Bob,
For the dirt project, I'd do it trackhoe style. Back up to the high end and dig it down with the hoe. It's might seem kind of slow at first, but since your just digging down to grade, it will go pretty quick since your just dumping the dirt to move. Pick up the piles with the FEL, dump and back drag.
This is how I build pads and roads. Once I have the dirt close, I prefer the FEL bucket for grading over my dozer blade. I can fine tune the dirt to perfection this way. With a short distance, you should be able to move 30 yards an hour easy. 300 yards in a day is reasonable, depending on how well you stick with it. 200 yards in a day should be real easy.
To take out a tree, you first have to decide where you want it to fall. Most trees have a lean in a certain direction. If that's where you want it, that's always the easiest way to go. Start digging a trench with the backhoe on the side you want the tree to fall. Depending on the tree species, will decide how tough the roots will be. Oaks can be easy with shallow roots, but pines can be a huge pain because of there tap roots. Anyway, start digging as close to the tree as you can. If the roots are too thick, then just move out until you can get through. Once the dirt is out, you can get closer to the tree and break off those roots that were too hard to break through when the dirt was still there. This is the deepest, widest trench that you need to dig.
Next, dig another trench on the oposite side of the tree. There is alwyas a certain depth that most of the roots run. Usually it's two feet. Once you get through them, that's far enough. Try to angle the teeth of the bucket under the tree if you can. The more dirt you remove, the easier the tree falls, and the less it weighs when you move it.
Change the location of the backhoe. You want to be on the oposite side of the tree from where you want it to fall. When in position, I try to push the tree over right away. Sometimes they fall real easy, sometimes it takes a little effort of pushing. The bigger trees are always gonna take more effort.
If it wont go over, you'll need to break throught the roots on either side of the tree. Dig trenches on either side and then try pushing again.
Don't worry too much about the tree falling on it's own and killing you. I'm sure it could happen, but it's very unlikely. Those trees just don't fall over real easy. It's nothing like cutting with a chainsaw. It's a slow, gentle fall when they go over. In fact, most of the time, you can stop pushing it, and it will stop falling over. I've let trees lean at 45 degrees just to see what it looks like.
Once it's on the ground, use the backho to get the root ball out of the hole. Then wrap a chain around the base of the tree and hook it to the back of the backhoe. I have tie down locations on mine that I hook the chains to. then I just drive to where I want the tree, with the tree draging along behind me. In the rare instance where the tree is too big to drag, I cut it in half, and then drag it.
Eddie
