Looking at these attachments www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClVUK7Sj4t0 Is anyone running one ?.... any opinions on them ? Looking for something different to the normal style drum mulcher Cheers
I have looked at that cutting head before, it seems well built and fast at cutting small trees. I wonder what a unit like that costs?
I have never seen one in action but it sure does take a small tree down in a hurry. Seems like the finished product is pretty big and chunky though. Not sure what that head costs but a New Fecon is a little over 30k for a skid steer.
over here in Aus , they are around $28k the FAE mulcher is around $35k
The mulch is rather chunky but for speed and depending on what the end use is, this attachment seems to "tote the mail". In my area we have many developments that were stopped back in the '08 crash that have been sitting vacant since then. Slowly the projects are being brought back to life and are covered in mostly small pines - 3-6" in diameter. I have several clients who either still own these parcels or new buyers looking to finish them out. There is nothing more aggravating that clearing the small pines as they break easily and hard to wad up without getting large amounts of dirt as well. Land and trees like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgHPuPgIL5M The chunky debris and small stumps left wouldn't be an issue as it would all be stripped and stocked as topsoil. The skid could tackle these trees quickly and efficiently, without using the 953 or D5. Any debris in the topsoil can always be wasted in a slope or other non-structural area. I was figuring in the $18-20K range here in the US. That's not totally out of the spectrum if the project is the right size or multiple projects are on the horizon. Also one could probably run a bush hog back over the cut area and reduce the size of the "mulch" if circumstances required it.
its either this attachment or a ' road-widner ' attachment the mulcher is something different that I haven't done before but it means that my business would diversifie or with the other attachment , it would be a complament to mt exsisiting business as all the other attachments are road-work related style attachments
Rockman, since you have other attachments gear toward roadwork I assume that's the bulk of what you do? If so this attachment throws a lot of debris, don't know if it would be practical clearing alongside roads unless they were closed or new ones.
this attachment would be for more doing weekend work , ie ( cash money ) , all my other work is for the local councils / government more for light clearing of horse paddocks
Gotcha. I really like this cutter, other than the fact it does throw debris. The job we are currently own (some pics on the last two pages of this thread, especially post #128 - ) was 3 acres total we had to clear. Most of it was small pine and hardwood re-growth, with a few larger trees around. This attachment would have made short work of the clearing, using one machine instead of a 953 and 321 - clearing, grubbing and pushing the mess around to the burn pit. We still ended up with a lot of smaller tree debris mixed with the topsoil, it's darn near impossible to separate it. The chunkier material produced by this cutter wouldn't have made a difference in this situation as we ended up wasting very nasty, debris filled topsoil in some of the slope and non-buildable areas. However the speed and efficiency would have made money.
Just my opinion, but if you're using it as a sideline I'd think you'd be happy with a (substantially) less expensive 3-blade, open front brush cutter just to get your feet wet. You can get a fairly decent cut with them up to 6" depending on the type of tree. They do process the material better if you're careful to lay the trees down inline with the machine. I did this patch with an inexpensive rental cutter with brush hog blades. It works fine on trees up to 5" diameter. It'll take out oaks trees up to that size too with a little more work.
Check out tbn there are a few guys over there that have tried the ECO head and they say that they don't hold up, and service after the sale is terrible.
thanks for that ... I have had a bit more of a think about it and am going to stay with what I know , ie: roadworks . I might look at the ' road widner " and a ' grader ' attachment , something that will more complitment by business .
I would think a 2-3 blade flail head is ideal for making quick work. It will cut brush and soft trees 2-5" with no problem. Although you would end up with a mixed bag of large and small liter material. Good Luck in your business.