Best Forestry Mower Package for Skidsteer

[teamtree]

I have a Cat 287 xps with 4' mulching head on rent.

I have a bunch of clearing work in front of me and not pleased with the Cat product and need some advice before purchasing my own machine.

Things I am looking for:

A nice finished product (need to avoid long poles lying around the job site in which the machine sucks the small tree through delimbs it but nothing does nothing with the tree or pole if you will).

A head that takes the top 2-3" of soil into the head.

High rpm to get the head moving (this is more for matching the carrier to the tool)

I like the PT-100 forestry package as far as a carrier for the tool.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

I've seen the 2008 ASV PT-100 Forestry Package with a Fecon drum style head with the double carbide cutting tips in action.

Impressive.


http://www.fecon.com/media-room/action-videos.asp

See for yourself, TT.

 

[JohnH]

I strongly recomend Fecon. We have tried them all and found them the best. As for looking for a carrier if your going to be doing a lot of foresty work try to get something made for the foresty industry. We have tried using a standard skidsteer and they just don't hold up.

John

 

[JohnH]

How much land are you looking at clearing?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

The key is the hydraulic flow rate to the mower head, which is why the ASV works better, they designed it with mowing as an option.

I know one company that gets around the flow restrictions by using the Fecon head for light brush and a shear for anything over 3 inches. Harder woods maybe 2 inches.

They then pile the slash for grinding later, or do USFS prescribed slash piles for fast decomposition.

They think it is faster and neater then mowing everything and having to backdrag the mower, and/or rake all the slash that does not get mulched.

As for 3-4 inches below surface, you will be going through a lot of teeth since the machine is not designed as soil miller. Which is why the Rayco series of mowers come with both mower and stump heads.

Vermeer calls there a "terain leveler"

 

[Xylem]

It's all about the HP

We own the CAT 262B with CAT grinder head (made by FAE) and I have to say that pound for pound and dollar for dollar the machine is top notch. For your type of application we run two other machines. A Rayco T185 (185 HP) with the FAE head does a good job above ground but bogs down when the head is placed into the soil as some customers require. True it eats teeth but you can just figure it in the cost. We bought an new Tigercat 726 (300HP) carrier with the Fecon Bullhog to grind the mulch into the soil and it worked well. The minimum HP I would recomend for grinding beneath ground surface is 250 and that is pushing it. We grind 80-100 acre parcels of 5 yr old cut over and some dense pre-merchant size timber. If you are doing big jobs don't even think about the 100HP size machines they won't cut it. If you are doing small tracts or small brush then take a look at the Rayco 130...fecon buys it and paints it red. The most important aspect to look for is highflow hydraulics and beefed up cooling systems. Just keep in mind that the performance of the machines will not be incredibly different under 150HP but there is a quantum leap in size of material handled and quality of product prodcuced by the big machines...