Track Loader for Brush Clearance on Steep Ground?

[RedNeckGeek]

My place was hit pretty hard by the Camp Fire back at the end of '19, and I'm left with hundreds of dead standing manzanita and oak trees, most of them on slopes up to 30 degrees. I don't dare take a tractor on anything that steep, and I need something that can take out the trees, drag them up the hill, and then move enough dirt around to level out the hole left by the root ball. A neighbor friend cleared a large part of my lot back in '11 using a monster bulldozer, but he's not available and a 'dozer is too much of a one trick pony to justify buying one.

I've given some thought to picking up a used track steer and equipping it with a root grapple and maybe a tree puller attachment. There's a Kubota SVL-90 for sale nearby with 3200 hours on it, but I don't know if it's big enough to do the job and I wonder about how much maintenance, especially with the tracks and bogie wheels, would be needed with that number of hours. I also wonder if it would be stable on the slopes enough to side hill instead of having to work up and down the hill. I also wonder if there would be a tendency to throw a track when side hilling.

I'm not stuck on a Kubota, but there is a dealer nearby for service. There are also JD, New Holland, and a little farther, LS dealers. I'd be doing my own maintenance, but if something breaks that needs computer diagnostic equipment to fix it, I'd want a dealer close by for support.

I'm also open to ideas on more suitable and safe ways of dealing with this problem. Anyone out there have any experience with similar situations?

 

[EddieWalker]

Your talking about tracked skid steers. at 90hp, the Kubota is about as good as it gets, but is it rubber tracks or metal? I would want metal tracks for this. While I've never tried pulling manzanita, I have tried pulling other things with a 80hp backhoe and they either come right out, or its just not going to happen. Oaks can be pretty easy to get out if the soil isn't too hard and dry. Spring is a great time for tree removal because the ground is so soft where I live. Wait a few months and it's a different story.

If you get them out of the ground, will you have erosion issues? Would it be better to cut them off as low as possible and grind them away so the roots remain in the ground?

 

[jeff9366]

I've given some thought to picking up a used track steer and equipping it with a root grapple and maybe a tree puller attachment.

There's a Kubota SVL-90 for sale nearby with 3200 hours on it, but I don't know if it's big enough to do the job and I wonder about how much maintenance, especially with the tracks and bogie wheels, would be needed with that number of hours. I also wonder if it would be stable on the slopes enough to side hill instead of having to work up and down the hill. I also wonder if there would be a tendency to throw a track when side hilling.

I'm not stuck on a Kubota, but there is a dealer nearby for service. I'd be doing my own maintenance, but if something breaks that needs computer diagnostic equipment to fix it, I'd want a dealer close by for support.

I'm also open to ideas on more suitable and safe ways of dealing with this problem. Anyone out there have any experience with similar situations?

I have a commercial tree service that is paid by my development as a whole. I overlook the work. The tree service uses a Kubota SVL-75 CTL with rubber tracks. (Compact Track Loader) My part of Florida is almost flat.

CTL will be stable enough for up/down work on slopes. An SVL-90 is a powerful CTL. You can probably move across slopes with tight tracks but doubt you will be able to uproot anything or grapple more than minimal weight except with CTL oriented up/down.

Have you considered cutting trees off at grade, then using a logging winch on the Kubota L3240 Three Point Hitch to draw trees to a level area where they can be burned? Two men, one manning the winch, second hooking up two or three trees at once, both with walkie-talkies, would be reasonably productive.

 

[jmc]

Mine is a Gehl CTL 60, about 7500 lbs if I recall correctly, and on the narrow side of CTLs. FWIW, the owner's manual warns:

15* max side tilt for stability
Don't run it across a slope because it could throw a track or accelerate wear
Sideways sliding possible even on a small side slope if it's frozen or covered in fallen leaves
Up and down slopes over 15* requires heavy end of CTL uphill.

Safety manuals always seem overly cautious but your application seems well beyond their limits. Your weight distribution might be better but still...

 

[Sonny580]

You will be disappointed with that set-up!--get a real dozer or wait till your regular guy can get to you.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I have an 8000 # winch mounted on a receiver hitch adapter, and there's a receiver welded to my box blade, so as long as the tractor was at the top of the hill, it could be used as an anchor to winch the logs up. I don't have any help in this, though.

There was a lot of open ground left after the fire, and we had pretty good rains that winter. There has been a little bit of erosion, but nothing I'd worry about. Now, almost 18 months later, the weeds and grasses have covered everything, and I don't there'll be any more issues with erosion.

The manzanitas have a pretty small root ball, and I've had pretty good luck pushing them over with the tractor, or putting a chain on 'em and draggin' 'em out. The oaks are a different story, though. I have several that have been snapped off in wind storms, with trunks in the 8"-12" range, and they just laugh when I push or tug on 'em with the tractor. I tried to dig one of 'em out with my TPH backhoe, and it laughed summore. Ended up piling brush around it and lighting it on fire, and it only took two rounds of that before it let go of the giant boulder it was clinging to. We've had a pretty dry winter, only about 50% of normal rain, and the ground is only softer for the first foot or so. Better than nothing, and once things dry out, fire season starts and I won't take anything with an engine or steel ground engaging implements into the weeds.

The neighbor's dozer has steel tracks, with growsers in pretty decent shape. He got onto some rock outcroppings on one of the steeper slopes and went for a sleigh ride, and that was the end of working steep ground for him. I was hoping that the rubber tracks would fair better, and that sidehilling wouldn't be a problem, but it doesn't seem like that's the case.

I've been mowing most of the property with the tractor, working straight up and down the hills. Even then, I get one or two pucker moments, usually when a rear wheel comes up off the ground, in each of the two or three mowing sessions it takes to cover the place. Once the clearing is done, I was hoping to mow with the CTL, but it doesn't sound like it would be any more stable/safe than the tractor on the sidehills. Maybe I just need a bigger tractor, and put double wheels on the back for a wider stance?

Thanks for the responses!