Clearing forested land with a backhoe and tractor/grapple

[Piston]

I think where I may have screwed myself on this design is that I made it pretty heavy duty, so for me to lift it up and put it down, I'd say I'd probably be lifting a good couple hundred pounds. I think this would get pretty old really fast. If I was smart (no one ever accused me of that:laughing then I probably would have made it a little bit lighter and easier to handle.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

While my son is often with me (15 years old and very strong) I agree with Rick getting of the tractor can be a good break.

My neighbor has a manual that must weigh 600-800 pounds on a big CAT track hoe that has to be moved by hand.

I have learned how to position the hoe so there is little pressure on the pin and then remove it then re-position the hoe so it in the next position that I want it then I move it a bit to get the pin back into the correct hole.

In our case it was a manual thumb for NO thumb because I have too many hoses to try and not rip off already. As noted I work in live burn piles sometimes bunching up the remaining wood. The more I use ours the better I learn how to position the hoe to reach my objective