New tractor equipment and plan

[bspeedy]

You asked for our thoughts. I gave you mine. You didn't like those thoughts. That's ok with me. Your money, your choice.

The condescending tone of your last post is something to which I do take exception. I won't waste your time with any of my lack of tractor knowledge and mechanical experience any longer.

 

[lpigott]

You didn't ask for advice but wanted out thoughts? I'm sure your are capable at your job and probably can drive a tractor. I don't claim to be able to do your job. Could I figure it out, maybe with some help. What your wanting to do is what I do. Something I'm very familiar with. I know or atleast have an idea of what works, what tears up equipment and what doesn't. You have 15 acres of pine plantation. How many trees is that? 400-500 per acre? 6000-7500 trees is a ton to do with a grapple and tractor. Now your talking about cutting them off with a tree saw and grinding that many stumps is one of the most ambitious things I've ever heard. If you saying your trees are chip/saw which is 6" tops the base is going to be decent still.

I genuinely wish you luck on your project. Just don't want you to get overwhelmed, hurt or equipment torn up and want for you to have a realistic expectation of what you will be doing. The other thing with shoving a tree with a tractor is it often doesn't break the roots out. Now your fighting with it. It's not like a dozer where you shove it over, drop your blades angle down to catch the root and push it out.

When you get home give an acre a try and see how it goes. You very well may be 100% right and I'm speaking out my butt however, I think your going to find this is a long long term project. If you don't spend time on a saw your burn piles will be a nightmare to deal with and a mess to clean up. Also, be careful around the stump holes so your belly doesn't get torn up or tip you over.

Brett

Thanks for the reply Brett. No worries I am well aware of the scope of the project and plan on taking as long as needed, years even, to get it done. I have tackled much larger jobs before with way less capable equipment, with many telling me I couldn't do it, but I did. Now if my plan was to get the land clear ASAP with no other regard then I would rent a big dozer and get-r-done. I thoroughly enjoy running machinery and especially tractors, so my aim is to accomplish several end goals while taking my time and enjoying doing it. As I said will will keep this thread updated as things progress along and will be the first to say I was wrong and change my plan if needed. I am pretty excited about kicking this venture for myself.

 

[lpigott]

You asked for our thoughts. I gave you mine. You didn't like those thoughts. That's ok with me. Your money, your choice.

The condescending tone of your last post is something to which I do take exception. I won't waste your time with any of my lack of tractor knowledge and mechanical experience any longer.

Condesending? You hopped on this thread with a condescending first sentence when you have no idea about me or my experience and capabilities. BYE

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have pushed over a lot of trees with my P7010 and never damaged anything but there is always one that requires digging out to get it to move. All you can do is push up against a tree slowly to see if it is rooted rightly for pushing over, if not go to the next one. If you have sandy soil, so much the better for pushing over small trees. At my farm, the pine roots seem to dominate on the north side of the tree so they push over more easily from the south side (not so many roots holding the south side)
I think I would push over as many as I could without damaging my tractor then use a back hoe or excavator to dig out the rest. I worked overseas for many years on an 8/3 week rotation and got lots of work done when home, so I see what you are after.
As for stump grinder, they seem very slow to work and large ones are pretty costly. I think an excavator would be a good purchase for you also, especially if you plan to continue this work as a business since most folks want the stumps removed when reclaiming land. A fairly large excavator should uproot a stump much faster than a stump grinder can remove it especially when you start working the root bundle also.

As for damaging your tractor, I don't know about Kubota or Deere, but my LS has never had any damage to the FEL and I have mistreated it severely moving concrete slabs, rocks and trees. Just go slow, enjoy your 28 days off and what you don't get finished this trip will wait till next month.

 

[lpigott]

I have pushed over a lot of trees with my P7010 and never damaged anything but there is always one that requires digging out to get it to move. All you can do is push up against a tree slowly to see if it is rooted rightly for pushing over, if not go to the next one. If you have sandy soil, so much the better for pushing over small trees. At my farm, the pine roots seem to dominate on the north side of the tree so they push over more easily from the south side (not so many roots holding the south side)
I think I would push over as many as I could without damaging my tractor then use a back hoe or excavator to dig out the rest. I worked overseas for many years on an 8/3 week rotation and got lots of work done when home, so I see what you are after.
As for stump grinder, they seem very slow to work and large ones are pretty costly. I think an excavator would be a good purchase for you also, especially if you plan to continue this work as a business since most folks want the stumps removed when reclaiming land. A fairly large excavator should uproot a stump much faster than a stump grinder can remove it especially when you start working the root bundle also.

As for damaging your tractor, I don't know about Kubota or Deere, but my LS has never had any damage to the FEL and I have mistreated it severely moving concrete slabs, rocks and trees. Just go slow, enjoy your 28 days off and what you don't get finished this trip will wait till next month.

Thanks Gary! Yeah I have severely abused my little BX with the FEL over the years and never one issue. I did some amazing things with it in the cleanup after Katrina, my area was near ground zero. I have no intentions of abusing my new tractor which is some of my reasoning for going larger than I really need. I have friends that have various size excavators that I could trade off work with is needed also. I could also add a backhoe on the 7060

 

[BigBoyToys]

I could also add a backhoe on the 7060

I say..."Go HOE...or Go HOME"! :laughing:
I'd definitely get the backhoe with hydraulic thumb. For your project I think you'd get more than your moneys worth!
Had a Woodmizer saw years ago and having one would have been nice.
Subscribed to follow along and see your progress.
Good luck and stay safe!!!

 

[lpigott]

I hear ya. My uncle actually has one sitting across the road from my place that I could use and one of my buddies has one also so even if I need one I have free option without having to buy one myself. I am at work now but have been working details with the dealer and once I get home next week we will finalize things and get the ball rolling towards delivery. Hopefully I can take delivery and at least do some do a little mowing and planting food plots with it before I head back to work in November.

 

[Redlands Okie]

May be of use to you. Keep all four tires on the ground and take your time and it will do wonders. I have done quite a bit of large cedar tree removal. Also a lot of Bodark or osage orange and elm trees up to about 14 inch trucks usually. A very few bigger.

Have used the worx stump bucket i have on large bobcats with out any issue so should be no problem on your tractor. Heavier made stump buckets are also sold by everything attachments.

The stump bucket with root on the link is actually my Kubota L3560 tractor and stump bucket

Construction Attachments Worx Stump Bucket

 

[BMan2005]

I stopped reading after a couple post. Being in the business I can tell you what you will be asking of that tractor is brutal and in no way practical.

If this is normal planted timber, with a decent survival rate, and growth (which I'm sure is by you saying it's old field) then you will be looking at roughly 85 tons/ acre +/- of merchantable wood. A log truck hauls 26-30 tons according to the trailer. So that in it self is three semi loads per acre. To even get 5-10 tons on a trailer for your truck your trailer will be illegal for road use unless designed to fit regulations by law, not to mention your truck and trailer weight being within legal weight limits. DOT will sit at the gates of various mills at any given time checking trucks and that's not when you want to be there. Also, you will possibly need to be insured to be on the mills property.

Why not sale the timber, if it is $7 per ton that will be roughly $600/acre, over quickly, no risk of injury or damaging new equipment. Use the money towards paying someone to clean up the land for you.

 

[lpigott]

May be of use to you. Keep all four tires on the ground and take your time and it will do wonders. I have done quite a bit of large cedar tree removal. Also a lot of Bodark or osage orange and elm trees up to about 14 inch trucks usually. A very few bigger.

Have used the worx stump bucket i have on large bobcats with out any issue so should be no problem on your tractor. Heavier made stump buckets are also sold by everything attachments.

The stump bucket with root on the link is actually my Kubota L3560 tractor and stump bucket

Construction Attachments Worx Stump Bucket

Thanks. I have been seeing though things and they look like something I may need. We will see.