Equipment Advice?

[grabroot&growl]

I currently own and utilize a small dozer and clear pasture land and homesites. Using the dozer, I can get many of the stumps in the sandy areas around us, but not in the clay areas. I am needing to add new equipment, possibly change the equipment and am tryin to ge something more versatile.

I am trying to find out what a typical operator can do on a Skid Steer with tree shear, grapple bucket/Root Grapple. How quickly can one snip and stack 4-6" trees spaced 2-4' apart that is virtually impenetrable on horseback or foot. We are located in Texas brush country mostly dealing with huisache, mesquite and some, but not much juniper/cedar.

I was also considering a "stump bucket" to peel up the root balls more effectively to suppress the mesquite regrowth - much as they do on the Edwards Plateau. Has anyone used one of these and are they useful?

I am trying to determine what a typical operator can clear in a day - I am not making a park, but working mostly pasture land - typically areas that are not large enough to constitute hauling in a D7 and chaining or root plowing.

Can you all give me any advice?

I was looking at the Bobcat S250/300 or JD 325/328 range of machine.

I am not ready to pull off the purchase of a mulching head at this time.

Any advice or help will be appreciated.

 

[MALogger]

I had an 873h bobcat with a 14" dymax shear head, and root grapple. With the shear on the small size trees you are describing you can grab the tree with the shear and instead of shearing it completely you partially cut into the tree then lift it pulling the stump out of the ground, then snip off the stump. After wards go around with the grapple and get the stumps. Obviously this wouldn't't work on larger trees.
Hope that helps.

 

[grabroot&growl]

Thank you MAlogger for the insight. I was looking at a stump bucket to go back and get the stumps, but i like your experienced insight better. It would be somewhat how i work the stumps on hardwoods now in sandy areas with the small dozer, but I had not thought of it with the tree shear.

What size tree do you think it would work with and does your method work in clay type soils? I break the mesquites off in the clay soils around here when I try to "pop" them out with the 6-way blade on the dozer, unless it is a little wet, but right now we can't buy moisture around here.

How many acres cold your operator snip and stack in a day/per hour like that?

 

[Peakebrook]

What are you doing with the trees/brush when you are done?

How far do you need to move them?

If you can't pop the stumps with the small dozer when they are in clay, don't expect to do that with a shear. I also have a 14 inch Dymax shear, and would be very careful about pulling stumps with it. Certainly you can do it with small stuff, but it puts alot of stress on the unit.

The best piece of equipment I have used to clear brush is a small excavator with a thumb. This is especially true if you are not going to secondary process the trees/brush. Stumps in clay will not be an issue. A good condition Cat 311 can be bought used for usually reasonable money.

If you have to cut, stack, and process the material, then a skid steer with a shear would be great. It is difficult to give clearing rates, because there is so many variables: size, density, terrain, distance to landing, etc.

The excavator would still work well to stump the area afterwards. I use a Balco tined grapple bucket on my skid steer to move the stumps and pick the roots. The only complaint I have had it that the hydraulic seals are constantly letting go on the Balco grapple.

 

[Totally Stumped]

Shear it and spray it with diesel/Remedy. check out www.totallystumpedgrinding.com

I agree with Peakebrook, trackhoe is tough to beat for versatility.

 

[grabroot&growl]

I can see the point of the excavator in grubbing out the stumps, and over in the Edwards Plateau area, that is the preferred, or most practices method.

I was looking at the Skid Steer due to the versatility of the additional attachments. Not only the forestry attachments, but the dirt attachments as well - hoping that would allow me to keep the machine running more hours. Fence work, ranch roads, etc. as necessary - several friends have homeschooled strapping - responsible - teenagers and I was thinking I might could run both machines at the same time for short stints.

Totally Stumped,
seeing your website, you are currently using the machine in the relatively same conditions, New vs Used? how bad do you tear them up on a daily basis? The new ones currently have 0% financing for 42 mos, so any machine that I have looked at with less than 1500hrs, is not advantageous to buy when you consider interest vs no interest on new.

So, the really used machines - 2500-4000 hrs - begin to get cheap enough to distance themselves from 0% financing. But I am not sure I want to push a machine that far along in its life, on a daily basis when my livelihood depends on it. Any insight there?

 

[Totally Stumped]

No way am I going into the woods to make a living day in and day out with a new-to-me 2500-4000 hour machine. If I put the hours on it, that's one thing but who knows with an ex-rental machine or worse. An old mechanic told me a long time ago, its really expensive buying a new machine one piece at a time. If you are qualified, take the financing and buy new.

As far as Bobcat v. JD, you would be hardpressed to find a better service department than Wayne and his guys at Bobcat of Austin in Roundrock. Yeah, its a pain in the butt getting up I-35 but that guy has personally bailed me out of some tough situations, walked me through problems in the field on my cell phone and adjusted invoices to make things right. They have a different philosophy than most dealers-its all about getting the customer back into the machine as fast as possible for the lowest possible cost.

You will beat the machine up in the woods but Bobcat of Austin keeps foam-filled tires in stock. They also have expanded metal doors for non-A/C machines and they can weld on some armor to protect your couplers and lights. These guys know the land clearing business pretty well and what it takes to keep a machine running. One of the best tips I ever got was to keep a gas powered leaf blower on the truck and blow out the machine everytime I stopped for fuel, lunch, etc. These loaders really like to overheat.

All the new machines can lift a lot of weight, have hand controls, A/C, hi-flow hydraulics, etc. The difference comes down to the dealer and Bobcat of Austin is tops in my book.

No, I don't work for them. They run a good dealership so I let folks in the Austin area know. This business is tough enough without having to jack with a bunch of a-holes at a dealership-been there, done that.

 

[grabroot&growl]

Totally Stumped,

I went back to your website - I noticed you have an A220. How do you like it in comparison to the S220 or other skids. Does the all wheel steer make a big difference?

If so, where is the difference - in manuverability, land impact, weight?

What about additional parts and new option problems - had any? Would you recommend it over the skid steer?