New tractor equipment and plan

[Redlands Okie]

One more bit of advice. Install some HEAVY duty diamond shaped wire or of some similar type on that grapple. Will help your chances of not having a limb poke our your nice new front end on your tractor. The grapple you picture has it. Seems few grapples are sold with a backing in them. Often wonder why. Guess thats a different subject.

 

[lpigott]

Yes indeed. Although the bars from the bottom teeth wrap all the way around we know that if a limb has a path it will find it and I don't won't that for sure. I think ole Ted with EA added some bars on his after someone had a limb push a quick attach handle and drop his grapple in a fire and left him to drag it out by the hoses! I may add some armor to the tractor brush guard for more insurance too.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Good idea. I did both also and both have some wear on them. I try to be careful but things happen i guess

 

[DieselBound]

Watch out for limbs on the ground. I'm VERY familiar with working around trees and I can tell you that branches seem to seek revenge- they'll get bowed/kicked up and stuffed into various crevices in the tractor. I am extremely careful, especially with my Kioti.

Also, watch out for stuff flipping out of your grapple. I've got a dent in my Kioti's hood from something launching itself out, over and then down on to its hood. My grapple DOES have some bars on the backside; this piece of wood flipped up and over the top of the grapple.

I have no grill guard and have never had anything come through the front and penetrate the grill area: I've got at least 1,300 hrs of doing all this kind of stuff. Nor do I have any skid plates. I want BOTH, and I really need to attend to this before my luck runs out.

 

[lpigott]

Go here http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...-m7060-purchase-usage-thread.html#post4885785 for updates and continued details of my tractor and equipment purchase and usage.

 

[mike69440]

20,000 Lb Versa Handler, off road type, would be good all around logging tool. So is an excavator, but tracks limit travel, so you would still need a tractor w/Grapple.

 

[BMan2005]

DieselBound had a good comment. I would definitely invest in a undercarriage skid plate. I'll say Kubota is probably the best protected tractor from the factory with guards covering things, but those pine tops will still find a way. Friend of mine just had one built on his NH T4 he uses to spray his pines with and said it's the best investment he's made.

 

[JWR]

In the first post last Sept you mentioned getting a Lane Shark. Did you and how do you like it ? Since then LaneShark has gained a lot of dealers and seems to be going great guns with sales. Somewhere in there they got a dealer in WV near my farm and I bought the first one sold in the state last month. Had the local dealer (a Kubota dealer) install it on my MF2660. The plumbing turned out to be rather interesting with a few surprises, thankfully for the dealer and not in my shop. I took the tractor to the dealer, had the installation done and then hauled it back to the farm. I recommend that to you. Have only had an hour or so time with the Lane Shark so far but it seems to be a good tool. It has several bugs out of the configuration that I had with a much heavier FEL-mounted cutter in 2011. The hyd flow requirements are much more realistic for a tractor (compared to the previous attempt.) Besides that, the Lane Shark people have insisted on the return being to the sump rather than via the RCV. This has a big effect in that the cutter only goes into free-wheeling when you shut off flow by momentarily moving the loader frame. [Rather than a teeth jarring slam stop if the return line goes to an RCV!] That makes it seem like (most of the time) that you did not really shut off the cutter. It is robust enough to cut most smaller brush without bogging down. It is not as unstoppable a cutter as another PTO driven boom cutter that I have but it is one whale of a lot easier to take on and off the tractor!!

I only get a monthly crack at all the work to do on my farm up there and thus have only an initial experience with it but so far it looks like a keeper.

A couple of pictures -- first showing the Lane Shark as mounted on the tractor. Second one shows the view of it from the tractor seat.

 

[dnw64]

Yes I plan on turning a profit in time too and should be able to do so easily between just the trees I have and joining neighbors in the same boat want theirs gone too. My daughter and SIL are both CPAs. I am not having the government pay for crap. I pay and enormous amount of taxes each year and have no intention of doing anything that isn't 100% legit. Starting a business and building it into something I can continue once I retire from working for the man and getting a tax break all while not risking anything is the smart way to do things IMO.

A tax break is, by definition, getting the "government" to pay part of it. Well, actually, your fellow man, but that's pretty much the same thing.

 

[lpigott]

In the first post last Sept you mentioned getting a Lane Shark. Did you and how do you like it ? Since then LaneShark has gained a lot of dealers and seems to be going great guns with sales. Somewhere in there they got a dealer in WV near my farm and I bought the first one sold in the state last month. Had the local dealer (a Kubota dealer) install it on my MF2660. The plumbing turned out to be rather interesting with a few surprises, thankfully for the dealer and not in my shop. I took the tractor to the dealer, had the installation done and then hauled it back to the farm. I recommend that to you. Have only had an hour or so time with the Lane Shark so far but it seems to be a good tool. It has several bugs out of the configuration that I had with a much heavier FEL-mounted cutter in 2011. The hyd flow requirements are much more realistic for a tractor (compared to the previous attempt.) Besides that, the Lane Shark people have insisted on the return being to the sump rather than via the RCV. This has a big effect in that the cutter only goes into free-wheeling when you shut off flow by momentarily moving the loader frame. [Rather than a teeth jarring slam stop if the return line goes to an RCV!] That makes it seem like (most of the time) that you did not really shut off the cutter. It is robust enough to cut most smaller brush without bogging down. It is not as unstoppable a cutter as another PTO driven boom cutter that I have but it is one whale of a lot easier to take on and off the tractor!!

I only get a monthly crack at all the work to do on my farm up there and thus have only an initial experience with it but so far it looks like a keeper.

A couple of pictures -- first showing the Lane Shark as mounted on the tractor. Second one shows the view of it from the tractor seat.

View attachment 558624

View attachment 558625

Yes I actually picked up the Lane Shark from the companies owner prior to having the tractor delivered. The tractor dealer did the plumbing the same time he added my 3rd function. Now I have 2 sets of remotes on the front of my FEL. The remotes for my LS also work perfectly for my Titan quick attach log splitter. I have done substantial work with the Lane Shark and it has already earned its cost. There is a learning curve to operating it but the more you use it the better you get. There are not many tree left in areas I use the tractor that have limbs that will touch the cab.