Clearing trees and brush - exc or dozer?

[Catbuster]

The reason I ask is because for long and skinny an excavator wins every time.

For production, it’s hard to beat an 80,000 lb class machine with a 36-42” bucket and a progressive link hydraulic thumb. Wider buckets make it too hard to dig through roots while you’re stumping and you move a lot more dirt than needed, which makes for more cleanup. You don’t need the width, because branches and trees are long anyway.

A 65,000 pound class machine (Cat 329/330F, Komatsu PC290, Deere 270/300, Link Belt 290/300X4) works too, and has plenty of power. But going up to a 336 Cat/350 Deeretachi, Link-Belt Case, etc or Komatsu PC360 nets you almost 10’ more reach. A 100,000 pound class machine (Cat 349, Komatsu/Link-Belt 490, Deeretachi 470) nets you a lot more power, but also weight on not that much more undercarriage…Especially with a 349, meaning… Stuck much easier, and harder to get out. And They have a lot larger counterweight overhang to hit stuff with.

For 1/4 mile wide, if you really want it cleared quickly, you may want to look pairing a 336 with a D6 size machine. You will damage a six-way (VPAT) blade clearing with it. I usually paired a 336 with a 953 or 963 track loader (or as we call them in central KY, a high lift) with the loader chasing/rolling piles, cleaning up and raking loose stuff up. Crawler loaders are kinda hard to find out west for some reason though.

If you have all winter, you could conceivably cut the trees down with a chainsaw, process them into logs, stack them with a much smaller excavator, then also stump with a much smaller excavator, more or less logging the property and then digging the stumps out and handling the slash piles (chipping or burning, dependent on what your air authority will allow) but not replanting trees.

I hope that helps and is understandable.

 

[Loony661]

The reason I ask is because for long and skinny an excavator wins every time.

For production, it’s hard to beat an 80,000 lb class machine with a 36-42” bucket and a progressive link hydraulic thumb. Wider buckets make it too hard to dig through roots while you’re stumping and you move a lot more dirt than needed, which makes for more cleanup. You don’t need the width, because branches and trees are long anyway.

A 65,000 pound class machine (Cat 329/330F, Komatsu PC290, Deere 270/300, Link Belt 290/300X4) works too, and has plenty of power. But going up to a 336 Cat/350 Deeretachi, Link-Belt Case, etc or Komatsu PC360 nets you almost 10’ more reach. A 100,000 pound class machine (Cat 349, Komatsu/Link-Belt 490, Deeretachi 470) nets you a lot more power, but also weight on not that much more undercarriage…Especially with a 349, meaning… Stuck much easier, and harder to get out. And They have a lot larger counterweight overhang to hit stuff with.

For 1/4 mile wide, if you really want it cleared quickly, you may want to look pairing a 336 with a D6 size machine. You will damage a six-way (VPAT) blade clearing with it. I usually paired a 336 with a 953 or 963 track loader (or as we call them in central KY, a high lift) with the loader chasing/rolling piles, cleaning up and raking loose stuff up. Crawler loaders are kinda hard to find out west for some reason though.

If you have all winter, you could conceivably cut the trees down with a chainsaw, process them into logs, stack them with a much smaller excavator, then also stump with a much smaller excavator, more or less logging the property and then digging the stumps out and handling the slash piles (chipping or burning, dependent on what your air authority will allow) but not replanting trees.

I hope that helps and is understandable.

Great info here.

 

[davidwyby]

Thinking more and to clarify, I think the goal would be to push back the overgrowth a road or two wide. As it is, a dozer would have nowhere to push to. The growth is very thick…large brush small tree stuff interspersed with real trees. A guy with a saw would have his work cut out for him cutting his way in. An ex/saw might be the best. Grapple (I don’t know if a thumb would grab enough) the brush away, spin and pile behind. Guy could get dizzy. Then when a real tree is reached, saw it…or I guess uproot depending on ex size.

Unfortunately I don’t know of a use for the logs. Basically like cottonwood. Pulp maybe but it doesn’t grow straight much.

 

[Catbuster]

Thinking more and to clarify, I think the goal would be to push back the overgrowth a road or two wide. As it is, a dozer would have nowhere to push to. The growth is very thick…large brush small tree stuff interspersed with real trees. A guy with a saw would have his work cut out for him cutting his way in. An ex/saw might be the best. Grapple (I don’t know if a thumb would grab enough) the brush away, spin and pile behind. Guy could get dizzy. Then when a real tree is reached, saw it…or I guess uproot depending on ex size.

Unfortunately I don’t know of a use for the logs. Basically like cottonwood. Pulp maybe but it doesn’t grow straight much.

Then a smaller (160/200 size) excavator with a 36” bucket and a thumb is what you’re looking for. Just make sure the bucket has a good set of teeth. Probably a 3 guy job. One guy in the excavator, a saw guy, and another guy on that five-ton you have in your avatar hauling the brush off.

Brushing with a bucket/thumb really isn’t too bad, just grab it below the ground, shake the dirt out, throw it into the truck or pile, level the hole out and move forward.

If you’re thinking a demolition style grapple… I thought that too at one point, tried it, and went right back to the skinny bucket and hydraulic thumb.

Editing to say… Maybe even a 130 with a 30” bucket. Two roads is ~16–20’ and getting that 200 swung around could be hard unless it’s zero tail swing, and those are expensive to rent and hard to find with a thumb.