to get down a trail between trees, fences, etc., or across lawns, etc. where you can't just push a large pile where it needs to go.

If you have the money for it, you can get one of the smaller landscape trailers (say 12 ft or less) and you can get a receiver hitch for the tractor's 3pt so you can pull it off road with the tractor. You can pile a lot of brush on it with the loader, but you'll pretty much have to unload it by hand later. This solution gives you a versatile trailer you will use for many other things also.

A cheaper solution if you have some rough carpentry skill is to build what the old timers called a "stone boat" out of 2x8's with 4x4's as skids using rough cut or pressure treated lumber. I once made a 3 ft by 8 ft one that did great pulled behind the tractor or even the pickup. For hauling brush, you'd want one that is wider and maybe even had some sides. If you needed something for one-time or occasional use, this is a way to do it without spending a lot of money. Lots of skid marks though!

An alternative to this is to start with a "carry-all", which is a metal frame that attaches to your 3pt hitch. You supply some lumber to build a small platform on which you can strap down whatever you want to carry. The carry all frames are only $50 or $75 at places like Tractor Supply.

If you have some initial or one-time needs to move brush, these are some low cost or multiple use approaches so you don't have to spend big $$$ on serious specialized additions like hydraulic grapples, etc. Of course, if you are doing work commerically or are just an equipment junkie, by all means get the real deal!

 

[OkeeDon]

Part of the resulting pile.

 

[OkeeDon]

I also built a bucket-mounted root rake for my little TC18, and, while it wouldn't hold as much as the big Cat, we made almost as many trips with it.

 

[zuiko]

A toothbar on the bucket makes it about 1000x easier to pick up brush.

I would want a 4 wheeled trailer to dump it in (preferably a dump trailer). 4 wheeled so you can unhook it from the tractor and then hook it back up after it's full.

Even if you had to unload it by hand it wouldn't be the end of life. It's easier to unload than to load.

 

[JimR]

Here is a neat trick for unloading a trailer full of brush without using your back. You can use chains or cable for this. Get two lengths about 2 1/2 times the length of your trailer bed. Also one more cable to go around your anchor and connect the two cables. Fasten one end of each cable at the rear of the trailer. Eye bolts work wonders for this. Lay the cables forward. Pile your brush on. Flip the cables over the pile. You will need some type of anchor to hook the anchor cable to where you are going to pull them off. Attach them to whatever you have in that area as an anchor and drive away. The cables or chain will unload the load for you. If you do not have an anchor. You could use the hitch on your pickup or whatever for an anchor.

 

[Alan L.]

I have moved tons of brush around my property with my lip mount bucket forks. They work the best with freshly cut limbs, as they tend to grab hold of each other so you don't drop many. But I have also picked up entire brush piles and moved them elsewhere.

After the brush pile has been there a while, gets real dry and leafless, and the limbs get brittle, its hard to get a good bite with the forks as they tend to break the limbs and some fall through. Still a great tool for this however.

 

[zuiko]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Here is a neat trick for unloading a trailer full of brush without using your back.)</font>

That's a great tip. I'll have to try that when I finally make a decent sized trailer /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

 

[OkieG]

<font color="blue"> So what works for you? </font>

You could probably make any of the methods you listed work. The positive grip of a grapple or 4in1 bucket would be a great. I would nix the chipper, just because chipping is a long, tedious process with a sizeable brush pile.

There have been plenty of limbs, tree trunks and root balls to dispose of on our property. Bucket forks are maybe not the perfect choice, but are what I've used with reasonable success. A few limbs always want to fall off on the way to the dump, so there is some clean-up. And smaller stuff needs to be loaded by hand, either on the forks or thrown into the bucket. But forks can move material pretty fast because it takes little time to load/unload.

If you have a long way to go between piles and dump, use forks and a trailer. Tow the trailer with your tractor and load it with your forks. Then, off to the dump.
OkieG