Will a TC35 make a good wood lot clearer ?

[dirtwhisperer]

I am looking at buying a 14 acre wooded lot. Mostly some 7-14 inch trees and a good deal of brush. The land is relatively flat. I would like to cut a road into it and eventually clear 2-3 acres leaving several trees standing but removing some as well. Time is on my side as I would just want to work on this lot as time permits. Is this do-able with a TC35 and FEL w/toothbar and any rear attacment such as box blade or would I find myself giving up and hiring a bulldozer in the end ? I would think stump removal could be the biggest problem - but possibly renting a stump grinder towards the end of the project to grind the bigger stumps out.
Anyone with some suggestions ?
Other thoughts are to bring in dozer for 8-16 hours and let it rip a good bit up and then use tractor ?

 

[bczoom]

I would think that a lot of that can be done with the TC35+FEL.

I'd give it a try with that and if/when you need, bring in a dozer or backhoe.

I prefer to dig out the stumps over grinding. For some reason, everything I bury or leave in the ground comes back to haunt me later.

What kind of trees do you have? To remove stumps, it's often easier to dig around the stump with the FEL and pull the whole tree over to get the stump out. The weight of the tree falling over will rip the stump out.

Brian

 

[dirtwhisperer]

A lot of locust, some ash.

 

[shoppintractors]

<font color="blue"> For some reason, everything I bury or leave in the ground comes back to haunt me later.</font>

The Mother-in-Law? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Don /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[RedRocker]

That's pretty much what I've been doing with a CK30, a TC35 was on my short list too. I rented a stump grinder for a day and did all the stumps I had to deal with. I think you'd be happy with the TC.

 

[johnday]

dirt; That's what I bought my 35DA for. Along with dirt work. I've got mostly sand, and it's pretty good to a point. With a backhoe it would be even better. With a tree that I absolutely have to remove, I'll push it over and drag it out. I'm talking trees in the 8"-10" range. Anything bigger I'll cut it down and grind the stumps. I just had some good sized oak stumps ground. The guy shows up with a 75HP Duetz powered Rayco. Makes real short work of the offending old stump. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Wipp]

I started cutting roads in my hilly 30-acre woods with my TC-30 (loader&rear blade) and chain saw. It didn't take me long to realize I wasn't using the best tools for the job. I hired a guy with a small dozer for $60.00 an hour and in a couple of hours he had all the rough work done. The trees were knocked down with most of the root systems coming up too.
The road beds were level and he moved enough dirt to minimize erosion.
While I'm always amazed at how much work I can get done with my TC, the dozer got done in three hours what may have taken me three years.

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Other thoughts are to bring in dozer for 8-16 hours and let it rip a good bit up and then use tractor ?
)</font>

Getting a dozer in first is exactly what I'd do. Let the dozer clear the major paths into your woods. After the dozer leaves, use the TC35 to clean up and build your road. That will give you some comparisons of how long things take with the tractor compared to the dozer. Brush and small trees of 8" to 10" are okay with a FEL if they don't have a big root system. Otherwise, you will need a sturdy backhoe to dig arouund the stumps. In some cases the stump grinder will work, but in many places you will want to clear out all of it. That's where a dozer or backhoe will save you lots of time.

You can get a dozer for a day with an operator for less than $1000. That's money well spent in my estimation. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[bczoom]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> For some reason, everything I bury or leave in the ground comes back to haunt me later.</font>

The Mother-in-Law? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif)</font>

Now that there is funny!!! Do MIL's need to be buried to haunt? I thought a phone call or visit was adequate to get the haunting going.

DW,

If your locust have the nice spikes/thorns on them you'll want to watch your tires.

I concur with others that a dozer would make quick work of it but since you said time is on your side, I took it as a "putter" project and said go for it. Jim (jinmans) approach would show a lot of results quickly if you take that path.

Brian

 

[dirtwhisperer]

thanks - I think the dozer first option does sound good seeing that I don't have a lot of experience .
Other than having a grappler on the front - what is the easiest way to skid the logs out - rear chain them or use the front bucket with chains ?