Brush grabber type - which one?

[dstig1]

I have ongoing needs to pull garbage trees around the property to keep things neat and have been slacking off on this to the point where I really need to start attacking this. We're talking about small trees up to maybe 2-3" max and clumps of small stuff mainly, buckthorn, poplars, basswood, and other misc junk/weeds. I haven't used one of these before and it looks like 2 main styles: 1. the Pincher style, and the Chain loop style, like the pics below

This is homeowner use, not commercial. I will be doing most or all of this solo as wife is not terribly useful for stuff like this. Equipment is my Kubota L5240 with loader (and a rear blade on pretty much always). I have chain hooks on my bucket, forks and a grapple available as FEL attachments to help out. Plus several lengths of heavy logging chain. And before you all say it, I have tried using the grapple for stuff like this and it tends to make a huge mess and not work great for this task, IME. It is great for hauling/moving/picking up brush and logs, but not so much at pulling smaller brush by itself. I also need to do this where junk trees are growing right next to good trees, so need to be a bit surgical at times.

It seems that the chain loop style might be easier to deal with solo, but not sure if it is sturdy enough for trees in the 2-3" range or not. What say you, oh Glorious Collective? Which one would be best for this circumstance, or do I need both styles? Or is there another option I am missing?

 

[bcp]

If you need to pull clumps, get the chain.

Bruce

 

[oldnslo]

What type of trees and brush in what type of soil? If deep tap roots in hard soil will the pincher type grip good enough to pull a 3” tree? I have one for my 2400H which is smaller tractor and some times just peels the bark off and other times pulls them right out. For brush clumps the puncher type is worthless.

Typical weed tree in fence lines around here is silver maple and mulberry.

 

[dstig1]

Like I said - buckthorn, poplar, basswood, stuff like that. Soil has a lot of sand in it (we sit on a deposit of frac sand around here, so it is everywhere) but it can get hard when dry as there is topsoil that is more mixed organic too.

 

[oosik]

To start off - I would not be pulling with my FEL. Good chance you will run into a "tough bunch" and bend/tweak your FEL.

Attach any chain/strap to your drawbar. FEL is not designed for heavy pulling.

 

[LittleBill21]

I have the chain and the other device, the chain is not strong enough for tree's and i would step up the other unit, I use a much larger version of it

this is what I use, be aware they are very heavy and the job sometimes is a lot easier with 2 people. only pull from the draw bar, your going to be shocked how fast a tiny bush stops you dead in your tracks.

Amazon.com

 

[2manyrocks]

Pipe and chain will grab brush very effectively. Front-End Loader - Danuser Intimdator

 

[dstig1]

Is the chain useful at all or is it just too little to do any real work? I have this feeling I am going to end up with both as the pincher won't grab small stuff and the chain won't be heavy enough to do anything significant.

Draw bar pulling was definitely on my radar. I am well aware of how one can abuse a FEL...

 

[jyoutz]

I would just do multiple stem wraps with a grade 70 transport chain and pull from the drawbar, not the loader like oosik said.

 

[LittleBill21]

Is the chain useful at all or is it just too little to do any real work? I have this feeling I am going to end up with both as the pincher won't grab small stuff and the chain won't be heavy enough to do anything significant.

Draw bar pulling was definitely on my radar. I am well aware of how one can abuse a FEL...

chain works generally ok on bushes, pincher is useless on anything that doesn't have a trunk