What works best for moving limbs etc?

[GarageSmoker]

We are clearing our 5 acres and getting quite a bit of limbs, small trees etc and I want an easy way to get them together into burn piles. I tried pushing them with the FEL but they kept slipping under it. Would a tooth bar help? Forks? Any other ideas?

GS

 

[EdKing]

<font color=blue>Would a tooth bar help?</font color=blue>

A tooth bar will definitly help, as would a set of forks. A grapple on the bucket would also make the job easier.

 

[Woody1]

I cleared 4 acres, found best way is to do it by hand, and make smaller brush piles and burn them in "central" locations. tried to do it by making a big pile, but pieces kept breaking off, would have to pick those up by hand anyway, so why not just take the whole thing at once to a central,more frequent pile(s) and burn it there. i know it sounds like more work, but sometimes more is less. I am all for more tractor seat time, but a little walking and physical activity would do ya good anyway.

 

[mikim]

What I find works best - and the key word here is "work" - is I take 2 or 3 limbs and stick them in the bucket pointing out - makeshift temp forks - then pile on the rest. The ones I pile on top hold the ones I stuck in first and I can get quite a pile on board to carry to the burn pile. The tough part is - it's all manual labor loading the bucket. It works best when my wife drives the tractor and I do the loading - gives me time between loads to gather limbs for the next load and/or take a break while she drives to the burn pile and dumps. I've also pushed piles along in front of the bucket to the pile if it's a short distance by putting the bucket on the ground, push into the pile a little, then tilt the bucket back just enough so it doesn't dig into the ground - it does drop a few along the way though.
mike

 

[beenthere]

I was amazed and surprised that the forks I bought worked so well with brush piling and moving brush piles. A benefit I hadn't planned on. Before, I would use the snow plow to move (slide) brush into piles, and it worked reasonably well as long as the stumps were not in the way. But with the forks, sliding under the brush and picking it up to clear the stumps is great. I don't have experience with the tooth bar or the 4n1.

 

[jimgerken]

You said "easy". What I did was not exactly "easy" to build, but now that its done it is purely "EASY" to use. A grapple makes handling brush and small logs so much fun it leaves you wanting more.
Do a search of the Attachments section with the words "material grapple" as your search.

 

[JackIL]

I found that with pallet forks on the FEL moving limbs and brush and stacking into piles was very easy. Just be careful not to let the forks tilt back too far so as to allow limbs to roll off onto the tractor.

 

[GarageSmoker]

That is a great piece of equipment you made there. I am not that clever. But I do have an idea bouncing around involving rigid PVC that just may fill the bill.

GS

 

[rocky2]

A tooth bar will most definitely help on the larger ones and backdraggig underbrush, you can backdrag/rake the garbage into controllable piles. But you'll still need to get off the seat and pick up or rake the smaller stuff. After I push the bigger stuff into a pile, I'd throw a utility trailer on the back of the tractor and the lady and I would pitch the rakings into that. But then I got her a Kawasaki MULE...617cc liquid cooled V-Twin, 800lb capacity dump body, 4x4, diff lock. I honestly admit at first thought it was a foo-foo expendature, but I gotta say it's used everyday and it is a real work saver.
A real workhorse and doubles as a great go-cart for satisfying the big kid in us when you want to tool around thru the woods.

 

[BKColeman]

I've got a toothbar on my bucket and forks. They both have their uses. The forks are great for moving large piles or long limbs. No manual labor. But they don't work at all for small limbs. Then it is nice to have a toothbar. I usually pile the stuff in the bucket as much as I can get (manually /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif) until it is riding out on the toothbar. Then, if I've got a long way to the pile, chain or rope it in by looping around the teeth up to the bucket hooks.

--Brad