What attachments should you use on a tractor to clear land.

[Gee Ray]

NOT true, a stump grinder works just fine on a gear drive tractor with creep gears.

SR

I am not sure how slow a L3301 is in low range, first gear, at 540 rpm but I know holding the clutch would get real old in a big hurry.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I am not sure how slow a L3301 is in low range, first gear, at 540 rpm but I know holding the clutch would get real old in a big hurry.

I don't know how slow low range/first gear is in his tractor either, but that's not creep gears, and creep gears in a gear drive tractor IS slow enough.

SR

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

OP,

Some pictures would help. We don't know what the actual work entails. Are all the trees already down? How big are they? Lots of bushes and brush? How tall?

I've "cleared" brush with just a 3pt brush hog and the bucket on the FEL for pushing over SMALL trees. Worked fine. If the brush is small enough you can drive over it (I've driven over brush 6 feet high), the brush hog will cut them. Sometimes you can cut down thicker stuff by backing the brush hog over them. If it's chainsaws to cut down trees, then a grapple to move them once they are "bite sized" enough for your FEL. If you can't burn, then a chipper (could rent one once you have everything down and stacked ready to go).

You can clear a lot of land with just one guy, a hand shovel, a hand axe and a wheel barrow. It will just take much longer to do. So, how fast you need it done will drive what tools you need to make it fast. A large dozer, a big excavator and a motor-grader will be the fastest. Along with a large wheel loader with grapple dumping into 18 wheelers with end dump trailers hauling off site to the landfill. But this will cost the most. Like much in life speed takes $.

A CUT with a few attachments will do it all. But it will take much longer, and likely require more manual labor then the high dollar solution above.

 

[oosik]

Reddogs - coming in on cleanup after a fire is a lot of NASTY work. It will be dirty, lots of ash, soot and charred trees, burned brush. It's a good idea to wear dust masks. If you plan on hitting it with a chainsaw - get all the help you can muster. The help does not have to be professionals. Lug and pile cut chunks of trees, pull, pile brush etc. Somebody to bring water to those working. Workers will tend to forget and can become dehydrated. I've done this previously - not one of my favorite memories.

 

[Egon]

I am not sure how slow a L3301 is in low range, first gear, at 540 rpm but I know holding the clutch would get real old in a big hurry.

It would not be too bad. The clutch would wear out quickly.

 

[Fielding]

Just hire a forestry mulcher, everything will be ground to paste in a day.

then use your compact to clean up after.

 

[Kschwennsen]

3 yrs experiance but for the seat riders only this would be my thoughts.

Small brush - use a regular mower you don't mind scratching a little
large brush - brush hog,
Rocks and small trees - FEL with bucket/grapple
large trees - FEL with Forks and chainsaw to log / notch
brush piles - FEL w/ forks/grapple
Roots - 3P tiller or subsoiler
level dirt - weighted back blade

Thoughts?

 

[WranglerX]

Probably going to have to drop any dead snags and chop up anything on ground to a size the will fit in FEL, tractor with FEL is good for moving things, just not what a bulldozer will do for you.... IF it requires bulldozer work hire it out... Probably a one time expense.... IN last few years have had snow and mono winds bring down several large trees, and if its to big to fit in FET bucket its not going to move.... Chain saw is going to be your new best friend if you can not hire a bulldozer...Most land clearance contractors in my area use a crew to reducer size of material and skid steers with front grapples to move stuff....

 

[Jac65]

I have looked at what the salesmen say will 'clear land' with a 30-40 hp tractor, but usually it seems to fall short of cutting heavy vegetation and large brush, to say nothing of trees. What can be used especially in the front of midsized tractor to knock down, mulch or grind to clear land.

Just a couple of questions. How much land do you want to clear, one acre, 10 500? Second what is your timeframe? You can do a lot quickly with big equipment, and you can do a lot with a small tractor, but it's going to be a slower process.

 

[oldpilot]

I've been brush-hogging the woods and small fields since 1975. The first rotary was a five-foot tow-behind I inherited with the tractor from my late father-in-law. Tractor was a fairly new International Harvester 284 (so 28 hp), actualy a Japanese Bison wearing an American overcoat. the rotary mower kept getting hung up, and eventually I replaced it with a five-foot Mule (can't remember the full name, but it had Mule in it) which eventually froze up and would have cost as much to rebuild as to buy new. The tractor too was dying after 40 years. I bought a four-foot Land Pride rotary and a Mahindra 1626 tractor, I think it's 25 hp. Any one of the three brush hogs did the job just fine: if I could knock the tree over with the tractor, the rotary could chew it up. Two inches diameter? -- no, I'd use the chainsaw for that.

I've never seen a front-mounted tree-chewer unless there was a genuine logger operating it.