Grading M59 and Boulders

[crudolph]

Hi all,

Been working on a driveway up to my future homesite - I swear I have more boulders than dirt. I am amazed at the manipulative power of my M59 with it's grapple, bucket, and backhoe.

I've attached a few photos I snapped the evening before with my truck as a size reference. The rock in the 3rd photo I was barely able to manipulate out of it's hole with my backhoe - took a bit of ingenuity. Unfortunately it's on it's flat size now and making it tough to push with my bucket.

Enjoy.

Cheers,
Chris.

PS. I started using Amsoil 15w-40 synthetic in my machine. I could be delusional but my machine feels and sounds smoother.

 

[wmonroe]

Those are some good size boulders to be moving around.

 

[PILOON]

Looks like my property! We are what the dynamiter calls "Gold country".

 

[MarkV]

Looks like you will be in for some interesting foundation and spetic work in the future.

MarkV

 

[crudolph]

Boulders .vs Tree Stumps:
M59 vs. Old Growth Stump - YouTube

This thing took 2 full days to dig out.

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[94BULLITT]

That stump was huge.

 

[crazyal]

Back when I bought my land I was looking into getting a L48 to clear a lot to build on. I ended up with a full sized back hoe. Watching your video and seeing those pictures just confirms that the L48 would have been too small as my land has stumps and rocks just as big. I think I would of rather had a M59 but it wasn't an option back then. It's too bad because the 580k has tons of power, that stump wouldn't have even been a challenge but now that my house is built it's kind of too big and awkward to use around the house easily. I think once your house built your M59 will still be a good fit.

 

[art]

We have plenty of both, old tree's and boulders here and with the right maple 24" across or better it doesn't make to much difference until you get over ten tons on an excavator on digging them out and moving them! I've actually dug them out with smaller tlb's but had to get major power to get them out of the hole.

 

[avc8130]

Boulders .vs Tree Stumps:
M59 vs. Old Growth Stump - YouTube

This thing took 2 full days to dig out.

Cheers,
Chris.

Chris,

What did you do with it once you had it loose finally?

ac

 

[crudolph]

At the moment it's sitting next to all the boulders I've been accumulating, which are slowly growing into a nice looking natural fence. I was actually thinking of just trimming it up a bit (once some rain washes off the rest of the dirt) and making it a piece of art - I don't quite know yet to be honest.

Normally I've been putting them all into a huge pile along with all the other stuff I've grubbed. I've been thinking of fabricating my own trench burner to burn everything as buying or renting one is out of the question. Anyone have any experience trench burning?

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[rScotty]

Back when I bought my land I was looking into getting a L48 to clear a lot to build on. I ended up with a full sized back hoe. Watching your video and seeing those pictures just confirms that the L48 would have been too small as my land has stumps and rocks just as big. I think I would of rather had a M59 but it wasn't an option back then. It's too bad because the 580k has tons of power, that stump wouldn't have even been a challenge but now that my house is built it's kind of too big and awkward to use around the house easily. I think once your house built your M59 will still be a good fit.

The 580 is a fine machine. So is the Cat TLB. We looked at both as well at 50 to 70 hp tractor/loaders with 3 pt backhoes. We wanted and expected to buy a US made machine. In fact, a JD if we could. The M59 simply turned out to be a better size fit for our property. It's been 5 years now and it has done everything asked of it. Darn good machine. There are times when the extra muscle of the 580 would be handy - particularly that extended BH boom. I really envy that feature. .....But more often it is the handiness of the M59 that gets the nod. The M59 has serious and surprising power coupled with a tight turn and good balance. Glad we got it; it's a keeper.
rScotty.

 

[crazyal]

The 580 is just so heavy. And with no 3pt or pto it's not that flexible. We have some red maples that will go 48" in diameter around here. A limb broke off of one from about 25' up. My 20" bar on the chainsaw wasn't long enough to cut it from one side. I had to take two of them simply because of the danger of a widow maker. Because of that I'm glad I did have the 580 (I think the M59 would have been slow but would have also did it) but now that those major jobs are done I envy you guys with the M59s.

 

[rScotty]

The 580 is just so heavy. And with no 3pt or pto it's not that flexible. We have some red maples that will go 48" in diameter around here. A limb broke off of one from about 25' up. My 20" bar on the chainsaw wasn't long enough to cut it from one side. I had to take two of them simply because of the danger of a widow maker. Because of that I'm glad I did have the 580 (I think the M59 would have been slow but would have also did it) but now that those major jobs are done I envy you guys with the M59s.

Al, I believe you've just named our M59.
Thanks, rScotty