Has anyone put brush sweeps and window guards on a 973? They are a great machine in trees but breaking windows is a pain and get expensive. Granted I might be a little rough in brush but even being careful it seems I always break at least one window every time I get in trees. This last job has been bad, been pushing brush for a couple of weeks, broke front window and two side ones. Dang hedge rows are the worst. I'm thinking of going to a rock quarry screen with tubing or heavy flat steel to brace it. The stuff I'm in goes from small saplings to trees I can't pick the root wad up even with a 73. I've got a lot more to push and get more all the time as people learn what you can do with one of these big machines.
I don't see any reason you couldn't. I'm not sure if the cab shape is close to a dozer where you could use screens off something else. I think you're on the right track wanting to use quarry screen or similar. It wouldn't be hard to have some rectangular tubing bent to make your sweeps. I've done some with round tube on smaller dozers and it worked well. There's a limit to what they'll hold but the right material and mounting would get you a factory level of protection. Where in Mo are you?
Not much room for the sweeps on the front with double bucket cylinders. I would like to find some pictures of protectors on this particular loader but have looked extensively on the internet and come up with nothing. Little town of Paris Mo. lots of farm ground around me, the farmers just keep clearing fence rows to make bigger fields. One I just got done with is about three thousand acres of fields without taking the header off. Not one field, it has a few roads threw it. I took out around three miles or more of old fence lines on this one farm in the last couple of years.
Brushing guards on a 955K, just old crusher screen. Worked great
Do you have a rollover structure on it. If so gravel screen works well. If not we built a Canopy for a D6 that was equipped with a non rollover agricultural cab. We used 4 each 4" x 1/2" tubes and fitted them from the fender mounts up thru the roof and built a tree protection canopy over top the cab. We left the 1/2" roof steel plate stick out 4" beyond the cab exterior and bolted the removable gravel screens to the bottom of the overhang and to the fenders. While not a true rollover protection it held up fine to any big tree that would fall on it. The toughest part was screening the door and making it still work. We made a separate outer door of protective frame and screen. We had to open the sliding cab window and swing the outer door open first. It worked OK once you got used to it. You will want some head protection in big timber. Its only a matter of time before something comes crashing thru.
Rops and full cab. I wouldn't want an open cab in brush. Rather have a window broke than my face. Really don't want either!
I've thought lots of days about caging my 53 as well. Hedge brush is just plain destructive on cab windows. That crap is so springy the slightest little limb under tension just destroys a window in a heartbeat. John
Yep, and they have lots of them in every random direction. If that's not enough they grab they're buddy beside them when pushed and it wraps around the cab. Horrible trees to push but man do they burn a pile to nothing.
Oughta try the same in a patch of Honey Locust trees!! Damn ignorant refugees from time gone by have spikes like needles and snag onto any or every thing just before swinging free like a mace or cat of nine tails in herds!!
I get into lots of them. The moment you hear that loud crack when pushing them you know it's stump digging time. Some of them up to two foot in dia. or more. If I had my choice it would be cedars groves and small soft maples but that rarely happens.
Locust stumps are a royal pain to dig. I I I swear the Taproot on them runs to bedrock. I'd love to have a steady diet of cedars and soft maples. Post oak are my second least favorite tree to push they got a helluva hairy rootwad that sticks them in the ground in our black gumbo clay. John
Luckily bedrock here was terraced down to in the Golden days. Most of my Locust trees have less then 6' of Tap root to solid rock. Our house actually sits on bedrock.