Using Grapple to pull brush tips tractor forward

[stevenf]

beenthere, Typically the grapple bucket goes into the stack flush with the ground so the "FEL" is already as low as it can go the issue is when you use a grapple to move lots of brush around which is various sizes from sapplings to 2' across trees you never know quite what your latching onto until after you close the grapple and back up a bit if the stuff you got in the grapple moves your good to continue to back up and roll the loader and elevate slightly for transport. The problem is occasionally when I back up a bit instead of the brush moving out from the pile the **** end of the tractor begins to elevate at the same speed I'm backing up which obviously is always slow to give me time to stop and ungrip some of the load or drop it altogether and start over with less push into the pile until I figure out what is bigger than I am and then move it seperately by just finding the end and dragging it hopefully or worst case get the chainsaw out and cut it in half. I haven't had to do that yet usually if I just work around whatever is in the pile that is so big until I get it by itself I have been able to handle it one on one. I do all of this kind of work in slow low gear and it gives me time to stop I just figured someone else out there with loads of experience had some better method than the gee I hope this follows me out of here one that I've been using.
Steve

 

[slowzuki]

Do you use the loader to break the brush free of the pile before trying to drive away? Maybe curl it after grabbing so the initial break away is under loader power levering against other brush in the pile?

I find our ag tractor can break rocks and logs etc free with curl that it can't drag.

 

[stevenf]

slowzuki, The loader usually wont pick it up since the pile are very big its kinda necessary to pushin grab and backup so the rest of the pile thats not being held doesn't come tumbling down on top of you.
Steve

 

[MMM]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( more manageable burn size piles)</font>

Steven, I personally find the bigger the pile, the better. If you breaks a pile into smaller ones, that's more exposure and work when pushing them up for complete burn. A large pile will always burn better than a small one and much easier to babysit a single big pile than a bunch of smaller ones. Just my experiences from land clearing and burning.

 

[slowzuki]

Just curious as to what made stacks so high?

Is there any way to work sides so the face will collapse at right angles to you? When working a big pile of soil or whatever you can work the face from one side then the other so stuff falling off lands in front of you or on the bucket not on the tractor.

Being that big of pile, climbing around on it with a chainsaw doesn't sound so hot of idea either.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( slowzuki, The loader usually wont pick it up since the pile are very big its kinda necessary to pushin grab and backup so the rest of the pile thats not being held doesn't come tumbling down on top of you.
Steve )</font>

 

[stevenf]

Slowzuki, In 1999 when we bought the place I had a crew of 12 to 20 men working for 2 years posting out the cedar they didn't have enough sense as far as I was concerned to light the piles so I told them to leave them. They were assembled with a great big JD commercial Track Loader he said it weighed around 40,000 he made the piles 30 feet high or so and worse yet he managed to push a lot of them under hardwood trees that I want to keep hence the answer to MMM's question why not just light them besides a 30' tall 100' around brush pile makes quite a blaze and I don't feel comfortable lighting a pile this big under the canopy of other trees so slowly but surely I'm moving them out in the open and wait for a rainy day and light them.
Steve

 

[slowzuki]

Steven, sound like our neighbours. They had an escavator in and asked him to pile the brush with his thumb on the boom so they could burn it later. He piled it about 10 ft from 5 acres of woods.

Just trying to be helpful, is there any way to rip out small bites and drop them then scoop up a mess of it for hauling to the new burn pile? Trying to think of efficient motions for moving that much material.

I've been logging this winter and it is amazing how much slash is generated. Luckily I'm selective cutting and can leave it in the woods to decompose for the next generation.
Ken

 

[stevenf]

Slowzuki, I appreciate any suggestions and yes that pretty much what I end up doing just pulling stuff out and then gather it up with the grapple to transport away from the trees a bit. Regrettably waiting on cedar cuttings to decompose isn't an option it would take many many years for it to even lay down flat much less decompose. A lot of our fences in Texas are constructed of cedar post as they don't decompose like a lot of wood there are fences made from cedar post on many ranches that are still standing and pretty firm after 50 years they rot from the inside out so the fencing attached is as strong as ever usually the post outlast several reapplications of barbed wire or other fencing.
Steve

 

[slowzuki]

We also have cedar here called eastern white or northern white. There are 300 year old cedar rail fences all over the place here, as you describe, hollow in the middle.

Many people call the stuff junk but it has many uses.

 

[KiotiJohn]

I understand your problem a lot better since you explained in more detail. I don't think you can safely solve the problem even by adding more rear ballast as what you're trying to do is pull a huge heavy load backward which is putting too much stress on the loader. It would be like me trying to pull an 80 foot pine tree out by tying a chain on it and pulling backward with the loader. The only thing that could happen is the rear would be pulled up.
You'll have to separate out some of the material and get smaller loads. The only suggestion I can make is to get a grappling hook to put on the end of a tow rope/chain and throw it into the pile and pull on part of the pile to get some of it out first. Hook to your drawbar where you'll have less chance of any problems. John
I hope none of that stuff dislodges heading your way! John