Looking for some input regarding running a small forestry mulching head on our Bobcat L-85 wheel loader Nothing full time just periodically around the homestead. The machine has 28 gpm high flow built in that we will be using for a snowblower attachment.
Make sure you get a mulcher that is designed to run best on the flow your machine provides. Don't expect to mulch 8" trees quickly.
Your machine may have high flow, but if all your making is 27.3 gpm, and 68 hp it would require a low flow mulcher. Your machine aux psi setting is important. Hopefully your making around 3500 psi. I couldn't find that number Production is not going to be much. Your low on hp and low on flow. I would consider renting a CTL and mulcher when you need it. Should you go this route of putting a mulcher on the CWL, you would want to figure out a way from breaking what I bet is expensive glass and keep the operator from taking a limb to the face. These machines are not set up to mulch. Investing in a mulcher on that machine, in my opinion would be a waste of money. Maybe running a mower like this would be a better option https://diamondmowers.com/attachments/skid-steer/sk-brush-cutter-pro/
Thanks for the feedback Just asking people who would know more than I do We have 150 acre timber stand that we would like to manage in retirement starting soon
So is that 28 GPM flow while using the machine’s functions such as propulsion or implement or is that only when activating the function? You’re not going to be happy if the only thing you can do is sit there and spin the mulcher but moving anything robs its flow. This is a concept I have a really, really hard time getting salesmen and customers to understand, and mulchers are really something that take a lot of flow capacity. 28GPM is not much. There is also the question of cooling capacity as well. Wheel loaders typically aren’t built for sustained flow like that.
Well if you have a 150 acres of timber area, you may want to own a CTL and mulcher. I would use the CWL for moving snow or whatever you have it for, and get a machine more purpose built to manage your timber. You have enough area to justify it.
It takes a lot of horsepower, diesel, and money to beat trees into toothpicks. Have you thought about a tree saw, then pile and burn?
@treemuncher may have some input...
As much as I want a chipper, I want a real chipper and not some 3” minus 16 HP POS that bogs down, with any decent sized green hardwood branch. That me and burn piles and lots of them. We just burnt 3 last weekend and have another already built. At the moment we are taking down 30 or so 12 to 36” pines, to help the lawn and get the sun in more along with the main reason. Get them out of roof shot or deck shot of our new house and garage. Not to mention, we will be constantly cleaning lower brush out around our acreage. We are purposefully building some brush piles for the bunnies, which are making a comeback around here. For us, we call them babysitters. Label them 1 through whatever as the dog loves running around them and building forts in them and just running around them, thinking she owns the thing. Sooner or later we burn her little fort down but it takes twice the work of a chipper. I do hook up the 5’ bush hog every year and clear more. We would just like our close forests somewhat clean of underbrush.
Because Aighead asked..... I will compare this 28 gpm mulcher concept to a hair dryer vs a leaf blower as a simple analogy. A skid steer mulcher will be a hand held blower and a purpose built forestry mulcher with 300+ hp would be a large backpack blower. Go blow leaves with that hair dryer and see how frustrating and time consuming that is. You would quickly realize you wasted good money on a useless attachment. In more mathematical terms, assuming that the L-85 can produce 3,500 psi, then at 28 gpm it produces 57 hydraulic horsepower max, theoretical. A skid steer at 40 gpm @ 3,500 psi = 82 hhp. Personally, I get frustrated running my lowest powered machine at 134 hhp because it is so lame compared to my other main machines that produce 398 hhp and 401 hhp. This theoretical hhp does not take into account the regeneration time to get the drum back up to speed and other losses that will occur to performance. 57 hhp sounds reasonable for a snow blower but not a mulcher, IMHO. Safety: if this is a standard loader type machine, it probably won't have 1/2" thick Lexan bulletproof "glass". Run into a stem the wrong way - you die. Hit into gravel, a loose piece of cable or chain, or tons of other possible flying debris that breaks the glass and take a glass shower at the least, assuming you don't get punctured. Flying debris happen quickly. Driving into unseen poles and other hazards are just waiting to get you. Is the machine completely armored so that hydraulics can't be punctured or ripped off easily? I have had my share of close calls over the past 28 years of running mulchers. Look at any forestry machines - they are built like tanks for a reason - for the survival of the operator and the machine. As previously mentioned, the machine is likely not setup to handle continuous hydraulic bypass heat added to the hydraulic fluid. Mulchers produce a LOT of heat because they hit the bypass setting so often. How much to install an additional hydraulic cooler or new pumps and motors if you cook the system that is not designed for the heat load? Just my honest opinion here and I hope it helps you make a rational decision. Research is nearly free but the expense of real world education can be really expensive. I would suggest nothing less that the largest CTL for running a mulcher. One with a forestry package and sufficient hydraulic cooling capacity that will give you a chance at living through mishaps and keep from cooking the guts of the machine. It's your money, spend it as you see fit and good luck with your choices.
I just don’t see a compact wheel loader, or really a wheel loader of any kind, surviving a mulcher for any kind of time.
Well they do specially build a wheel loader type machine to mulch, but other than appearance, they don't share much with a typical wheel loader. https://www.tigercat.com/product/m726g-mulcher/
It may resemble a wheel loader because it is articulated but other than tires and artiiculation, everything about it is built for the punishment of working in the woods, not the easy life of a typical loader in a pit. 1/2" Lexan glass, 1/2" or thicker access panels, massive cooling system, hydraulics pushing 125+ gpm just to the cutterhead and arms that do not raise as high as a loader's. Tires that handle flying wire, rocks and other debris with ease. This machine dishes out punishment but takes in the same amount - Newton's third law - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I've been managing several different stands of timber for years and have never thought I needed a mulcher. Yes everyone thinks they are the greatest, coolest new toys, but what does one really need one for when it comes to managing timber? In my case a tractor with a bush hog, a dozer and something with a stout loader is all I've needed. I personally think a mulcher is a good way to turn an expensive CTL into trash, but I know that's an unpopular opinion...