What works best for moving limbs etc?

[dmccarty]

GarageSmoker,

I do this all the time it just take some practice.

I havea 4n1 bucket which makes things a bit easier I think but
I use the full bucket from time to time as well.

The trick in moving the limbs is getting them started. Soooo,
what I do is slowly let the FEL down to the ground. My ground
is not level so one side of the FEL will hit first. Once it hits I
lift the FEL up just a tad then I move forward trying to keep
the bucket as close the ground as I can without digging dirt.
After a few limbs get pushed up they make their own wall
and the bucket does not have to be as close to the ground.

I have a PowerReverser tranny. When I'm pushing like this
I'm in A range(low) and in 1st or 2nd gear, i.e., slow. This
is a process where slow wins and fast looses. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I'm
pretty good at this by this point but I still get dirt from time
to time but no big deal.

Now some cavets. If these are real small limbs, say under
a half inch I'm not sure if this is worth the effort and getting
a rake maybe a better tool. I walk through the area I'm
clearing with a chainsaw and cut everything up into 6-8 foot
long pieces. If you dont do this you end up with long rows of limbs, trees, etc.

I'm pushing/picking up wood from itty bitty twiggy things, to
firewood sized limbs, large stumps, and 36+ inch stumps and
this works real well for me. I am able to build some real big
burn piles without making a big mess that I have seen done
with bulldozers.

Take your time and practice....

Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty

 

[Harv]

Guess I'm a little late joining this thread, but over the weekend the subject became quite relevant to me.

My current project, clearing fire breaks up at the property, involves a lot of cutting and limbing of trees. That part is just plain hard work, and then there's the cleanup. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif I work alone (wife and kids nearby, but not really able to help with this kind of stuff), so I really have to maximize my efficiency any way I can. That, in fact, was the very reason I got the tractor in the first place.

Anyway, as far as cleaning up limbs and logs, I've found the bucket forks to be a godsend. When limbing a tree, I cut most of 'em just the right length to drape nicely across the span of the forks. After I have a few of those loaded on, I can pile pretty much any size on top, including the smaller stuff.

I usually load 'em up by hand, one at a time, but once in a while I have a nice bushy pile that looks about right and I just drive into it with forks barely skimming the ground. Only happened that way once this last trip, but when I raised the loader, the entire pile came right up with it. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif Only problem I had then was that I couldn't see where I was going, so I had to "tip-toe" (your tractor does that, doesn't it?) the load very carefully over to the main brush pile. One trip, one pile -- I was so proud that I forgot to take a picture. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

What really made me happy about having the tractor this time was when I got down to just the logs (mostly oak). I had cut them into large sections (busted chainsaw, so all hand labor) that I thought my FEL could handle. Fresh cut oak always surprises me about how incredibly heavy it is, so more than once I discovered that I couldn't lift even one end of some sections by hand.

The attached picture shows how the forks paid for themselves this time, just by making light work of one tree section in particular. I couldn't budge it by hand, so I chained it and dragged it with the tractor into the clearing where I could then approach it with the forks, and from there it was a piece of cake.

Gotta love them forks.

 

[Egon]

Harv:
Have you considered waiting till the girls get older and Energetic young fellows always seem to be underfoot and quite willing to help?
Recently I made some bolt on forks out off 1 in. tubing for the B7100 and used them just as you decribe. With my adroit operating skills I managed to turn them into pretzles in less than an hour. Next set will be off larger stronger material.
When moving the logs have you something in place so they cannot come back and sit in your lap?
Egon

 

[JohnMiller3]

Hi Jack,

While I don't own one, I'm sure a 4-in-1 bucket would be the ticket...

On my Massey, I had a manure bucket with forks that were ideal for brush... and exactly what you're doing...

On my JD bucket with the tooth bar... it helps somewhat, but definitely not as functional as the manure forks... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[B7500]

Harv,
Where did you get your forks and how much??
-Terry

 

[Bird]

What works best? A 13 year old grandson worked pretty well for me today./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>Where did you get your forks and how much??</font color=blue>

As luck would have it, Terry, I answered that and a few other questions about my forks way back in this <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=projects&Number=18091&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1#Post18091>previous post</A>.

 

[bubenberg]

our rather small grappler bucket does wonders. the power trac grappler bucket is not very large but replaces between 1-1.5 man day on a large tree job.

good luck

 

[erudolph]

Since I only have a large garden tractor, I use a log chain. lay it on the ground, put the branches/brush on the chain. wrap the chain around it twice so it pulls tight and hook it to the tractor. Drag it to the place you will burn.
This works for me on 6 acres.

 

[knucklehead]

We used a tow strap laid on the ground, much like everyone else is mentioning with chain, rope, etc.

Only thing is, when we did all the initial clearing, the other end was wrapped around my waist to tow. Mush!