Hey guys I got some questions. I am fixing to clear about 30 acres of cutover that I had cut 3 years ago. I have been back and forth on mulching versus excavating. I have decided to go ahead and excavate. I am sure that I will get opinions about other options but I think an excavator will be the best option for me. I have experience with an excavator as I own and old John Deere 70D(7 ton). I will also have a question about an issue I am having with this machine that I will post at the end of this. I have decided to rent an excavator to do this job and take time off and do this job myself. I am leaning toward renting a brand new cat 313f from a local rental place for a month and see how much I can get done. Some of you guys may think this is on the small side as its a 17 ton but its almost half the price of a 26 ton. It will have a thumb. I plan on doing all the stump pulling and making windrows with the stumps and then renting a medium size dozer when I am done to push into piles and burn.(still not sure if I want to dig pits for the burning or not, you guys tell me). I live in northeast Alabama and right now it is late winter/early spring and the ground is super soft and water logged. Let me know what you guys think. I have never taken on a job this size and I am unsure about what kind fuel costs I will have on this machine for 200 hours and other things to look out for. So my final went out on my 70D. All the fluid leaked out without me knowing somehow and it ran dry for some time. I have taken it apart and all the gears are cracked and wore down. I have called around and its going to cost around $3500 for a used one. I believe an Hitachi ex60 uses the same parts but is there another final used on another piece of equipment like a small dozer or something more readily available? Does anybody have an idea about where I could get one for a reasonable price or I have even thought about having a machine shop making me some gears and replacement parts. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any help would be great. Thanks
How big are the stumps?
In addition to Bls’s question, How many stumps or stumps/ac? (This will decide if you can do it in 200 hours), Curious on what is the rental rate? From what I have seen at sales, BIG excavators are generally cheaper to purchase then midi’s, so would a 35 ton or so, be cheaper? I’d think a bigger excavator, if there are a lot of trees or decent sized stumps and you want to get it done in 200 hours. A big excavator can make shorter work of some projects because of the power then smaller ones. I’d probably do it all with the excavator and not get the dozer, but I have not do that type of job, its just how i’d go about it. As for your final drive, I have no answer.
I'm going to take a shot in the dark and assume the trees were pretty good size otherwise I doubt there would be any benefit as far as logging them. As jonno634 said, how many stumps per acre? To me that would be the deciding factor. Basically, I can't see anyway a person could get over 30 acres of good sized stumps in 40 hrs with 17 ton machine unless you only had like 10 stumps per acre. just my $.02
Personally I'm wanting to know the 'type of trees' (different trees, different root systems) the 'size of trees' that were cut and the 'soil composition'. Too many unknowns, it would just be a guess.
There are some pretty big stumps 30"-40" but I am not sure how many. It was oak and pine mostly. The smaller pine stumps 6" or smaller are so rotten that I can kick them out. The ground is so saturated after 2 months of straight rain that I think it would make for easy digging. From what I have seen the biggest excavator that I can rent is a 26 ton and its about $3000 more than the 17 ton. How can I rent a bigger one and why would they rent it cheaper?
Demand...
You're not going to RENT a bigger one cheaper, unless you can find some odd situation where somebody owns an older one that will rent it for less than "retail". You can usually BUY a bigger old excavator cheaper than smaller old ones because the bigger ones are so hard to move that their value drops, this applies to bigger than 26 ton mostly. Short of an unusual deal, I think you're best value IS going to be renting the bigger one, you'll get more done per dollar. Unless you do have very few big stumps and you could get it done in 200 hours with a smaller one- depending on what the monthly vs two week and hourly charges work out to on the different sizes. Or you could do a week with the bigger one then finish with yours once it's fixed. Have you checked parts to rebuild your final? Maybe even alibaba? Find the individual part numbers and search machinery trader's used parts search.
Oak stumps are big and deep. Maples and such up and out in 10-15 mins. Oaks a hour and then had to move them. 30 ton machine. John
Delmar have you ever used Alibaba for anything? I actually can find the individual parts on Alibaba but they will not accept paypal or any u.s. third party transaction. Has anyone ever had any luck buying frim over seas like this? John, was the ground frozen with what you are referring to on 10-15 mins. for a maple stump? That's sounds a little high for my area. no offense.
I have been clearing 6 acres of woods. Oak maple cherry. Ill be between 50-60 hours and Im using 314C with a thumb and D6. 30"-40" oak stumps I took out my 314 could barely lift them. they were the size of a car. 8" to 12" stuff comes right out easily. thank goodness my projects are for my self or I would want a 330 and D8 if i was doing this for a living...
No offence most of my maple where the 30-50 inch range and hollow. Never came out in one piece and you had a lot of cleanup. Oaks 30 to 40 inch and where best taken out as a whole tree so you had leverage to help push them over and the stumps where like car bodies. A ripper tooth would be helpful to cut roots and make less of a hole when done. Best rig I seen was my neighbors D8H with a splitting attachment on the blade corner he’d split off a side of the stump while a blade cut the roots down 12-14 inches deep on the horizontal back up and split off some more he’d only need 10-15 mins on a big oak stump. John
Keep in mind when renting, the rental fees are based on a 40 hr week wether you do 40 hrs in 4 days or 7. Also when renting you are responsible for any damage may it be cosmetic or mechanical. Some things to consider. I’d rather see an oversized machine than undersized. A small machine on 30 acres will feel like moving 100 yards fill with a wheelbarrow lol.
Haul trucks are very useful on big sites
I don't think any of my stumps are that big. I am going to try and get out and walk it this weekend
Ok. I just did my best impression of a walkaround. I did not find one 30 inch stump. There were a few 27's. Mostly 20 and below. Also saw very few oak. What I did notice was how little visibility there was due to the tall grass and the downew logs and limbs there were. Makes me think I maybe should try and rent a dozer for a few days and do some pushing before I get the excavator. What do you guys think? Am I just going to be trying to push piles against stumps?
Highlander who are you renting from? If you don't want to post on the open board PM me. There are several rental options in the area but it's going to be hard to find a 30 ton to rent without going to Thompson, Cowin or TEC. We did the Irish auto parts store in Pell City and one of my super's lives south of I-20 around Lincoln, so I know your neck of the woods fairly well.
I bought an exhaust manifold for a loader with a 6B Cummings. It was odd for that machine. I purchased it straight from China using PayPal. It cost about 25% of the equipment dealer or Cummins price. A friend of mine that buys a lot of overseas stuff said: " Use only PayPal it has more security " ?
Yes, I've purchased from alibaba. Not something as critical or expensive as this, but my experiences were fine. I can't remember if I used paypal or a credit card. A credit card has just as good of protection as paypal as far as getting the stuff and it being as described.
The guys I have found won't take paypal. That is the issue I am having. I didn't think about using a credit card, but the contact said to do a wire transfer. I will ask about the credit card. CM1995 I got a quote from cowin, Thompson and united. Didn't check with TEC. I have sort of decided to go with southeastern out of gadsen. It's not a 30 ton,but a 17.
Run away! It could be some guy with an office in the spare bedroom or a foreign country. When you do a wire transfer it is gone and you can never get it back. I have found some interesting info by googling phone numbers, addresses, and customer revues. Then then take the address to google maps.
don't do it , it probably wont end well, and if it is a scam you will be fighting your card company when they clean your account out. The best way to do the job would be to find a local contractor with a big machine and have him pull the stumps ( repairs are on his dime ) then you can clean up the stumps later, and for the brush he can throw it out of his road faster than you playing with a cat your self. if you buy or rent a machine you can spend more on repairs than his bill real fast.
Yeah, there is no way I am doing a money order. As of right now it would cost me $30K minimum to pay someone to clear the land. Renting the equipment will come in under $10K. Also I will have repair insurance and will only pay a deductible if something goes down
Another of my opinions, worth nothing: -To ME- $30,000 -is way more- than I would pay. (but then I'm cheap) Before I'd pay -$30,000 PLUS dollars- to do the work I would buy a used piece of equipment (FROM someone known in the US, preferably where you can see what you are buying ), do the work, and sell it (if I didn't want to keep it) later! I bought a GOOD Cat 312 from Jerre Martin in Penn and had it shipped to NMO for a little more than that. I could sell it but it is now a requirement to get things done on my farm.
yeah that is the age old conundrum. It was my original plan until you see how much parts are for this older equipment. If I bought something and a pump or motor went out I would be in a pickle
Simple -Buy from a reputable owner/dealer that will provide a 30 to 90 day breakdown guarantee. Us it. Within the guarantee time period you will know know if it's good. -OR- Buy one from someone unknown for something you have never seen with no guarantee . . . . . "If I bought something and a pump or motor went out I would be in a pickle" . . . . IMHO -$30 THOU$AND PLUS -is still a lot to pay- for clearing downed trees, stumps {the way you describe them} in that size area. (Even dividing the THIRTY THOUSAND dollars by per hour rates makes no sense -to me-, but then I'm CHEAP and want to know exactly what I'm getting for my dollars) It's always -your choice-, not mine. Good luck . . . .
Check the insurance on renting equipment. Most Of the time it Doesn’t cover repairs from Customer damage make sure you understand what it does and doesn’t cover
I will second the opinions of the others on just buying a machine then selling it when done. sounds like you and were at same cross point with similar projects. Good deals/machines are out there. only problem I have now is instead of selling the machines I just keep finding more projects..