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

crashz · Jan 28, 2022

I was going to ask the same.

I'm gonna guess based upon the OP's answers and picture, but maybe he has an acre at home to clear and maybe other lot(s) to clear fire damage as well. BTW I have basically the same tractor arsenal (JD 770 and L2501)

So here is what I would do:
- At home, I'd start by mowing underbrush (less than 1") with a brush hog. Get a decent one, but not too expensive. You're gonna beat it up. Make sure it has a PTO shaft clutch and leave it a bit loose. Don't believe the hype about 2 and 3" cutting. A typical brush hog would be lifted in the air by trying to back over a 2" tree. And it will make some racket.

- Back into the brush. I won't cut questionable stuff by driving over it first. All the fragile parts are in front of and underneath the tractor.
- The EA and Piranha tooth bars work OK for cleaning up minor underbrush and the occasional small tree (2"max). Its no dozer. To me, these only help the loader dig into piles, not really a clearing tool. But I have never wanted to remove my Piranha bar. It digs sod nicely.
- Chainsaw the stuff you can't cut with the brush hog. Chop up to manageable lengths to handle with your loader. I like my forks to pick up log lengths. Leave the stumps up a bit. Chip, burn or haul away.
- I think you mentioned your 790 has a backhoe. Take your time and dig the stumps out.

Those would be the methods I would use for small areas around the house. If you have large tracks of land or remote lots, I would do as others have mentioned and contact NRCS to see if they can help with having a forestry contractor clean up the property.

Blue hood · Jan 28, 2022

As the Greek inventor Archimedes said, "Give me a foothold and I will move the world" and those words could apply to any size tool.

I own a land as you do that needs to be cleared of 700 big fruit trees (1.5' dia. x 30' tall), and when I saw in youtube the system, you would see at the end of this mail, I called the guy to purchase his "tool" that was for sale.

I modified his system using a 6 ton winch installed on my tractor and eliminated the 6:1 block and tackle, so I don't have to pull the rope with the tractor and reset the system like him. In other words my tractor doesn't move, (I'm not using the drawbar pull force), and at the end my tractor winch could pull with a force around 30 ton.

Here what is important is the time and effort you are saving by using a smaller and inexpensive "tool" and forget as I did my backhoe that it will take forever just to dig out one tree stump.

By the way, the guy was using an 18 HP tractor, so size it's not the issue.

JasperFrank · Jan 28, 2022

Rent a Bull Dozer. Just like everyone else said to do.

Blue hood · Jan 29, 2022

I guess that a picture is worth a thousand words, so the next youtube is the other side of the coin, of course considering that you have the budget and the skills to operate a midsize bulldozer with rippers.

John_Mc · Jan 29, 2022

Are you dealing mostly with brush, saplings and small trees, or more mature growth?

I'm not at all a fan of pushing over trees of any significant size with a compact tractor. There is a lot of danger in attempting that (both to you and to your tractor, and that danger is multiplied when you are dealing with dead or fire-damaged trees.

The tractor can be a HUGE help in cleaning up once the large trees are down, but getting them down is much better done with a chainsaw (in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing and has experience in directional felling) or much larger equipment (rented, if you have some experience in operating it, or hired out). Working in fire-damaged woods is not the best place to be learning to use a chainsaw or heavy equipment to deal with large trees.

If you are using a tractor, a grapple on the front end is a must for the clean-up work. There are a lot of different styles. Most of my grapple work is in moving logs cut to length from trees I've dropped with a chainsaw. A forestry grapple (Frostbite, Sundown GR40, and another brand or two that I can't remember right now) was my choice due to it's narrow profile which makes maneuvering in tight spaces easier. It grips logs really well, and is light weight, so more of your lift capacity is left for the log. It does faily well for brush, but due to its more open design, it's not good at raking up debris. If you are dealing more with brush and debris and maneuvering in tight spaces is not so much an issue, some of the designs that are wider and have multiple tines forming a sort of "basket" on the bottom may be a better choice.

If you are working in woods that will not be completely cleared, a logging winch can be a huge help. You can pull trees you have felled out of the woods without having to have a tractor path right up to each tree. If you are working on an open clearing, you can probably get by without a logging winch. I'm not really a fan using an electric winch on a tractor. It might be OK for just the occasional odd tree or large limb here or there, but they are incredibly slow, the duty cycle is low (so you need to let things cool down after just short bit of winching), and most tractors' electrical systems just aren't up to the task of keeping your battery charged up and in good shape during a full day of winch use.

Blue hood · Jan 30, 2022

I don't agree that electric winches are slow at 65 FPM and with a 5X mechanical advantage rigging system that doesn't use the whole force of the winch, (translated to amperes), the duty cycle isn't low.
What it's only needed is a heavy duty deep cycle battery.

Anyway, the tree stumps don't move over 15' and don't even take more than a minute to be extracted this way.
By the time the rigging system it's installed on the next tree stump the winch it's already cool enough, if needed, to continue extracting.

Hydraulic winches around the same size and weight use around 15.9 GPM (that most tractors don't have that flow), and only spools around 23 FPM.

jyoutz · Jan 30, 2022

Kschwennsen said:
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?

A tiller is not a suitable implement for grinding or chopping roots unless the roots are very small.

Blue hood · Jan 30, 2022

The winch it's installed at the tractor's front, between the bumper and the "blue hood", and the position to spool the winch cable in when the loader is down, the bucket's teeth are anchoring the tractor on the soil and the front tires raised. The backhoe stabilizers could be dropped if needed.

I reinforce the tractor's front frame welding across 3/4" x 4" flat steel bars.
At the back it has the backhoe subframe.

I already tested when some neighbors lose their trees in some storms.