What would you do..?
- Thread starter B7500
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riptides
Super Member
Mike,
My back hurts just looking at that picture.
Remember it is not only the wear and tear on the equipment, it could also be your blood, sweat and tears that end up in the project.
Get the dozer, dude.
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
My back hurts just looking at that picture.
Remember it is not only the wear and tear on the equipment, it could also be your blood, sweat and tears that end up in the project.
Get the dozer, dude.
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
dmccarty
Super Star Member
B7500,
I'm doing what you are doing but on a larger scale. I have
54 acres and selectively timbered about 30 acres. Some
ended up as clear cut and the other with just a few trees
gone and hard to tell anything happened.
I have 1600 feet of road I maintain. When we bought the
land in 2000 the road was all but taken over by trees up to
3-4 inches thick. I went down the path of buy a chipper
or don't buy a chipper. Decided burning was cheaper. I think
to get PTO chipper to handle the amount of work I had and
still have would just cost to much money. It took me a ALOT
of hard work to clear the road and dang it if I'm still not
working on that road! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif We had two bad ice storms this
winter and it made a real mess that I'm still cleaning up. I
already cut down enough saplings that fell into the road to
make 40 piles to pick up with the tractor. Once I picked up
all the piles I have one big burn pile that is 20 fee long and
wide and about 6 feet tall.
This weekend I went out and got the rest of the trees that
where hanging in the road. I REALLY need to mow but I cant
until the trees are down and picked up. I have another 30
piles to pick up with the tractor. Before next winter I'll make
another pass an remove the rest of the pine saplings that
would fall if we had another ice/snow storm.
Now, the point I'm taking ALONG time to get to, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif, is that
by the time I'm finished, I will have made at least five passes
down this road cutting and eventually burning the saplings.
In many ways I think the wood chipper would have saved me
time. Right now I have to cut down the trees, cut them into
pieces under 6 feet long, stack them by hand, pick up the
piles with the tractor, and finally burn. With a chipper, at
least a good one, I could just cut down the trees, put them
in the chipper, and disperse the chips. I think the chipper
would be less work IF the chipper had hydraulics to pull in
the sapling but that is even more money.....
BUT, it would cost me money that I don't want to spend!
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
As usual this gets down to Time and Money. Of these two
items which is more valuable?
For me its not been a problem getting getting a burn permit
and now I can get it online so its even easier. The size of
the material I'm burning is small so that after a couple of
hours the pile has burned down greatly. And by the end of
eight hours is all but gone.
I don't use diesel to start the fire. Its too expensive and while
I think whatever fuel hits the ground is eventually burned, I
don't like the fuel to get in the dirt. I start my fires by using
used motor oil. I ball up lots of old newspaper, bury it in
the pile throw on the oil, light the paper on fire and let it go.
The oil sticks to the paper and wood far better than diesel so
it is much less likely to hit the ground.
I don't LIKE burning but I wait until its been VERY wet and I
have been able to time the burn so that I would have rain
the day or so after the fire.
Hopefully all of that MIGHT, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif help you make a decision
on whether to get the chipper. Its a tough one and I don't
think there is a right or wrong answer...
As far as cleaning up the clear cut. I have cleaned up our
4-5 acre clear cut. I cut up the down stuff into smaller pieces
with a chain saw. The pieces need to be about six feet long.
And then I use the 4n1 and box blade to make big piles. I'm
sure a bull dozer could have done it faster but I bought my
tractor to work. The bull dozer would have cost more cash.
And I have seen what huge messes a bad operator can do.
My neighbors cleared a house site and the dozer made a huge
mess. While the dozer was clearing their house site I was
doing the same on my 4700 on my land. He went a bit faster
but not much. He made a HUGE mess that will take the new
owners thousands of dollars to clean up. I don't have a mess.
When I was doing the house site clearing I really did not know
what I was doing on the tractor. I had less than 30 hours on
the 4700. I could do a better job now.
I don't know how big your tractor is compared to my 4700. I
know the 4700 is a good size tractor and its the largest
CUT that JD makes so my experience may to reflect what
your equipment can do. BUT, /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif, I think your equipment
can do a good bit of the job. Again its back to the
Time And Money thing. Which do you value more, your time
or your money? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Later,
Dan
I'm doing what you are doing but on a larger scale. I have
54 acres and selectively timbered about 30 acres. Some
ended up as clear cut and the other with just a few trees
gone and hard to tell anything happened.
I have 1600 feet of road I maintain. When we bought the
land in 2000 the road was all but taken over by trees up to
3-4 inches thick. I went down the path of buy a chipper
or don't buy a chipper. Decided burning was cheaper. I think
to get PTO chipper to handle the amount of work I had and
still have would just cost to much money. It took me a ALOT
of hard work to clear the road and dang it if I'm still not
working on that road! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif We had two bad ice storms this
winter and it made a real mess that I'm still cleaning up. I
already cut down enough saplings that fell into the road to
make 40 piles to pick up with the tractor. Once I picked up
all the piles I have one big burn pile that is 20 fee long and
wide and about 6 feet tall.
This weekend I went out and got the rest of the trees that
where hanging in the road. I REALLY need to mow but I cant
until the trees are down and picked up. I have another 30
piles to pick up with the tractor. Before next winter I'll make
another pass an remove the rest of the pine saplings that
would fall if we had another ice/snow storm.
Now, the point I'm taking ALONG time to get to, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif, is that
by the time I'm finished, I will have made at least five passes
down this road cutting and eventually burning the saplings.
In many ways I think the wood chipper would have saved me
time. Right now I have to cut down the trees, cut them into
pieces under 6 feet long, stack them by hand, pick up the
piles with the tractor, and finally burn. With a chipper, at
least a good one, I could just cut down the trees, put them
in the chipper, and disperse the chips. I think the chipper
would be less work IF the chipper had hydraulics to pull in
the sapling but that is even more money.....
BUT, it would cost me money that I don't want to spend!
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
As usual this gets down to Time and Money. Of these two
items which is more valuable?
For me its not been a problem getting getting a burn permit
and now I can get it online so its even easier. The size of
the material I'm burning is small so that after a couple of
hours the pile has burned down greatly. And by the end of
eight hours is all but gone.
I don't use diesel to start the fire. Its too expensive and while
I think whatever fuel hits the ground is eventually burned, I
don't like the fuel to get in the dirt. I start my fires by using
used motor oil. I ball up lots of old newspaper, bury it in
the pile throw on the oil, light the paper on fire and let it go.
The oil sticks to the paper and wood far better than diesel so
it is much less likely to hit the ground.
I don't LIKE burning but I wait until its been VERY wet and I
have been able to time the burn so that I would have rain
the day or so after the fire.
Hopefully all of that MIGHT, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif help you make a decision
on whether to get the chipper. Its a tough one and I don't
think there is a right or wrong answer...
As far as cleaning up the clear cut. I have cleaned up our
4-5 acre clear cut. I cut up the down stuff into smaller pieces
with a chain saw. The pieces need to be about six feet long.
And then I use the 4n1 and box blade to make big piles. I'm
sure a bull dozer could have done it faster but I bought my
tractor to work. The bull dozer would have cost more cash.
And I have seen what huge messes a bad operator can do.
My neighbors cleared a house site and the dozer made a huge
mess. While the dozer was clearing their house site I was
doing the same on my 4700 on my land. He went a bit faster
but not much. He made a HUGE mess that will take the new
owners thousands of dollars to clean up. I don't have a mess.
When I was doing the house site clearing I really did not know
what I was doing on the tractor. I had less than 30 hours on
the 4700. I could do a better job now.
I don't know how big your tractor is compared to my 4700. I
know the 4700 is a good size tractor and its the largest
CUT that JD makes so my experience may to reflect what
your equipment can do. BUT, /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif, I think your equipment
can do a good bit of the job. Again its back to the
Time And Money thing. Which do you value more, your time
or your money? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Later,
Dan
Dan,
Thanks for your reply. I looked at a used chipper today and the guy ran it for me to show that it worked ok. The price is right ($900) and it would do the job but I decided not to buy it.
The reason?
Watching him shove each piece in looked like way to much work and way to slow an operation that would warrant the purchase. First he struggled with attaching it to his tractor. Then he had to constantly twist branches for the unit to keep feeding itself and it was slow. I know larger chippers with hydraulic feeds would be much more productive but my small Kubota couldn't handle them and I couldn't handle the cost of a 5, 6 thousand dollar chipper.
Now I'm back to square one, burning. The trouble is centralizing all the stuff. I need to find a way for my tractor to grab on and haul it to a clear area. I've tried dragging it with a chain. I've tried pushing it with my FEL but in both cases I seem to loose it all before I get to where I can burn it. Any ideas as to the best implement to buy for that task?
-Terry
Thanks for your reply. I looked at a used chipper today and the guy ran it for me to show that it worked ok. The price is right ($900) and it would do the job but I decided not to buy it.
The reason?
Watching him shove each piece in looked like way to much work and way to slow an operation that would warrant the purchase. First he struggled with attaching it to his tractor. Then he had to constantly twist branches for the unit to keep feeding itself and it was slow. I know larger chippers with hydraulic feeds would be much more productive but my small Kubota couldn't handle them and I couldn't handle the cost of a 5, 6 thousand dollar chipper.
Now I'm back to square one, burning. The trouble is centralizing all the stuff. I need to find a way for my tractor to grab on and haul it to a clear area. I've tried dragging it with a chain. I've tried pushing it with my FEL but in both cases I seem to loose it all before I get to where I can burn it. Any ideas as to the best implement to buy for that task?
-Terry
bnixon
Gold Member
I did some clearing for a lodge that our church was building with my FEL and box blade.
Once the stuff was on the ground I was able to grab the brush with the box blade (scarefire down) and drag it the 100' or so to the burn pile. Then would turn around and push it into the pile backwards with the BB.
On the large stuff I was able to pick up whole trees, up to about 18" in diameter, with the FEL and lift them onto the top of the burn pile. Just keep them low until you get to the pile! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Worked pretty well cleared about 1 acre in an afternoon this way. The only hard part was getting the large trees out from the wooded part that they wanted left. I used a combination of the FEL to push them to where they are pointing in the direction I wanted them to go and putting the FEL bucket under the end of the trunk and pushing it out. I also used the Scarefire on the BB to grab on to limbs and drag trees around. I only had to use a chain once.
Hope this helps,
Once the stuff was on the ground I was able to grab the brush with the box blade (scarefire down) and drag it the 100' or so to the burn pile. Then would turn around and push it into the pile backwards with the BB.
On the large stuff I was able to pick up whole trees, up to about 18" in diameter, with the FEL and lift them onto the top of the burn pile. Just keep them low until you get to the pile! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Worked pretty well cleared about 1 acre in an afternoon this way. The only hard part was getting the large trees out from the wooded part that they wanted left. I used a combination of the FEL to push them to where they are pointing in the direction I wanted them to go and putting the FEL bucket under the end of the trunk and pushing it out. I also used the Scarefire on the BB to grab on to limbs and drag trees around. I only had to use a chain once.
Hope this helps,
frank_f15
Super Member, Rest in Peace
am not partial to chippers, seems like u have to wrestel alot of that stuff to get it feeding, and once it is feeding if a part of the branch hooks onto you clothes? oh boy!!!! take your time and somhow get it to where u want it and then burn it.
FamilyFarm
Platinum Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I need to find a way for my tractor to grab on and haul it to a clear area. I've tried dragging it with a chain. I've tried pushing it with my FEL but in both cases I seem to loose it all before I get to where I can burn it. Any ideas as to the best implement to buy for that task?
-Terry
)</font>
Something like THIS might help!
You might want to link TO THIS PAGE in order to access the different sizes available from Bailey's.
Terry
-Terry
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Something like THIS might help!
You might want to link TO THIS PAGE in order to access the different sizes available from Bailey's.
Terry
dmccarty
Super Star Member
B7500,
What gets my work done is a 4n1 FEL bucket. Without that
little tool a large percentage of my tractor work would be
much harder. I can pick up piles of brush or big trees if I
have the need. I WISH I had a brush bucket since I could
pick up more stuff at one time but as an all around tool the
4n1 is it. Its the most important thing I have hanging on the
tractor.
The 4n1 can pick the stuff up for you and move it to a central
point. My burn pile from the trees in the road is a good 1000
feet from the farthest pile. I move all of it with the 4n1. A
trailer would be nice but it gets back to that time and money
thing again!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
But even without the 4n1 you still should be able to bulldoze
the stuff on the ground. I do cut it up first in to roughly six
foot pieces with a chainsaw. If I don't do this the wood gets
all tangled up in long windrows. With the short pieces I can
make piles relatively easily.
Are you going slow and I MEAN SLOW when you are trying to
push the wood? I have a gear tractor and I put it in low range
and either the first or maybe second gear when I'm pushing
wood. Otherwise the I get to much dirt or the wood gets
out of control and goes places I don't want. I can't push
100's of feet but I can get into an area and start pushing
things into a pile. In my clear cut, I have at least six big
piles that are waiting to be burned.
Now where they decking station was to load up the timber
trucks is a whole new problem. I have cleaned up a good
deal of that mess but there is much to be done. My tractor
can only do so much on the piles of wood and I think I'm going
to have to rent a bulldozer to segement the piles into smaller
units so that it will be safer to burn. So there is a limit to
what our CUTs can do...
With the chipper I figured if I could not get one with hydraulic
feed it was not worth my time. But that was just to much
money..... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Later,
Dan
What gets my work done is a 4n1 FEL bucket. Without that
little tool a large percentage of my tractor work would be
much harder. I can pick up piles of brush or big trees if I
have the need. I WISH I had a brush bucket since I could
pick up more stuff at one time but as an all around tool the
4n1 is it. Its the most important thing I have hanging on the
tractor.
The 4n1 can pick the stuff up for you and move it to a central
point. My burn pile from the trees in the road is a good 1000
feet from the farthest pile. I move all of it with the 4n1. A
trailer would be nice but it gets back to that time and money
thing again!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
But even without the 4n1 you still should be able to bulldoze
the stuff on the ground. I do cut it up first in to roughly six
foot pieces with a chainsaw. If I don't do this the wood gets
all tangled up in long windrows. With the short pieces I can
make piles relatively easily.
Are you going slow and I MEAN SLOW when you are trying to
push the wood? I have a gear tractor and I put it in low range
and either the first or maybe second gear when I'm pushing
wood. Otherwise the I get to much dirt or the wood gets
out of control and goes places I don't want. I can't push
100's of feet but I can get into an area and start pushing
things into a pile. In my clear cut, I have at least six big
piles that are waiting to be burned.
Now where they decking station was to load up the timber
trucks is a whole new problem. I have cleaned up a good
deal of that mess but there is much to be done. My tractor
can only do so much on the piles of wood and I think I'm going
to have to rent a bulldozer to segement the piles into smaller
units so that it will be safer to burn. So there is a limit to
what our CUTs can do...
With the chipper I figured if I could not get one with hydraulic
feed it was not worth my time. But that was just to much
money..... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Later,
Dan
