I have a 1979 d7f a/c forestry package and rear winch. undercarriage 90% and runs great. I know the history of the machine so nervous about letting it go. however I have been tossing the idea of trading it for an excavator.. I purchased the machine from my uncle to clear fence lines and property lines in heavy woods and maybe build a small pond. What year and size excavator would be comparable?
I use an Hitachi Ex60 for clearing fence lines, roads, ditching, rv and house pads, septics ( I dont unload the septic tanks with it). Works great, good on gas has a blade which is very usefull
reason you dont unload tanks is because counter weight? reason I ask is i have many oak trees that i will be pushing over and lifting the logs onto the log truck...
Yeh she dont dont have the lifting power for the tanks, I do stumps and tree's, but how big are the stumps, just a lifting power thing, you should check the specs on that one if they are really big.
200-220 makes for a good all purpose machine. You can often find larger machines for less but the cost to move them can get quite high.
My father used to run a 307 with a thumb that was pretty good with that general purpose. http://www.snowplowing-contractors.com/images/Alan2/thumb/thumb8.jpg
wonder how much the 307 200 or 220 is going for. heard the smaller units are more expensive than the larger ones. moving it would be no great concern because i plan to leave it on the farm. I have found the d-7 is pretty hard to find someone to move it also... I think the going rate for the d7 is around 26k. yea the oak trees are fairly large so the 60 may be too small.. thumb is a must.. I operated a 320 but who can afford that to sit at a farm.
just noticed the picture of the 307. looks like it pushed the tree over with no digging??????
You said in your original post that you wanted something roughly equivalent to your D7; It would take something in the 20-ton (320-200) class at a minimum. A 6 or 7 ton machine would be much less powerful than a D7.
Pound for pound, I'd consider an excavator to be a more capable clearing machine than a dozer. Still, as you say, I'd consider a 7 tonner to be a toy next to a D7. For clearing substantial trees from forest and fencelines, you'd need at least a 312/120 size machine to be productive. A 315/160 size machine would let you tackle almost any job. Beyond that, bigger is better in terms of productivity, but there are few jobs that absolutely need the strength of a machine bigger than a 315. I've got a 200 John Deere, and even then I sometimes wish for a bit more strength when pulling stumps, but I've never come across a tree hereabouts that [with patience] a 315/160 size machine can't tackle.
that is good info ref pound for pound and will be considered now lets talk cost for cost
I hadn't really thought pound for pound, I was thinking in terms of capability, a D7 and a 20-ton are probably close in capabilities. I have removed some huge stumps w/ my 580sK backhoe, but my 22-ton Cat trackhoe will do a lot more in a day. A lot of times you can find a medium to large hoe cheaper than a small one, because of the extra hassle of moving it.
It sounds as though you are lacking some of the power you need for some of the jobs you are looking for. However being nimble with an excavator is also very important. To make sure you get both I would go somewhere in the 220 range.
Please let us know what type of equipment you select and how it works out for you. I have found that with changes in technology, construction is an ever changing business, which requires staying up to date on new equipment. Please let us know how your project turns out.