Operating Big Excavator?

[john_bud]

I resampled and posted a video of the 55,000 lb Kobelco Excavator pulling out an approximately 18"-24" Douglas Fir. Even with shaking the dirt out the whole process takes less than 2 minutes. The tree looks pretty small next to the Excavator but it was pretty big. Not big enough to be marketable timber but big enough to be a hassle to do by saw and stump grinder.

Gee, I thougth that right now 18-24" is almost too big to be marketable. Doug fir is getting commercially thinned for 2x4's at 12". all cleared out by 24". Least that's what I thought the forester told me.

 

[patrick_g]

Around here most trees are pushed over with a big cat. That is not perfectly safe but a better bet in a rental situatioin than a BIG excavator. I have had a large trackhoe with 4 ft bucket on my place several times and I hire an operator. A good operator on something like a large track hoe pays through increased productivity.

If you just want to do it for fun, dig holes near/under the central root system and blast them. way more fun than looking like a klutz in a huge machine and you can screw up with a track hoe.

Pat

 

[PBinWA]

Gee, I thougth that right now 18-24" is almost too big to be marketable. Doug fir is getting commercially thinned for 2x4's at 12". all cleared out by 24". Least that's what I thought the forester told me.

AFAIK, out here under 24" is firewood. No one wants them. Like I stated previously, I've had these trees stacked up since May 2005 and other than two guys that come and take a few trees every fall, I have to cut them up and deliver them to friends just to get rid of them.

 

[DmansPadge]

Trust Dargo to have a good story about messing things up!

I resampled and posted a video of the 55,000 lb Kobelco Excavator pulling out an approximately 18"-24" Douglas Fir. Even with shaking the dirt out the whole process takes less than 2 minutes. The tree looks pretty small next to the Excavator but it was pretty big. Not big enough to be marketable timber but big enough to be a hassle to do by saw and stump grinder.

treeremovalMay2005.mpg - Google Video

Let me know if there are problems with the video. It's my first time posting video to google.

Very neat video. I've never seen them do it like that. All my trees were taken out with a Case backhoe and small dozer.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Let me know if there are problems with the video. It's my first time posting video to google.

Nice video, I really like how you shook the dirt off of the roots.
Bob

 

[PBinWA]

Nice video, I really like how you shook the dirt off of the roots.
Bob

I can't take credit for the operating skills. The operator was a pro with 20+ years experience. My experience is limited to mini-excavators and imagining I'm working something 10 times bigger.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Wow! I like the idea of using an excavator to take out trees like that. Unfortunately, the trees I need to eliminate are probably three feet diameter at the minimum so I'm afraid that the size excavator for that job would be WAY out of my price range.

I kind of like the idea of having an excavator, though. What else (besides digging a hole) can I use to rationalize buying one?

 

[MadReferee]

I kind of like the idea of having an excavator, though. What else (besides digging a hole) can I use to rationalize buying one?

Ever wonder why you don't see any crawler loaders any more? It's because the heavy equipment industry has just about completely moved to using excavators. They will do everything a crawler loader will do and then some. Digging foundations, knocking trees down, digging up stumps, trenching, banking, demolition, etc and the list goes on. Crawler loaders like my IH TD6-62 Drott are nothing but relics of the past.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Ever wonder why you don't see any crawler loaders any more? It's because the heavy equipment industry has just about completely moved to using excavators. They will do everything a crawler loader will do and then some. Digging foundations, knocking trees down, digging up stumps, trenching, banking, demolition, etc and the list goes on. Crawler loaders like my IH TD6-62 Drott are nothing but relics of the past.

I'm sure glad I didn't get to this thread a week ago. I was at a semi-annual construction and heavy equipment auction here just last week. I saw a couple decent sized excavators that I thought would be nice to have and that were kind of in my price range (based on absolutely ZERO knowledge of values, mind you). I'd already bought what was, for me, a pretty big ticket piece there already so it's probably just as well. Besides, there's not much I could do with it yet this year and I'm not sure I could could even have gotten one through any door in the barn.

 

[kubuddha]

I hired an excavator to take out 42 trees several were more than 3' in diameter, in fact the stump of one spread the bed of his duel axle. He beat back in shape with hoe!

The technique he used was to lay the hoe against tree and apply side pressure then pluck it out of the ground and lay it down. He then picked it up and carried it to the burn pile where two men chainsawed the top down to the stump, another with his dozer pushed it onto the burn pile and fueled the fire with kerosene and two large fans. Three days later there wasn't a trace. He also put in 150' of driveway with an 18" base and 2-3"s of crusher rolled and vibrated
perfectly. The driveway and landscaping was shot with transit. $4,000.

 

[Highbeam]

Depending on soil conditions a pretty small excavator can push over a monster tree. I hired a logger who used an excavator that was a decent sized 200 class machine. So pretty big. He wouldn't use the side swing technique but instead would uncurl his boom into the tree to push it away from the machine. Just toppled the trees.

I sold all my "marketable" timber in the blast zone to pay for the clearing. The saw grade logs were straighter, solid, and longer but not necessarily larger in diameter. 12 inchers were easily going into the saw log pile. Now the trees with rotten centers, a bend, shorties, or trees of undesirable species were also sold but they went to the pulp mill for less money. Basicly any stem long enough to stay on the log truck.

Paul, you could have sold the logs larger than 12" to a sawmill if they were solid, straight, and long. There is good money in it IF you have enough to fill a truck.

 

[Dargo]

He wouldn't use the side swing technique but instead would uncurl his boom into the tree to push it away from the machine. Just toppled the trees.

I've not worked on any small excavators, but on the large ones there is usually only two or three points where the pan gear wheel is in contact with anything. The design of excavators are made for extreme pressures in a direct line with the boom stick. They are not made to be able to deliver a lot of sideways pressure. In the manual of most it is pointed out that the machine is not to turn with any obstructions against the bucket or boom. There was a picture in the one I had showing the bucket pushing a pile of dirt with the bucket, one dragging a pile towards the maching with the bucket, and then one showing the bucket pushing a pile of dirt sideways with a big "X" through that picture.

As with most equipment, you can get by doing what they are not designed to do to a certain extent, and for a while. What you described is the "correct" method according to the manufacturers....for what that's worth. You get the "A" for correct operating procedures according to the book.