hey i know i've seen this picture on here before and i didn't know what it was but i found this site and it kind of explains it a little better. has anybody seen this happen or been involved? kida cool idea. any action shots? mabey? http://www.vannattabros.com/dozer14.html
I've always wondered about that too: it seems like the chain would tend to 'ride up' over the trees and just bend them over...maybe it's a heavier chain than I am thinking :beatsme at any rate, I wonder if those Komatsu's have given any gooseggs to the drivers by whacking the 'house' (as he calls it) while climbing into the seat :Banghead the bar looks just about head height!
komatsu i have seen these pictures before and they are refered to as cat d9,s deas plant is the man who knows
I have heard that this same process was used to clear brush for farming in the deserts of Southern California. Supposedly it removes the brush and somewhat levels the land in between the dozers without pilling up a lot of dirt. They can clear a large area in a short time this way. We don't have any big trees, just brush and cactus 2-10 feet high. Years ago when they were doing this, I think they used D8s or D9s.
That guy in the photo is a good friend of mine. They pull those chains between 2 large dozers, and everything in between them goes down. Those chains are very heavy. There are photos in some books about how chains were used with a large steel ball to help hold them down, I don't think they have too much trouble with it climbing as they pull , do to the weight. That guy prefers Komatsu dozers, he said when they used Cats what ever the chain was attached to would break off.
Where's Deas when ya need him?:sleeping
I have done similar thing with a long length of 3/8s steel cable for taking down black berry brambles and it works good to rip them out. I used a tree as a dead man and hooked the other end to my 1 ton flatdeck with some weight over the rear wheels. What ever did rip out the thorns got ripped off and I could get into the berry patch and start cutting. You look at that stud link chain each link has got to weigh atleast 15-20lbs the total length of chain is heavy.
Each of those link is more like ~50lbs IIRC
I wouldnt be suprised if it was more...
I re-looked at the picture and I was a little off on my weight estimate the link weight is 66lbs to 85lbs. You judge the thermos is the picture and the round stock that makes up the link is anywhere from 2 3/4 to 3 inches thick.
Back in the 40's they used that system with a ball in the middle to clear forest behind Hungry Horse dam on the south fork of the flathead river in Montana. The ball is on display in the town of Hungry Horse. It was about 8' in dia. (sure looked bigger when I was a kid) I suppose a cat back then had to have a big one in order to pull down a forest. LOL Here is a picture of the sign about the ball. I think the ball must have been scraped and this is what is left because I don't remember seeing it last time I was there.