Clearing project

[B7500]

Bird,
Then what would you do if you were me?
Woods, brush, ferns...All beautiful but I'd like a lawn too.
-Terry

 

[Bird]

Terry, if the FEL won't take them out, just keep using that backhoe. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[kubotasaurus]

Youre going to want a bigger tractor or perhaps hire the rough clearing out. Friend of mine lives on a clearcut out there and had a heck of a time clearing it out more after his house was built. He only managed to put in trails in the end, not clear it. He has a B7500. He didn't want to go with a bigger tractor as the ground is so soft out there all winter.

Problem was all the deep ruts left by the logging equipment (even years later) and the many, many large stumps. Seems that many of these don't rot down too well. Also I seem to remember there was a lot of ground clutter underneath his blackberry bushes. I also recall that his wife did make some excellent blackberry jelly and Apple and Blackberry pies.

I guess all those blackberries hide a multitude of evils.

 

[looch]

I have the SQ480 on my B7500 (4' Bush Hog). It is described as a light duty cutter - able to cut brush up to one inch in diameter. I've mentioned this in another post awhile back:

Are they talking about a 1" thick piece of mesquite or a 1" thick piece of American Basswood?

Establishing the limits of the cutter through brush thickness is not the best way - but how else do you expect them to do it?

I've taken down 3" diameter spruce trees without incident (what a wonderful aroma), going very slowly.

Also, you can drive forward over thick brush but DO NOT change your mind while in the process. Changing direction while you have a 2" sapling under your machine will almost certainly rip something from underneath.

I still have bigger trees that I need to clear from my property. A backhoe would be fantastic, but I'm getting by with a long piece of stout chain wrapped around the tree as high as possible with the other end attached to the draw bar on the tractor. I pull slowly one way (which is sometimes enough) disconnect from the tractor, drive around to the other side, reconnect, and pull the other way. Another tip: make sure your chain is longer than the tree is high /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif.

 

[Knute]

Hmm, not exactly what I wanted to hear but thanks kubotasaurus. I have a neighbor with a fairly large dozer (about a 8-9 foot blade on it) who's done other clearing down here, I guess I'll hire him for any larger scale stuff we need done. His dozer has no problem taking anything down here out, but it's like cutting with an axe where my wife wants to cut with a scalpel.

Stumps seem to take a very long time to rot out here any significant amount. I cut down a couple 10-12" Alders and 4 years later the stumps were still solid enough that I broke a cable trying to pull them out with my Suburban - not the best idea, but you use what tools you have. In that time they hadn't rotted an inch, we still have many giant old growth stumps that haven't completely rotted - those we're keeping.