Tree shear on mini-ex?

[houska]

Anyone with experience running a small-ish tree shear on a mid-sized miniexcavator?

After a few days of bashing in forest trails with my KX-040 using just blade, bucket, and chainsaw, videos like the below are very interesting. Especially as I contemplate how much of my forest could use thinning some day soon after I finish (har-har!) the trails.

The below is a TMK 200. I might be limited to a TMK 150 with my smaller machine, and probably couldn't justify the tiltrotator or collector, just the shear itself. There are also other brands, like KX 210 (not Kubota in spite of the model number). It ought to be a time saver, and I think also better in terms of safety. I try to be careful, but chainsaw felling even 5-6" trees in a wooded area does carry risks, and pushing/pulling with the excavator bucket can tip things towards the cab rather than away all too easily. So snipping smaller trees and larger bushes with a shear and laying them down in controlled fashion has clear advantages.

However, I worry that most videos about these beasts are from northern Europe, with different vegetation patterns. My white pine, oak, and maple are tougher than their alder and aspen, and 8" nominal cutting capacity might be overstated to begin with.

Most of what I'm dealing with is more than 2-3", and I have rocky ground. So a boom-mounted brush cutter or mulcher, of the size a 4-ton miniex could handle, don't seem to be as useful.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jrasband]

Do you not have a thumb? If you do why not just push the tree over, grab and go?

 

[Hay Dude]

Chainsaw

 

[oldnslo]

No experience with this style shear but have seen shear on skid steers that leave a sharp edge on the cut which cuts tires, people, etc. TMK claims scissor like action so they supposedly leave a clean cut.

 

[houska]

Do you not have a thumb? If you do why not just push the tree over, grab and go?

Chainsaw

Both great in theory. And in practice too, if trees are sparse so you can drop it where it wants to go (chainsaw), push it away from you without getting hung up and without discovering its roots are deeply under a large rock (excavator), and you can easily access the trunk at a good angle to extract it (thumb). But too often the "right" direction is exactly "wrong" when cutting through dense young forest.

It's doable, of course. I'm still here and the forest trails are longer. I may even be getting a bit better at it. But snip, lift, rotate house, and set down in controlled fashion seems a lot faster. If it actually works.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

If you are making trails why would you want a bunch of stumps sticking out of the ground? Seems like anything that could be cut with a shear would be pretty easy for a mini-ex to extract from the ground.

 

[mikester]

I've been wanting to rent a tree shear like this with 15" cut capacity...no luck in my area

For people saying "just use a chainsaw" I've got a couple of acres of invasive and close growing poplar tree weeds along by back field I want to clear. I want a quick way to take them down and cut them up and not have to worry about falling branches and hung up trees.

 

[Jrasband]

I wish poplars grew here like weeds :/

 

[Seven Gables]

Anyone with experience running a small-ish tree shear on a mid-sized miniexcavator?

After a few days of bashing in forest trails with my KX-040 using just blade, bucket, and chainsaw, videos like the below are very interesting. Especially as I contemplate how much of my forest could use thinning some day soon after I finish (har-har!) the trails.

The below is a TMK 200. I might be limited to a TMK 150 with my smaller machine, and probably couldn't justify the tiltrotator or collector, just the shear itself. There are also other brands, like KX 210 (not Kubota in spite of the model number). It ought to be a time saver, and I think also better in terms of safety. I try to be careful, but chainsaw felling even 5-6" trees in a wooded area does carry risks, and pushing/pulling with the excavator bucket can tip things towards the cab rather than away all too easily. So snipping smaller trees and larger bushes with a shear and laying them down in controlled fashion has clear advantages.

However, I worry that most videos about these beasts are from northern Europe, with different vegetation patterns. My white pine, oak, and maple are tougher than their alder and aspen, and 8" nominal cutting capacity might be overstated to begin with.

Most of what I'm dealing with is more than 2-3", and I have rocky ground. So a boom-mounted brush cutter or mulcher, of the size a 4-ton miniex could handle, don't seem to be as useful.

Any thoughts?

I’ve got quite a few hours operating a mini ex shear mostly in my orchard. My need was to reduce the size of some older overgrown sweet cherry trees that had reached 25-30ft down to a max height of about 20’. With limb diameter generally in the 3-6” range a pole saw wasn’t going to work and at 20’ out of reach of my Stihl power pruner.
The shear needed to be compact , maneuverable and able to make flush thinning cuts inside the tree canopy as well as the height limiting heading cuts. A shear with a grab as most have would be too bulky and cause collateral damage inside the canopy. Nothing was available to fit my needs so I designed and built my own.
I bought a M&M hydronip 8” capacity shear head only and a AVS rotator capabile of radial loads. Designed and built the framework to combine the two along with the pin mount. Worked excellent for my needs.
I think for what you’re wanting to do a shear with the grab would work. 360 rotation is a big plus but adds quite a increase in price and you need dual auxiliary hydraulic circuits.
JB equipment a UK company makes quite a nice selection of shears. I’ve never seen one up close but they appear to be quality and even with the rotator added very competitive on price.
Here’s a couple pics of my home built unit in some sweet cherry trees.