Clearing woods, building a pond

[mkane09]

I'm moving this from the Kubota forum. I've got 25 acres of woods that I want to partially clear, including a gravel drive onto a small knob, clearing a building site, digging a pond, leveling about 2 acres for pasture and/or large garden. The woods contain all sizes of primarily hardwoods, from 1 inch to, oh, 2 feet in diameter. It is fairly heavily wooded. Parts of the land are fairly steep. I've got an L2800 with FEL, clamp-on bucket forks, bushhog and ripper box. An 18" Stihl. My plan is to cut down and burn the smaller (under say, 6 inch) trees, log off the larger trees in 8-9 foot lengths, sell off any of the hardwoods of value and cut the rest into firewood. My questions: I think I will need to rent a small dozer (6 foot blade), and have been advised to rent a trackhoe to pluck tree stumps. Any advice on the equipment planned? Can I push small trees down with the FEL? How big? Will I need the trackhoe or can I just rip the stumps out with the dozer? In terms of moving dirt, the pond will be approximately 30 yards wide by 80-100 yards long, minimum 8 feet deep with probably 4 feet of that built up on the low end. Will my FEL be able to lift a white oak log 9 feet long and 24 inches in diameter?

I plan on clearing about 4-5 acres of the total. Any advice from those who have already done this would be appreciated.

Mike

 

[JustGary]

Mike -

Welcome to TBN!

I also have an L2800, and I have been very impressed with the work it will do. I can successfully push over trees up to about 6" in diameter, but some of them take quite a bit of effort. I do live in Florida, so I can probably get bigger trees because I live in sand.

Raise your bucket about head high and ram the tree from a few feet away. Start slowly and closely at first until you learn what your body will take (the seat belt will catch you, but it gets uncomfortable). You'll quickly learn just how hard you want to hit something. If you can see the tree move at the ground at all, you can probably push it over (eventually).

It helps to have a clear shot all of the way around the tree, but you can also hang the side of the bucket around the tree and pull it towards you. By the way, it is also an excellent way to pull a tree on top of you, so as always, use your best judgement (especially if the tree is tall or has big limbs). I usually do this for small pines and it works well.

Once you get the tree over, you can get at the roots with your FEL and pop them with the curl function. Removing the whole thing sure beats leaving a stump to deal with later. That goes for the larger ones, too. You'll use a track hoe the same way, only it is much more powerful.

You may want to consider a grapple for your bucket, or even a root rake with a grapple. These discussion boards don't go a week without somebody showing theirs off, so just look around. I just recently plumbed my hydraulics for a grapple function, but don't have the grapple made yet.

Some of the other guys can give you more info on removing larger trees or working on steep hills. Perhaps you can sell the smaller trees for firewood? Even giving it away might save you some work burning it yourself.

Check Pond Boss for help with the pond. Excellent discussion groups about ponds. I want to build one, too, and have read a lot of good posts lately.

Oh, and as for the white oak log: Using .75g/cc density for oak, I figure your log will start around 1300 pounds. Your loader *probably* won't lift it (and if you do, be sure you have filled tires or a good counterweight), but your rear lift probably will. A category 1 fork attachment is pretty cheap if you want to go that way. Dragging the log is probably safer. I recommend the filled tires no matter what.

Regards,

- Just Gary

 

[john_bud]

First off whatever you think you need for clearing land, it's too small! Trees have a nasty habit of stopping small dozers rather than going over. If you want the lumber, you will leave a short stump. Even a rather large dozer will have difficulty with a short stump as there is no leverage to push it over.

Have you thought about renting a stump grinder for the left overs from the logging and maybe getting a mulcher to do the rest of the land? You are in TN and on the construction area, there is a mulcher from TN. Sounds like a match to me. Post up in that forum and you will get more answers.

I'll leave the pond stuff to others, but that will be a lot of dirt. basically 30X100X2 yards or 6000 yards of stuff to move. A member here (Eddie Walker) has stated that it costs about $1 per yard to dig and move. He is probably close on that as he has moved a lot of yards.

The log is about #1600 pounds, so no you can't lift it. You can drag it.

Timber and Lumber Calculators at WOODWEB

jb

 

[Leejohn]

Mike it's not how big of a tree it is, it's what kind of tree that hold you to size. When I push trees I have my bucket about 3/4 up, ease into it while I'm making sure there are no dead stuff in the top. Start pushing and getting some tractor weight on the tree, at the same time making sure the ground around it is moving. If it is, I well back off then push again and as soon as the weight of the tree gets over helping you it well come down. Then take the loader lift alittle on the root ball while pushing. Lifting more as I push.
If you run into a 4" tree and only bends over without moving the ground around it, you might as well move on to the next one. The main root well be about 4' deep and your are not going to get it out. I'm not sure what kind of tree that is. I'm in Mo and your only over in Tn and I'll just bet you well run across some.
Please keep a eye out for the dead stuff in the tops. They are killers!!!

Lee

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a medium sized dozer that weights about 40,000 pounds and is 169hp that's similar in size to a Cat D6. It's really not very good at taking out stumps. I have a 80 hp full sized backhoe that is allot faster at taking them out. The dozer is good for moving dirt around. It's not great at digging dirt, but it will dig allot of dirt if you stick with it and keep working an area.

If you have a choice for stump removal, the trackhoe/ or excavator, is the best choice, Like everything, more hp means less time to get the job done. Hardwoods are easier to get out then pines, but they all take effort.

The most dangerous ones to take out are the smaller saplings. They are more flexible and have a way of whiping around on you. The only times I've hurt myself have been on small pines. They have come at me from every angle imaginable!!!!!

If you can take out the tree with the root ball still attached, you will find that it's the easiest, fastest way to go. Cutting it and then digging out the stump sucks. It's slow and time consuming. For an example, a logging company will pay you a certain amount of money for your trees. If you want them to take out the stumps, it will cost you about what you get for your trees, sometimes more. The good side is that you get a clear pasture, but you won't make any money if you want the stumps gone.

My backhoe now has a grapple on it, and that has turned it into one heck of a tree clearing machine. I take them out whith the backhoe, then carry them to the burn pile with the grapple. I never leave my seat and it's non stop clearing. In a day, I can make a good dent in the woods, in a week, it's a significant.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[mkane09]

Thanks for all the replies, fellas. Leejohn, you wouldn't know a character there in Doniphan by the name of Linden Kane, would you? Ken Kane? They're my uncles. My dad's family was from Doniphan...

Mike

 

[mkane09]

How about using a trackhoe with a thumb for pulling and carrying trees to a burn pile? I'm also cutting a drive onto the top of a knob and clearing a building site. Any advice on stone/gravel base for the drive? The pond will come much later, so I have time to do the right research before I start that. I have a LOT of trees to remove...

Thanks for all the help.

Mike

 

[carasel]

mike,
you may want to call the tn. dept of forestry. they have a program where they will assist you with a list of reputable loggers, sample contracts. lots of stuff.
maybe you could sell your timber. make money and save time.
you might even get enough money to but some new tractor toy's.

 

[AX MAN]

Why not hire a mulcher to grind your small trees into chips?

 

[have_blue]

I've cleared a lot of land with a small tractor, but only trees up to 4" or so is practical. If you can get 20' of chain, a 5' choker, an old ax, and a helper it goes pretty fast. Chain to the drawbar and as high up in the tree as you can reach. Put a bind on the tree. If it doesn't fall and rip out of the ground, you may need to chop 1 or 2 roots. They're easy to chop when tight.

This works great for trees up to ~4". You can clear what you can before renting the track hoe. It will make things easier and quicker for the track hoe too, and may save a day or more on the project.

I want to reinforce what Eddie said on the stumps. For gosh sakes don't make stumps if you can avoid it. Stumps come with nice long handles on them for leverage, and if you cut them off, they're way harder to deal with. That's why trees blow over but stumps never do!

I wish everyone a great Thanksgiving!