Hi all, I am looking for your opinion once again. I recently bought a Takeuchi TL12 high flow CTL. I would like to use it to clear brush and small, soft-wood trees off the wooded portion of my property. In total, there are probably 30-40 acres to clear. I am in no rush, I realize this will probably take a couple of years of intermittent work. I would like to ask you which attachment would be best for this? The ones I am considering are drum-type mulcher (Fecon, FAE, Denis-Cimaf), disc-type mulcher (Advanced Forestry Equipment) and high-flow extreme duty mower. Which one would be best? The mower would probably leave a lot of clean up work to do and I am not sure how long you could go cutting 5-6" trees before the machine was damaged? The drum-type mulchers seem pretty slow compared to the AFE disc mulcher. The AFE mulcher seems pretty new, however, does anyone have any experience with it? Can it do the type of work advertised on the website continously? Also, would you recommend I purchase an additional cooler for the CTL to run these attachements? Thank you for your advice.
I hear a lot of good things about the AFE. There is a member on another forum that has one on a Deere 160 and he really likes it. The CAT people here say they are good (built in Northern Idaho). I have never run one myself but I like the idea of how they are built. I have a Tushogg (built in Texas). Mine is an older design and I like how tough the unit is. Rock does not destroy the teeth (asphalt chipper type design). However they are not as efficient as other tooth designs, the mulch tends to be a little stringy if that matters to you. As to whether or not you need a cooler, I would work with the mulcher OEM so they can set up your mulcher to work with the specs of the TK. Then I would run the mulcher and see how the TK is able to stay cool. You may want to do your mulching in the cooler months. Since its only for yourself, and there are no time constraints you should be able to pick and choose when to mulch. I think you are correct in avoiding the mower. 5-6" material at a constant rate will destroy it.
I run a loftness on my ASV 4810 as the trees get bigger it a little slow but 4 to 5 it works fine
How do you guys feel about refurbished mulchers. I recently learned of a place which sells Fecon factory refurbished mulchers for over 10K less than brand new. Do you think this is a good option for a personal user? How much will these units be worth after 5 additional years of use? Thanks for ur help.
That sounds like a good idea, I doubt the value would be any different 5 years from now on a refurbished mulcher than a new one. Except you saved 10K up front.
This is how I do it up north in Kansas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2odzR-tHw4 John Deere 333D's both high flow. pushing a 30 inch Turbo Saw from www.turbo-saw.com with rotate head to fell trees. the other machine is running a 84 inch Bobcat brand root grapple. Dropping mostly Eastern Red Cedar, that's our problem tree up here. I cut off and on all year, it's a never ending project on a ranch out here. Some of the piles will be burnt, some are sorted out to make logs out of. I have other videos too of some of my work.
Welcome to the Forums Red Hill Dirt!:drinkup
I should also note that for what you're going to spend on a used mulcher you can buy a NEW Turbo saw and a grapple and probably still have some money left over for beer. Good heavy built grapples are going for about four grand, and the saw is about nine. Used mulchers on machinery trader are 13-17k, new ones are 25 or so. The only machines I have ever seen use mulchers with any success are the PT-100's that are designed and built to push one or a new Cat 299XHP, which has the highest flow of anyone right now, but retails for like 106k. All the tree contractors around here either use Turbo saws, some other brand of rotary or a Marshall saw. Marshalls are great if you can't push 30gpm to run a decent rotary saw and there's a few good cutters around that have them. The guys that are making money and have been around awhile are all using rotaries and running the biggest power they can get. A lot of guys have tried mulchers and you can't get 20% of the production that a rotary can, however....there's the mess to clean up. Mulchers are going to leave a lot of sharp pointy things around everywhere, less if you run over it more, but the more you mix it with dirt, the faster you'll wear your teeth. My advice, buy a turbo saw, drop everything you can, rent a grapple if there's a rental yard around and clear as much as you can. Saw, clear, saw, clear until you get to a place where you feel that you need to deal with the brush then either contract a grinder to come in or rent one. maybe go poke around and see what other guys with skid steers around use to cut trees, that should be a good indicator of what's most efficient. Or just burn the frickin piles. That's what I would do.
Red Hill Dirt, Thanks for your input. I reviewed the website link you sent, as well as your own videos. Very impressive. The problem I see, with using the saw to selectively clear an area, is trying to remove the cut trees from in-between others. Doing so and then either grinding the trees or burning them, adds a significant amount of time. Also, being the land owner, I worry about losing the beneficial effects of decomposing mulch on the soil. I would be very interested in hearing the opinion of others. I definitely see the initial gains in speed and probably equipment upkeep though. Thanks again.
Yair . . . But this is what I don't understand. If you are allowed to burn it why stuff around and cut it? Why wouldn't you take it out and stack it with a dozer? Just curious and have opened another thread on this. Cheers.