i am bidding on some deforesting work and it intales a lot of tree AND stump removal. we are to pull out all the mesquite trees on appx 2800 acres, went to the site and most of the trees that gota come out are less than 6''. My question is, what attachments are avalible for a skid steer for doing this? looking for some sort of gruber, stinger ect...
I have had good luck using 1 fork on a pallet fork and getting it under shallow rooted trees and prying up.
thats an idea but the mesquite trees in texas have an amazing tap root and i doupt that i could be efficent enough with that. thanks
I would use an excavator instead of skid steer. Excavator to rip them out and pile or load them up. Could clean up with a root rake on the skidsteer. what are you doing with the brush?
I know guys out in Texas that swear by stump buckets popping mesquite bushes out of the ground. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...f7fee47&itemid=260631447485&ff4=263602_304652
Here is an option http://www.rootgrapple.com/stumpgrapple.html It is a stump bucket but also has a grapple so you can stack the tree/stump once you get it out of the ground. I have their mower and it is very good quality.
we do plan on having a couple excavators there, but there are a lot of 2'' and under trees which woud take forever with just an exavator, we do plan on getting some root rakes as the brush is to be burnt or mulched on site. do you have any ideas how efficent those root buckest are, they look like they would do the job, but would probably leave a big hole, and we cant have that.
I have been experimenting and trying different things for the last nine years. Check out my pictures on the tread . A lot depends on the moisture content and the type of soil that you are working in. I have mostly sandy loam soils on my farm in the Texas Hill Country. Many people are using excavators down here if the mesquites are dense. I like the skid steer because I can cover a lot of ground. Paw Paws Toy
Stump Grapples
A skidsteer will only be faster than an excavator if the attachment on the hoe is too small . The skid steer will be good for stacking piles, but it won't be faster than a 20 ton hoe with a big root rake. If the hoe has a thumb on it, it will be even more productive.
for 6" and under my standard 78" tooth bucket will make short work of the tree , but the mess it makes isnt worth it. I have good luck with my forks and root rake. I have a 72" eagle tallon made by a company in Minasoda , its built heavy enough that my 10,600 lb machine doesnt bend it! The tines are 3/4" plate steel and has replaceable teeth.
http://www.everythingattachments.com/skid-steer-stump-bucket-s/2769.htm Check this one out, they have a video on how it works. I know this guy personally and he makes some of the best skid steer attachments out there.
Warren Caterpillar makes a spade-type grubber for mesquites that works well. I rented one with a 252 loader, and it worked good on small trees. The grubber worked well. My only thought was that if I were going to be doing much work with the grubber, a little larger, more powerful loader would have worked a little better. If the mesquites are still small enough to be smooth barked at the base, it should get them no problems. When they started getting bigger than 3-4" in diameter, the 252 had to work at it.
Does this break off your forks?
It shouldn't the forks can handle o lot of pressure.