Should I upgrade?

[Industrial Toys]

Upgrade to the right tool for the job. A bulldozer. I wouldn't even think about pushing over trees with a loader.

 

[Ortimber]

I have used a small tractor, large tractor, small excavator, large excavator, and a dozer for dealing with trees. Yes, I have cleared a lot of trees. All of the above work, but an excavator is best. Tractors also work but things can go south in a hurry and I feel like that practice is generally hard on the machine.

 

[PILOON]

For inexpensive bolt four square tube extensions to the bottom of the bucket. Should extend about eight inches past the cutting edge. This will let you dig into/under roots a;d use the curl to break or cut them. Make a longer extensions and they work well for picking up and carrying logs?

You got it!
I made me one oversized 'tooth' using a scrapped axel from my pickup truck.
Naturally I used my grinder to create a sharpish point.
Basically a one tooth clamp on about 12 inches long.
I drive that pointed 'tooth' under the root ball and simply curl my bucket.
Pops out all those smaller scrub trees every time in one simple attack.
Best yet as the root ball is virtually free of soil since it is pulled by yanked it out.

(Since I made it from scraps in all of less than an hour I'd be ashamed to display a photo.)

Also discovered that it works great to pop out frost heaved rocks in the about one foot size.

On somewhat larger trees I drive the oversized tooth on both sides thus yanking 1/2 of the roots at a time.

 

[Egon]

You got it!
I made me one oversized 'tooth' using a scrapped axel from my pickup truck.
Naturally I used my grinder to create a sharpish point.
Basically a one tooth clamp on about 12 inches long.
I drive that pointed 'tooth' under the root ball and simply curl my bucket.
Pops out all those smaller scrub trees every time in one simple attack.
Best yet as the root ball is virtually free of soil since it is pulled by yanked it out.

(Since I made it from scraps in all of less than an hour I'd be ashamed to display a photo.)

Also discovered that it works great to pop out frost heaved rocks in the about one foot size.

On somewhat larger trees I drive the oversized tooth on both sides thus yanking 1/2 of the roots at a time.

. :thumbsup:

You are describing just the way I use mine. Usually I have at least two bolted on so logs can be lifted and moved. For scrub type situation’s I use four teeth. The bottom of the bucket has been reinforced as well as a much heavier cutting edge with cutting edge also on the bucket side face.

The arrangement also works well for rocks.

Note: for logs there should be some retainers on the back of the bucket so logs do not roll back and sit on your lap.

 

[tradosaurus]

Upgrade to the right tool for the job. A bulldozer. I wouldn't even think about pushing over trees with a loader.

I would need two months of dry spell before I ever thought about getting a bulldozer out on my land.

 

[crashz]

Not a fan of pushing trees over. As the others have said, it can be dangerous.

I've popped them out with dozers and excavators and still say the best way is cut the tree and pop the stump separately. Its the safety way with big trees, IMHO.

My recommendation is to keep your rig, and cut anything that your brush cutter will not taken down. A cheap chain saw and a few chains is way cheaper than most other options. Chain saws are a whole other discussion regarding safety, but you'll never risk flipping your tractor on top of you doing it this way!

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have ripped out plenty of Hawthornes, fourty years ago with a 40PTO HP 2wd tractor, using drawbar and chain. Mind you, a tractor was a beefier machine back then. I would not even use our 70HP large frame JD to pull or push any tree over with the loader. An AG loader was invented to load manure and move round bales. It is NOT a bulldozer.

 

[Grateful11]

Upgrade to the right tool for the job. A bulldozer. I wouldn't even think about pushing over trees with a loader.

I couldn't agree more, get a dozer. They've tried pushing over 2-3" trees with the L3940 here and it would be much faster to use a chainsaw. What can happen is like what happened a couple years ago. They were pushing over some small Sumac trees here and I was standing a long ways away. Anyway the top snapped out and flew through the air and hit me in the head and knocked me out for a bit and broke a tooth. Sumac's are very brittle even when green.