To say I'm impressed would be an understatement!!!

[Taiser]

Well today was finally time to start grubbing further around the house with my little B7800. I'm planning on clearing an extra 3 acres or so. The weather finally got warm enough to start doing this but the ground is only thawed down a few inches. Today was a balmy +4C (but it was much nicer a week ago!).

To be honest I didn't think the little guy could handle it. Most of the trees now are over 30' high and it was THICK stuff at that. Man was I wrong. The little champ plowed through that mess like it was not there. Even falling the trees was no hassle!!! 4-5 inch diameter trees were pushed from up high and down they came, even popping most of the roots out of the still somewhat frozen ground !! A few trees were just too stubborn though and the fact that I will want to keep some kept me from going completely nuts so I will still have to revert to the old husqvarna to cut some of the bigger ones, but man it sure is nice not having to haul those out by hand, it pushes whatever I put in front of it!

I'm glad I took the B over the BX, although now I'm pretty sure the BX could have done the job but I just don't think the plastic fenders would have held up in this mess, and the tranny fan for sure would have bought the farm in this stuff!

I should have taken some before shots but just so you know it's so thick in there that you can't walk through it! I took some after shots though and I'll take some more when I get back to the job with the little guy in action. If you look at the last few pictures you can see the thickness of the bush where I haven't tackled it yet!!!

Again man am I impressed with what this little thing can do!!! I cleared all this in about 2 hours. Last summer I did the same amount by hand in about a month of part timing it. This summer is gonna be fun!!! I'll add more shots to the thread as the job goes on maybe next week (but it's suppose to be cold and I gotta work this weekend).

 

[art]

Tractors sure are fun! Enjoy!

 

[chrisjbell]

I often wonder what I would do without my tractor. I guess the answer would be to leave things more...natural .

 

[Timber]

I am glad you are enjoying your B7800, I so love mine and you are correct about being surprised at what it can do. Mine still impresses me now and then.if you just want to knock them over when the ground thaws and it gets wet they go right over but the the ground gives under the tractor. The BX is a great tractor and probably would have done the job for you. My use is pretty much the same as yours and ground clearance was the issue for me. I know if I didn't have my tractor there would just be things I simply wouldn't even consider doing. By the way did you buy a set of forks to clamp on to your loader. I use mine to lift my trees and log them up. Its great to run the saw at waist hight LOL. Mad will give you a set of plans or you can use 2X4s wedged into you bucket. Lay 2 down like forks and then cut 2 uprights to wedge under the top lip and pin the back of the 2X4 to the bottom. Have fun and be safe

 

[jbrumberg]

Taiser:

Great pictures ! A lot of larger tractor owners do not understand how much one can accomplish with a Class II CUT and/or the benefits. My NH TC29DA is pretty much the "equivalent" of the B7800 and can accomplish the same tasks. It was a toss up for me when it was time to choose which way to go when I purchased my tractor. Good Work . Jay

 

[WayneB]

Mark those are really neat pictures!

Just wondering what the final plan is for the 3+ acres you wish to clear? I have the B-7500 and it is also a little work horse. Problem with clearing land here is the wife wants more yard and grass, which just makes more work.

Wayne

 

[Taiser]

Ha! Tell me about it.

I got moose and deere often in the yard which nobody minds but when the bears started showing up that was my wife's final straw. We actually live in a fully developed area but my property backs up on to a river (forested area) so it's not developed at the rear. There are only two of us (my neighbour and me) next to each other with these acreages, everybody else has standard 1/2 acre lots.

One day last summer my wife was walking the 350' or so to the mailbox and a 300 lbs black bear popped it's head out of the dense bush that I'm taking down now. I don't know who ran faster, her towards the house or the bear in the opposite direction .

Bears are pretty harmless around here as there is lots of food, but I can see how she would be unimpressed with the encounter (plus you just never know with these things). She DEMANDED I start clearing that area, which wasn't a bad idea anyways, all kinds of things live in there, skunks, porcupines (for sure) and other less desirable things.

Of course to do a proper job I told her I needed a tractor. We got a few quotes from landscaping companies and balked at the price. Better to buy your own machine and do the work ourselves (then I have a machine to keep when it's done ) Normally she would have a seizure over that kind of expense, especially since she wants a new car, but she didn't even skip a beat, she said "Whatever you need get it, just clear that mess out!!"

I should slip that bear a steak to thank him one day!! Without him I wouldn't have the 'bota and the wife would have a new SUV or something ! The area will be grass, with the occasional tree. It won't stop the bears from coming but at least they won't be popping out of the bush 5' from her, she will at least see them at a distance!

This is a photo of the property I took last spring when I was updating my flight training, think I posted this before. The yellow lines are the property lines. The area inside the red is what I want to try and clear this year and then work my way back slowly in the future. I'm still keeping about 30 feet of bush on the property lines, the privacy is nice.

Lots of work ahead!