Buying Advice What to do

[Ryderman]

Iam wanting to put a tree shear (Timberline) on a skidsteer to clear pasture. I have about 1oo acers to clear. Mostly small stuff. I was looking at a T180 track loader, but was wondering if It would be better to buy a wheeled unit and put tracks on it. It seems the track units are high maintance. Any help would be great. Are there problems with brush getting tangled up in the steele tracks. I would also be using this unit around the farm, for this and that. Thanks

 

[jesnic]

100 acres with a T180? How many trees? We just finished a job for a client that origianlly hired a tree removal crew to cut down and clear 4 acres of trees. The idiot came out and cut down approx. 120 trees. All trees were old growth and some were fairly large. The crew came in just cut and cut and then cut some more, felling trees in every direction imaginable. There were about 40 trees cut leaning on uncut trees against the area not to be cut. The client called me to get his but out of the fire after he fired the original crew and we showed up with a T180, grapple bucket, 12 inch chipper, 2 echo 18" saws, 2 husky 18" saws and one stihl 20" saw. Two days later and about 96 bottles of water later, we had cleared a road through the tangled mess, limbed the trees, stacked the logs in different piles with average lengths of logs about 12' 6". Stacked the brush and chipped it all into mulch to cover the road bed. The T180 was too small to remove the stumps, so we cut to the ground and brought in a grinder and ground them about 12" below soil line. All in two days with 5 guys working 12 hrs each day. So, for 100 acres and just a little T180, it will probably take year if by yourself. Oh yeah, the rubber tracks work great unless you get hung up on stumps. Just keep the pistons full of grease to keep the tracks tight and drive carefully. If we had the S150 (rubber tire), we probably would have holed a few tires.

 

[Redgoatea]

Unless youre on perfectly flat ground that never gets wet go with a tracked unit IMO. I take my skid through the woods all the time using it to pull trees, clear brush, and make roads. Never had an issue with anything getting stuck in the gears or the tracks. The tracks will slide if you try to drive over logs or stumps but you'll still have far better traction than tires. Also on uneven terrain the wheeled units tend to be fairly unstable and wobbly IMO. The few we have at work never leave pavement for that reason. Either way wear your seatbelt and watch for trees falling on your cab. 7

 

[radman1]

I cleared about 80 acres with a wheeled Bobcat S300. Mostly cedars, some locust and few other scraggly trees. Unless it is muddy or real steep, the tires will do ok. Real steep and I am too concerned with rolling or flipping. Tracks of any kind will let you get in muddy or soft areas. Over the tire tracks will do fine. Tracks may cause more grass damage than wheeled unit. Most tracked units will need replacement between 1200-1800 hours. 10K to replace tracks and rollers. There will be some places that just require cutting with chain saw. It takes longer to pile the trees than it does to cut. If cutting other than cedars, you will need some kind of spray system or they will grow back.

The size of a T180 will do fine unless you are doing very large trees and then most tree shears won't be able to cut them if they are large. Most tree shears are not too heavy. I have a Dymax 14" ranchaxe, with spray system, HD gaurd and with weighs about 1800 lbs. That is significantly heavier than most shears.
14" Ranch Axe Tree Shear for Skid Steer -- Dymax Attachments

 

[Ryderman]

Well I bought a T180, I put a sidney timberline 14 inch tree shear, along with the 6 tine grapple bucket. So far I have been very impressed with the equipment. I have cut and cleared about 3 ac. so far. Iam talking brush and trees so thck that you could not begin to walk through. Ive got about 15 hours in so far. It is pretty well done except for some minor clean up. So far seems to be a great investment. Thanks for your help.

 

[Thomas]

Welcome to TBN.

By chance do you have pics to share of project etc.