BCS for brush clearing and trail building

[Big wheels are better]

I have a BCS 735 with an 8hp Honda GX240 and want to use it to clear land to build trails. The land is rough, full of rocks, sand, gravel and clay and it’s hilly.

The first job is cutting and breaking down the sagebrush, pine, serviceberry, wild rose, sunflowers and cheat grass. Lots and lots of cheat grass. There are many other species; some areas have nettles, some have thistle.

I’d really like to use something like a forestry mulching head, but scaled down for the BCS. A flail mower can do some of the same work, but is more fragile and higher maintenance. Ideally, I want to simply drive the machine along the route and grind up all the plants in the way. I want to cut as close to the ground as possible to minimize tripping hazards and popping tires. That would save a huge amount of time, labor, fuel and machine wear compared to cutting, gathering then chipping everything.

The next job is to smooth and level where needed. I think the swivel rotary plow is great for most of that. A mini excavator would be best for moving and breaking bigger rocks. I would have to rent the machine, a trailer and a truck for that, though!

I want to use the BCS tractor I already have for everything I can and recognize this is probably too much for it. Eventually, I’ll need a bigger machine, but first I need to prove to myself, and my wife, that I can and will use what I have and that I need bigger.

I’m sure I need wheel weights, wheel spacers, dual wheels and a trailer/cart to move the attachments. Ideally, I want to tow the tractor and attachments in the trailer, then pull it with the tractor. I’d love to be able to use the powered trailer or something like this truck conversion.

The 4x4 of the powered trailer would be a big bonus in some areas, but I would need a PTO synchro. The sand is so fine people call it rock flour and moon dust. It’s like powdered sugar and hard going!

Do such attachments exist for this small of a machine? What BCS model and attachments would you use?

 

[2manyrocks]

Joel at Earth Tools can probably tell you all the attachments that are available. The only scaled down forestry mulching heads I know of are intended for mini skid steers, are hydraulically driven, and they aren't cheap.

My concern is you could damage your BCS trying to use it for this application. Why not hire a forestry mulcher to clear out what you want cleared and then use your BCS to maintain it?

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[anomad]

What kind of mowing attachments do you have now or have experience running? I have the little 26 inch Del Morino bush hog and it is very impressive. The vegetation here is way more dense than out west (you mentioned cheat grass). I have lived all over out west. 2 wheel tractor legend Jens767 here has mowed some crazy stuff with his equipment.

For smoothing and leveling, that's gonna be tricky. If you can't do it with a tiller attachment and hand tools you are going to want something more capable. I have loosened soil up to be shoveled and raked by hand in tight quarters. But like you said, even a tiny excavator or backhoe is orders of magnitude better.

Show us some pictures of what you have and we can probably provide a little more feedback.

Also keep in mind, if you are mowing cheat don't spread the seeds around to places you don't have it yet.

 

[Captain Dirty]

. . . I want to use the BCS tractor I already have for everything I can and recognize this is probably too much for it. Eventually, I’ll need a bigger machine, but first I need to prove to myself, and my wife, that I can and will use what I have and that I need bigger. . . .

You haven't said what attachments and experience you currently have, but why not prove that what you do have is inadequate so that you can rationalize spending on bigger without the additional expense of modifying what you do have? Two-wheeled tractors have historically been used for relatively small agricultural operations often in steep terrain, but at least in Europe and some third world areas the land and the trails to access the land have been used for centuries. Trail blazing and cutting is not the 2-wheel's forte.

Joel at Earth Tools can probably tell you all . . .

Visit Earth Tools site or speak to Joel. Note that few available attachments are for the use you propose. The American market does not support the large, diesel tractor (see wheel size, and listen to the exhaust note) of the tractor in your video. The cost of such equipment would likely be expensive if practicable at all.

I have a Goldoni 600 10 hp 2-wheel tractor I bought in the 80's when I had less money and more energy. (Poor brand choice as BCS has proven to be the stayer, Goldoni is gone from US, but the quality endures). I have a "Tosaprato" or finish mower that puts the 10 hp into a 24" x 3/8" thick blade that works well as a mini brush hog for fields that have a couple of years of overgrowth. I also have a 46" sickle mower that will cut though any sapling that fits between the teeth, that will slide under a 14" boulder hidden in a briar patch, but leaves all the slash to be handled again. On rough ground the low ground clearance of the tractor and implement often get hung up on roots or rocks. I think 2manyrocks's suggestion to hire or rent a skid steer with forestry mulcher has merit.