What would be the best way to accomplish this?

[tjkadar]

There are a couple land clearing companies in SC. There is one in Lexington and another in Charleston. Look at the last link I posted. The mulchers are not on a skid steer frame. They are built more like a tank. These beasts are capable of handling the toughest terrain out there and with a ground pressure of 2.5 psi, they wont sink if the ground is a little wet.

The Antonio Carraro is a unique tractor for the US. It is much more popular in Europe. The motors are Perkins (for the most part). Warranty and service on the engines can be handled at any Perkins shop. The other warranty and service items are a bit different. From what I was made to understand, parts would be overnighted to you or your shop and then your shop or you would perform the work and Antonio would reimburse that particular shop.

Of course, that leaves all sorts of unanswered questions. I honestly would not be worried about parts or service, but I would be concerned about any warranty issue that might crop up.

The tractors are not cheap. They'll run about $4000 to $8000 more then a tractor of similar HP from another manufacture. Of course, you wont get a reversible cockpit or all the other very nifty and neat hydraulic and electronic options the Antonio Carraro come with either.

We looked long and hard at Antonio Carraro tractors, but our terrain and budget could not justify the price premium for the tractor.

I think the best bet would be to rent something for the initial work and then buy a good tractor with a grapple, rotary cutter, and box blade for maintenance work.

 

[MikeD74T]

"If only there was one perfect machine . . . .

As for rental services or companies that do land clearing: Does anyone have a recommendation for a place in Western North Carolina?" I haven't had much luck finding anyone in that area who does more than bulldozing."

Check with a local power company. Powerline right of ways are usually kept clear with excavators with drum mowers that will cut ant tree to chips.
As for keeping the trails clear, once the big stuff is gone ATV mounted weed wipers & Round-up work great for selective brush killing. Select a height that kills the brush but allows cover crops, grasses, etc to grow.

 

[RAW]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The mulchers are not on a skid steer frame. They are built more like a tank. These beasts are capable of handling the toughest terrain out there and with a ground pressure of 2.5 psi, they wont sink if the ground is a little wet.

)</font>


Actually, I know exactly what machines they're using. They're Gyro-tracs. I talked with a Gyro-trac salesman for about 20 minutes recently.
They're amazing machines. And if I was going to go into business doing land-clearing, I'd definitely want one of these in my fleet.

The GT13 is $180,000 MSRP.
The GT25 is $310,000.

Actually, these machines would be fantastic for property flipping. You could buy a weed-choked jungle-looking property and turn it into a park in a matter of days.

Check out their website and videos.

As for land-clearing companies in Western N.C, I'm going to start calling companies in the Asheville phonebook. I'm starting to agree with some of you that having most of the work done by an experienced crew will be far cheaper and easier than buying one piece of equipment and doing it myself. ****, I guess if the price is right on the trail-building, I may just keep my 4x4 truck and rent a chipper now and again to haul around the trails. Then buy an ATV-type mower.

We'll see.

 

[tjkadar]

There are a couple outfits that rent those Gyro-tracs. They'll run you about the same as a comparatively priced excavator.

 

[rk246]

I have found that it all depends on how fast you want to accomplish this, Tractor with the grapple and mower will do it, it will just be slower going. You want it done quick rent a cat or a skid steer. I enjoy going out on my tractor and doing it slow, so no big deal. I think I will rent a trachoe to dig all the big stumps out though.

 

[RAW]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( There are a couple outfits that rent those Gyro-tracs. They'll run you about the same as a comparatively priced excavator. )</font>

That would be a blast! Like someone handing you the keys to a Ferrari for a day! Would you happen to have any contact info for places that would rent the GyroTrac? I may contact some of the dealers. I believe there's on in Seneca and another in Knoxville.

 

[MarkV]

Raw,
From what I could see of the trails I would send a small dozer in there. They would have no trouble with the brush and could work on any other problems caused by water at the same time. Around here a small dozer and operator would be less then $800 per day and could do much more than a tractor and mower. After a dozer took care of the first clean up you could mow it with a tractor just fine.

MarkV

 

[tjkadar]

Land Clearing Services, Inc
Charleston, South Carolina

Tel: (843) 345-5000
Fax: (843) 573-2008

Alex Oakes - Operations / Contracts
aoakes@landclearingservices.net

These folks might be a good place to start. They sometimes have used equipment to sell and they might also do rentals. Being in the business, they might be able to point you in the right direction for a Gyro-trak rental closer to home.