Has anyone mounted a mulching head on a track loader? And did they have any success with it? The thinking is using a heavier machine in this harsh work may last a little better than a new ctl setup. Thinking around a cat 955 size loader.
Oh well seems like no one has done it before. It should be an interesting experiment I think. FA
Iron wolf mounts them on track and wheel loaders. Big machines with external power packs and lots of HP.
There are a few companies doing this. They are building the carrier with shelf parts , and mounting the head with kickers to knock over taller trees. If you have a 955 and can mount one and get work or do your own I'd do it. I know a 250hp smaller machine on a D5 under carriage is about 400K. Its a wood eat sumbich though.
I want the versatility of a track loader with s good bucket and log grab. Then tidy up any medium size trees with the shedding head
On a 955, you would need a power pack for sure. It depends on the head but pretty much anything that would be heavy enough to put on a 955 would use a ton of HP and hyd. flow. Our Tigercat has a 300hp motor and when the drive limiter kicks in, it sends 240hp to the head. Chris
Do you hope to run a compact track loader type mulcher ? They usually require 100 litres per minute and above with swinging or fixed teeth for the 1.5 metre width. Instead of a power pack some have repowered the Caterpillar 953 type track loader with rear engine and hydrostatic drive with a higher power engine to run the higher flow hydraulics necessary to run a hydraulically driven loader arm mounted drum mulcher unit. The alternatives are to chain saw trees and use a wheel tractor pto driven mulcher (front end loader with log fork, bucket and use a grader blade on the rear of the tractor) or go for a slash buster disc mulcher on the 20 tonne excavator base with a blade, the slash buster or schwitzer can have a built in log lifter or use a proper log grapple and range of buckets to dig with.
I currently have a 2.3m mulching unit, belt driven with swinging hammers on a 100hp tractor. It is good for things up to around fist size, anything bigger and the machine is really being pushed to its limit. This is a good unit for smaller brush and and grasses, but i was looking for something that could take down a 6'' tree comfortably. That includes mincing the top of the stump off. Anything bigger and i would either chain saw it and use a log grab to shift it or grub it out with the loader. Ideally i would also like to go strait into heavy gorse, and have enough power to keep pushing through it, or other heavy undergrowth.
Seems you want to do this http://www.fae-ap.com.au/download.asp?f=FCLNCU5koaoM1m7IhXDC9Q== The 200u size would be about what you want to achieve not sure who would make it but the idea is there for anyone up for a challenge The 200u Will supposedly mulch up to 14" trees
Best as I can see from the FAE literature is the same as we found for hi-line power line tree clearance mowers in the company I work for, need to be specially built to the task ours were Kershaw units. The flail mowers and grinder/mulchers we have used are heavy, usually two to three times the weight of a 4/1 bucket requiring substantial counter weight additions, then the reinforcement to the booms, additional coolers for the hydraulics, etc. By the time you try to add so much to a existing tractor you were better off with a special constructed device just for the task.
So with the high weight and vibration i will be looking at chewing out pins on the loader, possibly with that taking out the front idler as well due to the weight balance shift. Might have to take a different tack all together..