EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
When I first started clearing my land, I made roads through it by taking out the trees with my backhoe, then wrapping a chain around them, and pulling them behind the backhoe. The chain is attached to one of the tie down points to the size of the hoe. This worked, but the trees created a rut that just got deeper and deeper. Filling in the canyon was hit and miss because it was hard to compact so a heavy thunderstorm didn't wash it out. In some areas, I've had to use bricks and even sacks of concrete to lock the soil in place.
Eventually I got a grapple for the front of the backhoe. I had to modify it to a Quick Attach, which was a pain. And then do the plumbing for the hydraulics, which was also a pain. But that made life ten times better. I made my roads wider so I could get through them with the saplings in the grapple. They still my hit something along the way. If it wasn't too bad, I lived with it, if it caused issues, I took out some more trees.
For bigger trees, I would cut them into lengths. This helped them burn, but also made getting them through the woods a lot easier. I always get the stump as small as possible, but even then, some stumps where too big for my grapple to pick up. Recently I discovered that I could pick up those stumps with my pallet forks!!!!!
Besides not destroying the soil, this also ended my issue of soil building up in the burn pile. Just a little dirt on a tree in the burn pile would lead to a massive amount of dirt over time. Getting off of the tractor as little as possible makes everything easier and go faster. But sometimes the easiest way requires using the chainsaw. In my opinion, it's easier to cut a big tree into 20 foot sections, or bigger if I have the space to get through the trees, then to rebuild the ground that is destroyed by dragging trees over it, over and over again.
Eventually I got a grapple for the front of the backhoe. I had to modify it to a Quick Attach, which was a pain. And then do the plumbing for the hydraulics, which was also a pain. But that made life ten times better. I made my roads wider so I could get through them with the saplings in the grapple. They still my hit something along the way. If it wasn't too bad, I lived with it, if it caused issues, I took out some more trees.
For bigger trees, I would cut them into lengths. This helped them burn, but also made getting them through the woods a lot easier. I always get the stump as small as possible, but even then, some stumps where too big for my grapple to pick up. Recently I discovered that I could pick up those stumps with my pallet forks!!!!!
Besides not destroying the soil, this also ended my issue of soil building up in the burn pile. Just a little dirt on a tree in the burn pile would lead to a massive amount of dirt over time. Getting off of the tractor as little as possible makes everything easier and go faster. But sometimes the easiest way requires using the chainsaw. In my opinion, it's easier to cut a big tree into 20 foot sections, or bigger if I have the space to get through the trees, then to rebuild the ground that is destroyed by dragging trees over it, over and over again.