Backhoe Tree Trimming Saw

[brandoro]

Interesting idea. If you had a hydraulic saw you could ditch the generator too. I'm guessing the electric saw is cheaper though, if you don't cound the cost of the generator.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Interesting idea. If you had a hydraulic saw you could ditch the generator too. I'm guessing the electric saw is cheaper though, if you don't cound the cost of the generator.

A hydraulic saw would be awesome for sure.

This was a NO Cost one hour project in that we bought the saw a few years ago. Due to my physical limitations I really do not need to be on the 12 step ladder with the pole saw based on the fact i almost knocked myself off the first limb I cut off.

I thought about putting the 12 ft ladder in the bed of the F700 to gain about 4 feet then the BH idea happened. I sent the kids out to the backhoe with the polesaw by themselves with instructions to determine which end to attach the saw to and where/how to mount on the end they selected. All I did was help them come up with stuff on hand to mount it to test to see if their idea was functional.

You should have seen the expression on their faces when that first limb fell so nice and cleanly.

 

[handirifle]

You not only figured out how to cut the high limbs, you taught your kids the value of thinking "outside the box". Nice idea.

 

[smiley]

Gale,
Great idea---I was just looking the other day trying to figure out a good way to trim the leaders of pines we have as a windbreak on the north side of the house. Now I know, We'll just mount the saw sideways. I have an extendahoe and I think my reach is about 26 ft.
Smiley

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Thanks everyone. With the kids turning 13 in a few days and me turning 60 at my next birthday I know my passing down what their grandfather taught me plus what I have learned is one of my major remaining tasks in life.

Man i would kill for an extend-a-hoe for that extra control. One would let you get right on target where I have to keep changing the angles to change my reach or move the tractor. Actually after playing with the set up for a while the "how" to set up part started to come natural to me. Keeping the blade in clear view is the major thing.

I have found the 'flex' in the pole is a good thing so it does not bend or break from operator mistakes. I have my son standing off to the side and looking up for me which really helps. After the leaves gets off would be more idea but they start on the building in 7 days plus often when the leaves are off the yard would be too soft for the 13K pound BH without it leaving marks.

Topping pines years ago I realized made them branch more making a better windbreak. The saw on its side using the boom side to side swing should work great.

Because of our simple/fast attaching of the pole saw the handle can rotate some but I have found a slight sideways shift of the boom can true it back up for a 90 degree angle with the limb being cut. The flexing pole means an operator's error is not so serious. Once you get in position and tag the limb enough to make chips start falling the chips tell you that you are on target.

When doing this with the pole laying across the top of a 12' step ladder or from the gound I would pinch the blade sometimes because of I would go slow not knowing for sure where the limb would land.

With the backhoe I do not stop the cut after I see I am on target because there is NO fear of the falling limb and the flexing pole keeps hard pressure from being placed between the chain and the limb. Just like in using the saw by hand you want it to do all of the work without being 'forced'.

The photos I took after dark gives the idea but hopefully today we will get some 'action' shots.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Nice idea. I would be good for the saw mount to have a release feature that would let it pivot before the pole breaks in case of a gross error (like I would be prone to).

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Nice idea. I would be good for the saw mount to have a release feature that would let it pivot before the pole breaks in case of a gross error (like I would be prone to).

I agree if one had a soild pole especially. When fully extended the fiber glass part of the pole will spring for about a max range of 3 foot in any direction. We plan to pick up another $100 pole saw set as a spare when the current one gets crushed by the operator.

 

[jbooth]

Nice job on the trimmer. I have wanted to get a "limber" for my skid steer for a while now. I have a saw that only cuts horizontally for getting rid of the unwanted entire trees, but would like the ability to trim the trees I want to keep. I do some custom land clearing but not much call for side trimming so I can't justify a "limber" for just personal use. I do have a nice stihl pole saw. The pole saw is like a lot of my late purchases, it was fine when I bought it but has since became a handful, when fully extended, due to advancing age.

I have done research trying to find a suitable saw and have attached some sites that interest me. The Danzco site has hydraulic saws that a person could fabricate into a nice set up. Unfortunately my fabrication skills went with my youth. Spoke to a guy at Danzco and he was good to talk with.

Been pushing the Limbinator and limbhog in hopes someone would buy and boast about them. In other words verify what the salesmen tell you is true.


Limbinator Saws Details
LIMBHOG.com
Danzco Inc. Home

 

[TWD]

Nice job on the trimmer. I have wanted to get a "limber" for my skid steer for a while now. I have a saw that only cuts horizontally for getting rid of the unwanted entire trees, but would like the ability to trim the trees I want to keep. I do some custom land clearing but not much call for side trimming so I can't justify a "limber" for just personal use. I do have a nice stihl pole saw. The pole saw is like a lot of my late purchases, it was fine when I bought it but has since became a handful, when fully extended, due to advancing age.

I have done research trying to find a suitable saw and have attached some sites that interest me. The Danzco site has hydraulic saws that a person could fabricate into a nice set up. Unfortunately my fabrication skills went with my youth. Spoke to a guy at Danzco and he was good to talk with.

Been pushing the Limbinator and limbhog in hopes someone would buy and boast about them. In other words verify what the salesmen tell you is true.


Limbinator Saws Details
LIMBHOG.com
Danzco Inc. Home

On NorthernTool:
Limbinator Saw, Model# LS8 | 20in. Bar | Northern Tool + Equipment

Awesome looking, not $2000 awesome though.

 

[smiley]

Man i would kill for an extend-a-hoe for that extra control. One would let you get right on target where I have to keep changing the angles to change my reach or move the tractor. Actually after playing with the set up for a while the "how" to set up part started to come natural to me. Keeping the blade in clear view is the major thing.

Topping pines years ago I realized made them branch more making a better windbreak. The saw on its side using the boom side to side swing should work great.

The extendahoe is great. I try to set up to dig where you normally would with a regular hoe but there's always that little clump of dirt you can't quite reach without moving. Not anymore.

As far as topping the pines, the experts say not to do it, only cut out the leaders, but I've seen a lot of them with tops blown out or cut out to clear power lines, and they seem to do fine.
Smiley

 

[jbooth]

On NorthernTool:
Limbinator Saw, Model# LS8 | 20in. Bar | Northern Tool + Equipment

Awesome looking, not $2000 awesome though.

Yep! $2000 is a bit much for a "might work". I had visions of topping downed trees and possibly cutting firewood if I rack my tree trunks right. Sure would like to have someone I know test it before I drop the $2000 for the saw. I'm 68 yrs. old and trying to stay in the game with some aids.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Yep! $2000 is a bit much for a "might work". I had visions of topping downed trees and possibly cutting firewood if I rack my tree trunks right. Sure would like to have someone I know test it before I drop the $2000 for the saw. I'm 68 yrs. old and trying to stay in the game with some aids.

I would like something like this if I had alot of fence rows to cut back. The backhoe has some advantages but (getting into/change positions/vision) would be easier/better using the loader.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The extendahoe is great. I try to set up to dig where you normally would with a regular hoe but there's always that little clump of dirt you can't quite reach without moving. Not anymore.

As far as topping the pines, the experts say not to do it, only cut out the leaders, but I've seen a lot of them with tops blown out or cut out to clear power lines, and they seem to do fine.
Smiley

Topping pines with make them bushy and fat. These were on a road bank and i did not want them to get tall. For our area if I had pines as a wind break I would top them so they were better for the first 30 feet and thicker near the gound more like a cedar.

Concerning extend a hoes I really did not know much about them when I bought our old JD back in April. A guy up the road has rebuilt a 410 extend a how that is very nice. I doubt we will ever own one just because our $7K backhoe is about all the money I want tied up in something that is not "required" but is a cool tool. I do not expect to get rid of ours and the kids kind of like it. We use it for unsticking the 265 MF so I like having two tractors. I was going for a FEL for the MF when for little more I could have a BH too. The 1976 265 MF was the FIL's so it will stay in the family and it will not have to be fitted with a FEL. I use it mainly to bushhog or with an 8' box blade. It still has under 1300 hours on it and OEM rear tires. I put new 8 ply 7.50's on the front thinking I was getting a loader.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad119/GaleHawkins/BackhoeTreeTrimming013.jpg
1.25" schedule 40 PVC upgrade that should be done before mounting the first time. About half of the aluminum extenion is showing in the photo and earlier we had it fully extended (because we do not have an extend-a-hoe like some ) tying reach the last limb without moving the backhoe set up. Due to operator error the boom was whipped to the right instead of up and the weigh of the saw extended out like fractured the fiber glass part (orange as seen in other photos). It is 1 3/8th" OD which is the same as the ID of 1 1/4" schedule 40 PVC pipe so we split it in half with a circular saw to make a split for the damaged fiber glass part of the pole.

While at Lowes we were going to pick up a second Remington set up for a spare but all they had was a Polan with round slick plastic tubing for extenion handle. The saws speced the same but after having and aluminum/fiber glass pole there was no way I could expect the Polan pole to work so well even by hand use and never if mounted.

I will try to order one online and will split it before the first cut even by hand.

After seeing the Limbanator I may try FEL mounting of the Remington pole saw now that it is beefed up.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad119/GaleHawkins/BackhoeTreeTrimming011.jpg
These small electric saws can get leaves and trash around the chain steel sprocks causing the saw to bind some so this is just a shot with the cover off

Then next photo is just a close up of the sprocket after cleaning.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad119/GaleHawkins/BackhoeTreeTrimming012.jpg

NOTE the chain will install backwards just as easy as forward. Before removing it I had shown my son the direction the cutting edges needed to turn and he caught my mistake before I replaced the cover and all. I was shocked he was even paying that much attention. Kids are hear when they do not seem to be listening.

After today I still think mounting the Remington pole saw is a good idea but it should only be for hobby use or where physical limitations are an issue. One needs an extra set of eyes and someone to cut the power.

I am getting a set of forks that can be chained into any position so I may mount them to the outside edges of the FEL and use hose clamps to get a nice fixed position mounting set up to try a FEL install point.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Loader-Forks-Bucket-Skid-Tractor-Pallet-Fork-Deere_W0QQitemZ270630065873QQcategoryZ41488QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3907.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BDDSIC%26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D390060184854%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5860153655570065760

 

[Gale Hawkins]

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad119/GaleHawkins/BackhoeTreeTrimming.jpg

We cheated.

Delimbing from the ground with the tree on the ground was much faster. After yesterday it became clear the two trees (about 18" at the ground) that really needed some serious trimming were leaning hard towards where the new building is going up next week and they had not 'crown'.

The lot was dozed out of a woods over 60 years ago and newer growth as grown lope sided getting to the light. 10' behind the stump in the photo the gound is about 12' lower. That is why I used the log as a back stop against the stumps. There is a lot of huge old growth trees that are now in view. What we cut was junk wood with a lot of metal in it and in poor health.

Today we took down 10 trees but most were much smaller. We had to fall the two largest trees into they yard and trim them up. Man we were happy to have the backhole.

The other trees we just did the FEL push back method so they would fall into the woods when they wanted to fall in the yard so we did not have to deal with them today. The two big ones just had too much weigh to risk them getting crazy on us.

Most of the trees had some or a lot of hidden decay and the big ones would have been on the roof in another major ice storm. Turning 60 in Feb was on my mine too. Now cleaning the gutters will be more manageable too.

We do still have a lot of places where we will be using the pole saw on the BH but now we are trimmed up for the next 20 years around the new building before it gets build next week.

 

[allenr]

Interesting thread.

I've been using a homemade, hydraulically driven circular saw for a few years now.

The motor is a Plessey gear motor and has been working well for the last 2-3 years since I plumbed a separate return to reservoir line (rather than through the valve).

Another problem has been the hyd fittings coming to grief when they sometimes come in contact with branches etc.

So today I fabricated a protection cover from a bit of old Chev Maple Leaf chassis rail (found in amongst the steel offcuts in the workshop) and a piece of flat steel.

It is easily removed by pulling out two pins - I always unscrew and plug the hyd lines when removing it.

With 160 lpm - about 40 gpm I think, available it has plenty of speed but as with most hyd driven things it will eventually slow in heavy going (1' plus hardwood) and have to be pulled back to recover speed.







Cover removed