My little John Deere 490E is a versitile little machine when the Shamrock Grapple is attached. I just left a demolition job and went directly to clearing land entirely with the Excavator. I push the trees over with the machine, because is makes dealing with the stumps so much easier. Then I cut off the stump and limbs, pile them up to be burned and deck the logs. I would recommend a Shamrock Pirhana grapple to anyone with an excavator. Burn piles are so much nicer, because there is no dirt. Try that with a bucket and thumb. www.petersfamilytrucking.com
Nice do you guys burn up there or grind?
That is a nice setup. Like you said all the dirt falls out so no dirt in the burn pile.
Some people prefer to grind, but I'm burning the debris and hauling out the wood.
Evil fire! (not) God! - would be so nice to live in a country where people don't want to lock you up in jail for burning some brush wood. I recon that red tape, rules and regulations, and law gone mad will prosecute us soon for passing wind:ban - do something for us people with common sence over here and the next time you light a fire make it twice as big and twice as smokey:notworthy - nice deere - over here it's an Hitachi - are they just badged deere or do deere actually make them over there??
I have no problem piling brush with a bucket and thumb and keeping the dirt out. :beatsme
I agree, but to each his own I suppose.
I use a 42" GP bucket matched to a ACS progressive link hydraulic thumb mounted on a 790E LC to do the same thing, no dirt in the tree pile. We burn all of it cause there is no market for the wood. To cleanup the brush and small sticks I use a brush rake on the front of a D7G, we get a little dirt in this part but it is all at the outside perimiter of the pile and when the pile is burnt there is very little left to bury. Nice JD but just a little too small for me.
Same here, never had any problems.. Maybe it is operator...:drinkup
you guys are harsh on the poor guy. to small, maybe the operator. he obviously has a diversified work load going from demo to logging and found somthing that works well for him. i once dropped of my machine off to a demo job and had the homeowner ask how i was gonna do it with a bucket.:Banghead and yes i had a thumb. i have run excavators with those grapples and they are great for grubbing. plus it ways less than the average 4 prong thumb with a 36 inch bucket combo giving you a little more lift for moving more material.:usa
Bucket and Thumb vs Hydraulic grapple I have a couple buckets and a thumb for that "cute little" 490E and I've used that combo on many occasions. However, if you are digging stumps, stacking trees on a landing, and putting the debris in a burn pile, the bucket/thumb combination doesn't come close. I have a Komatsu PC-220LC, but this little machine is much more suited for these jobs. I will haul my D6D in from another jobsite tomorrow. I already have my brush rake at this jobsite, so we should really be gaining ground over the next few days!
Throw up some pics of that 220. Dash 6? FWIW, 490E's are a great machine, the D's were good too.
That 490 is the same size as the 9010 that I'm considering right now. Compared to my 4400 lb mini, it seems big enough! Guess there must be a job it's suited for, or there wouldn't be near as many of them around?
You can see a picture of the 220 at the following thread. Unfortunately, it's a a PC220LC-5 instead of a dash 6 or dash 7. It has 8600 hours on it, but it still runs strong!