Not a bush hog?

[pattyt21]

Working on buying my first tractor (B7500), and trying to figure out which implements to work into the deal. Definitely getting a box blade, the seam to be supper versatile, and have a 200' gravel drive way with parking pads enough for 8 cars, so seems like a good idea. Anywho, back woods is a mess, roughly 3-3.5 acres I figure. Will start cleaning up in spring, and want to make a few trails, but the swings around corners I don't think will allow for a brush hog (even the 4') to fit through some corners. So, to keep the trails decent, can't I just get a rock rake? And keep dragging that? Or a back blade? Just curious what some of ya'll do to keep trails decent for the wife and dinner (or deer) to stroll on. I feel I should mention im in upstate ny, so grass, weeds, and a crap ton of pricker bushes.

 

[jeff9366]

Kubota B7500​

2000 - 2003 B Series Compact Utility tractor

Kubota B7500 Power
Engine:	21 hp 15.7 kW
Gear PTO (claimed):	17 hp 12.7 kW
Hydro PTO (claimed):	16 hp 11.9 kW

Dimensions
Wheelbase:	59 inches 149 cm
Length:	90.4 inches 229 cm
Width:	42.4 inches 107 cm
Height (steering wheel):	52.2 inches 132 cm
Height (ROPS):	76.4 inches 194 cm
Hydro Weight:	1367 lbs 620 kg
Gear Weight:	1323 lbs 600 kg
Ground clearance:	12 inches 30 cm

 

[toolslinger]

First thoughts before coffee....
If you can't swing a bush hog around a corner, you might fit with a flail.
Plan your trails to be wider than your tractor, and equipment. They're going to grow in on you faster than you think. They will encroach from the sides faster than growing in along the ground obviously, so normal mowers will not really be able to clean that up. I'm faced with rhododendron at my place, and we don't have any equipment to hold it back other than chainsaws, and muscle. You can do it, but it sucks.
As for a rake, blade, disk, or whatever, my ground would laugh at that in eastern PA. We're all rock, with just a hint of dirt/leaf compost across the top through the woods. Even if I could get those implements to work, that would just open us up to a lot more erosion. We're at the foot, and ankle of a mountain, so when the water starts coming down, it's going to have some energy behind it. If you can get ground cover to grow, and just keep it cut down, trails are going to be more comfortable. Once a decade or so we have to go through, and clean up the relief cuts on the trail edge to let water off the trails. If we do that, then the trails generally stay ok. Our ground cover is ferns mostly, and I just let them grow. I just got a flail myself, so I might try knocking them down to 8" or so, but not flat. I'm done messing with briar/pricker... My father just left it all alone, and now that I've taken over, they're getting dealt with. They get scraped off at the ground with the loader, pulled down from the trees with the loader, crushed with the loader, and pushed in. They'll dry out over the winter, and I plan to go back with the loader, and keep crushing the piles down to hasten their decomposition.

 

[jeff9366]

I'm in upstate ny, so grass, weeds, and a crap ton of pricker bushes. back woods is roughly 3-3.5 acres.

The B7800 is a very light (1,350 pounds bare tractor weight) compact tractor. Tractor weight defines tractor capability more than any other single specification. This tractor is suitable for one to perhaps six or seven total acres of ground; so a good match for your property.

There is very little you can do to move dirt without first clearing vegetation. You implement choices are limited to a 48" Rotary Cutter/Bush Hog or a more complex, though slightly more compact Flail Mower equipped with brush knives.

I hope your potential tractor is equipped with a Loader.

In my experience a Ratchet Rake bucket attachment is one of the most useful tools for clearing woodlands of brush and vines, minor grading and small garden sod removal.

MORE: Front-End Loader - Ratchet Rake // Today

 

[oosik]

I have 80 acres of field grass( bunch grass ) and stands of large Ponderosa pines. I make/maintain my few trails with a land plane grading scraper ( LPGS ). For new trails - scarifiers down about 2". Off I go - ripping and tearing the new trail. I finish with the scarifiers raised. All the sod & bunch grass will decompose within a year and, then, I can make a final pass with the LPGS for a smooth, new trail.

I would burn the proposed trail first but around here wildfires are just too much of a chance to take.

 

[pattyt21]

First thoughts before coffee....
If you can't swing a bush hog around a corner, you might fit with a flail.

Thinking even a flail might be tight, as well as way put of my budget.....it comes with a 60" belly mower, but not sure ground clearance will work in the woods, maybe if I clear it and work it over with the loader, but even then...hmmm....its pretty wet and all sorts of crazy plants due to it being flooded roughly 1 month out of the year when the river rises, roughly 8" of standing water until the river level goes back down. Was thinking with a blade or rock rake going over it a few times a year would rip up and tear out the vegetation (while leaving plenty of the wild garlic on the sides)

 

[pattyt21]

I'm in upstate ny, so grass, weeds, and a crap ton of pricker bushes. back woods is roughly 3-3.5 acres.

The B7800 is a very light (1,350 pounds bare tractor weight) compact tractor. Tractor weight defines tractor capability more than any other single specification. This tractor is suitable for one to perhaps six or seven total acres of ground; so a good match for your property.

There is very little you can do to move dirt without first clearing vegetation. You implement choices are limited to a 48" Rotary Cutter/Bush Hog or a more complex, though slightly more compact Flail Mower equipped with brush knives.

I hope your potential tractor is equipped with a Loader.

In my experience a Ratchet Rake bucket attachment is one of the most useful tools for clearing woodlands of brush and vines, minor grading and small garden sod removal.

MORE: Front-End Loader - Ratchet Rake // Today

Yup, loader and 60" mower, dealer dropped it off last Saturday for a free "try this out and see if you like it, we'll do the paperwork whenever ..." flail mower is out of the budget, maybe I oughta try working it with the loader for a year or two, get the trails perfectly level with box blade and scarafiers, then just start using the belly mower.....hmmmm

 

[pattyt21]

I have 80 acres of field grass( bunch grass ) and stands of large Ponderosa pines. I make/maintain my few trails with a land plane grading scraper ( LPGS ). For new trails - scarifiers down about 2". Off I go - ripping and tearing the new trail. I finish with the scarifiers raised. All the sod & bunch grass will decompose within a year and, then, I can make a final pass with the LPGS for a smooth, new trail.

I would burn the proposed trail first but around here wildfires are just too much of a chance to take.

Hahaha, well, currently its under about 6" of water as the river floods over after heavy rains so burning isn't too much of a option here either hahaha! I do plan on getting a box blade so maybe I can just use that for a year or two until its nice enough to use the belly mower......

 

[toolslinger]

Thinking even a flail might be tight, as well as way put of my budget.

I can understand it being a budget issue...
The Mott flail I just got hangs out about the same our back blade, and rock rake does, so I don't think it would be any more of an issue. That said, if length of implement is an issue, then you may have to look at a drawbar pull product, rather than a 3 point hitch machine. Personally I find a 3 PH product easier to maneuver than a trailed implement, but I also have a much heavier tractor hauling it than you are working with, so that changes things a bit when you're carrying the weight. With it being wet/damp a lot, you're likely going to want less weight to try to float on top of everything...

The belly deck would probably not enjoy trail work. At least none that I have ever worked with would.

 

[Panik]

Just chiming in here regarding the idea of a rock rake/landscape rake. I have a BX2360 and a EA Attachments landscape rake. Love the rake and use it for maintaining my shop drive, and tend to use for some things it's not intended.... i.e light duty ditching because I don't have a box blade or rear blade. If were to try and use it to actually clear trails in my woods I would very quickly find myself replacing bent tines.

I second Jeff's suggestion of looking at a ratchet rake for your FEL or a tooth bar to use for clearing light brush on trails, with the caveat that your likely going to have to chainsawing heavier vegetation. There are enough stories on this forum about individual's tweaking their loader by pushing them past their uses.

A thought to mull over:

You mentioned tight corner's... think you might be able to fit your tractor and a brushhog through those tight spots if you removed the loader?

 

[pattyt21]

Just chiming in here regarding the idea of a rock rake/landscape rake. I have a BX2360 and a EA Attachments landscape rake. Love the rake and use it for maintaining my shop drive, and tend to use for some things it's not intended.... i.e light duty ditching because I don't have a box blade or rear blade. If were to try and use it to actually clear trails in my woods I would very quickly find myself replacing bent tines.

I second Jeff's suggestion of looking at a ratchet rake for your FEL or a tooth bar to use for clearing light brush on trails, with the caveat that your likely going to have to chainsawing heavier vegetation. There are enough stories on this forum about individual's tweaking their loader by pushing them past their uses.

A thought to mull over:

You mentioned tight corner's... think you might be able to fit your tractor and a brushhog through those tight spots if you removed the loader?

Unfortunately not, sometimes if I'm not making the swing right on my grizzly 700 atv I have to reverse and reswing. I completely missed the Rachet rake, just watched a video! I'm thinking chainsaw to move the 3.5 million down trees, rachet rake to clear vegetation, box grader to make nice and level, and eventually belly mow......
The dirt down there is phenomenal as I imagine the river dumps nutrients everytime it floods, the amount of decomposition, when we dig up the wild garlic you can use your hands like a mulch bed and pull it right up.....

 

[jeff9366]

I completely missed the Rachet rake, just watched a video! I'm thinking chainsaw to move the 3.5 million down trees, rachet rake to clear vegetation, box grader to make nice and level, and eventually belly mow......

Also consider a clevis-mount chain grab hook for your rear/center drawbar. As your tractor is light, 1/4" Grade 70 chain, with a grab hook on one end of the chain and a slip hook on the other end of the chain will be useful pulling some saplings and small dead trees. I recommend one 8' length of chain and one 12' length of chain, total 20' of chain to purchase.

MORE: Rear/Center Tractor Drawbar // USE TODAY



RATCHET RAKE VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tractor+Ratchet+Rake

 

[Panik]

Don’t limit yourself to just looking at a ratchet rake..... there are also a number of good options for toothbars available Everything Attachments and Bxpanded.

You may want to consider the length of your atv and the total length of the tractor w/FEL. I don’t know, but you may have issues getting that B through the space your concerned about

 

[pattyt21]

Don’t limit yourself to just looking at a ratchet rake..... there are also a number of good options for toothbars available Everything Attachments and Bxpanded.

You may want to consider the length of your atv and the total length of the tractor w/FEL. I don’t know, but you may have issues getting that B through the space your concerned about

True! When I drove the tractor through the woods last weekend I had both the bucket and deck off, might have to reroute that particular end of the trail loop, that wicked bar from everything attachements looks amazing! As I used the tractor to dig out a big ugly bush on the corner of our yard with just the bucket (something the fiance has been telling me she wants it gone since we bought the house) there's still a ton of vines left that killed the Bush, think one of these bars would be great!

 

[cathy liebchen]

We use a skid steer to make trails, and a forestry mulching head on it to clear trees and brush, then maintain with the tractor. Bush hog set at 8” high

 

[GeeVee]

a 4' bushog is a must. If your swing radius is too tight, its not much of a trail, make the radius' bigger. I wouldn't buy a used BH either. they are too cheap to buy someone else's cast off.