Help me push trees over and not die

[charles walton]

The area in question is to the left and right of the road in the abve pic. Want to clear somI can see the lower pasture from my deck, I am a very lazy deer hunter

That would be very easy for me to clear,you already have a lane up the middle to work it into. Skyking is giving you bad advice to leave the big trees for a saw,I've cleared MANY acres that looked just like that and you can do it,just keep everything in front of you and if you can't push it over first try just dig around it a little more. What part of Ga. are you?

 

[CM1995]

Since nobody else mentioned this (I’m surprised)..
Don’t forget about root balls, when the tree does down, the root balls come up..
Good friend of mine (operator) watched a guy several years ago pushing on a big tree, when he finally got it to go over the root ball came up and flopped a CAT 955 over like it was a tonka toy..

Wow. I've pushed over many a large tree with many dozers and a 953 and never had that issue. What kind of tree was it?

 

[charles walton]

Wow. I've pushed over many a large tree with many dozers and a 953 and never had that issue. What kind of tree was it?

I've had a few close calls like that on big oaks on steep ground where it's hard to back up.

 

[showrguy]

Wow. I've pushed over many a large tree with many dozers and a 953 and never had that issue. What kind of tree was it?

He don’t know or remember..
They were getting ground ready for subdivision, my buddy was in a backhoe digging for utilities, the other fella was roughing in for roads/drainage, the tree had to go..
Had he reversed the CAT when tree went over it woulda never happened..

 

[Willie B]

I take trees out often with a full sized backhoe. It seems better odds inside a ROPS enclosure. My method varies with the size of the tree. Big trees, I begin ripping out roots three sides, smaller ones I don't have to.
I reach up 2/3 the reach of the hoe & dig the bucket teeth in enough they won't skid up the tree. I've had a few hoes with extend a hoe. The tree trunk is a big lever & the angle lifts roots out of the ground. I've taken hundreds of trees without a mishap.
I DO NOT USE THIS METHOD ON DEAD TREES!
Dead trees get a winch cable longer than the tree is tall. Dead trees are unpredictable.

I've done smaller trees with the dozer. It is a less efficient machine for bigger trees. I see dozers rigged with a tree spear, seems a great way to take down small trees. My dozer in the avatar is only 14000 LBS.

 

[colson04]

I take trees out often with a full sized backhoe. It seems better odds inside a ROPS enclosure. My method varies with the size of the tree. Big trees, I begin ripping out roots three sides, smaller ones I don't have to.
I reach up 2/3 the reach of the hoe & dig the bucket teeth in enough they won't skid up the tree. I've had a few hoes with extend a hoe. The tree trunk is a big lever & the angle lifts roots out of the ground. I've taken hundreds of trees without a mishap.
I DO NOT USE THIS METHOD ON DEAD TREES!
Dead trees get a winch cable longer than the tree is tall. Dead trees are unpredictable.

I've done smaller trees with the dozer. It is a less efficient machine for bigger trees. I see dozers rigged with a tree spear, seems a great way to take down small trees. My dozer in the avatar is only 14000 LBS.

I'll have to give this a try. I've got some fence rows to finish clearing on my property and some rock piles that have trees growing up around them now that I would like cleared out. What kind of pads do you have on your stabilizers? Mine have flat rubber pads that seem to let the backhoe skate around some while digging. Are you running a flat pad, or something with some bite?

 

[skyking1]

I don't see any 24" trees in that picture. Picking those into the road will be easy to do safely. Choke and drag to a landing to sort out. It's a shame nobody wants the firewood.

 

[Welder Dave]

I take trees out often with a full sized backhoe. It seems better odds inside a ROPS enclosure. My method varies with the size of the tree. Big trees, I begin ripping out roots three sides, smaller ones I don't have to.
I reach up 2/3 the reach of the hoe & dig the bucket teeth in enough they won't skid up the tree. I've had a few hoes with extend a hoe. The tree trunk is a big lever & the angle lifts roots out of the ground. I've taken hundreds of trees without a mishap.
I DO NOT USE THIS METHOD ON DEAD TREES!
Dead trees get a winch cable longer than the tree is tall. Dead trees are unpredictable.

I've done smaller trees with the dozer. It is a less efficient machine for bigger trees. I see dozers rigged with a tree spear, seems a great way to take down small trees. My dozer in the avatar is only 14000 LBS.

Sometimes you don't realize there are dead tree's in the bush you're knocking down. That's when you want to at least have a ROPS with a canopy.

 

[Willie B]

I'll have to give this a try. I've got some fence rows to finish clearing on my property and some rock piles that have trees growing up around them now that I would like cleared out. What kind of pads do you have on your stabilizers? Mine have flat rubber pads that seem to let the backhoe skate around some while digging. Are you running a flat pad, or something with some bite?

Mine are flip over, rubber on one side for pavement & pretty aggressive dig in for earth. I can't say others have been a problem, I'm mostly pushing up. Another thing that helps is the Case is intended to flip the front bucket upside down, the cutting edge & top of the bucket dig into soft ground pretty well.
Generally a 20" tree goes over pretty easy. A 3' diameter tree needs some roots ripped out first.
Of course, if you don't want to remove the stump a chainsaw is a good way to take it down.

 

[colson04]

I'm plenty good with a chainsaw, but then I have to remove a stump. This ground will be returned to farming once the over growth is removed. I had my uncle clear a half mile in the winter of 2019, and that just scraped the surface of what needs cleaned up. Aside from the property lines that are 50 to 80 ft over grown, there is also a dozen rock piles scattered through the 72 acres with trees growing up through them to remove as well. I'll make it efficiently tillable when I'm done.

 

[Bumpsteer]

When we bought the 100 acre "south woods" in 96 the po wasn't much when it came to "being tidy".
Ony 35 tillable, its very cut up with 4 seperate fields. Trees that fell in the field were just worked around. The edges were never trimmed or had saplings cleared.
I spent over 2 years cleaning the place up. Pole pruner, 2 clearing saws and the Bobcat. Plenty of beer involved too.

Ed

 

[colson04]

When we bought the 100 acre "south woods" in 96 the po wasn't much when it came to "being tidy".
Ony 35 tillable, its very cut up with 4 seperate fields. Trees that fell in the field were just worked around. The edges were never trimmed or had saplings cleared.
I spent over 2 years cleaning the place up. Pole pruner, 2 clearing saws and the Bobcat. Plenty of beer involved too.

Ed

The PO of my place wanted "deer habitat".

 

[ippielb]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-WlKqa2JFe5ofqdfjSSEfw

I do land clearing with a larger track loader. I have a bunch of videos showing the way i do trees. Sometimes i explain what im doing.

 

[Welder Dave]

It takes a big tree to put up a fight with a 973.

 

[Voodooburner]

Sorry for the lack of replies, I have been traveling for work. I went and used my farm tractor and chains to clean up the felled trees into an nice orderly pile. A couple I pushed over need a Little more work on the root balls. I will post pics of the work when it quits raining. I am in north GA south of Atlanta. My machine has full ROPS but no screens. So far all the trees have been alive. I will check out the above videos. Thanks for all the replies..,I am still alive so far

 

[Voodooburner]

Watched some of you videos ippielb, my techniques weren’t too far off after all!

 

[Voodooburner]

So in the second pic, ho can I get in there to push trees out? Its so thick I cant get my loader in there short of pushing smaller trees and brush into more trees and brush

 

[CM1995]

So in the second pic, ho can I get in there to push trees out? Its so thick I cant get my loader in there short of pushing smaller trees and brush into more trees and brush

Push the small trees over, roll the bucket, grab them with the teeth , drag them out in the opening and then stack in a pile.

One of the many things I like about track loaders is how they can shine clearing an area shown in pic #2. That's perfect ground and scrub to clear with a loader. Use this method to clear all the small trees then push the larger ones over. Keep your brush as clean as you can as you push, drag and stack. I've cleared many an acre that looks just like that.

 

[Voodooburner]

Push the small trees over, roll the bucket, grab them with the teeth , drag them out in the opening and then stack in a pile.

One of the many things I like about track loaders is how they can shine clearing an area shown in pic #2. That's perfect ground and scrub to clear with a loader. Use this method to clear all the small trees then push the larger ones over. Keep your brush as clean as you can as you push, drag and stack. I've cleared many an acre that looks just like that.

I never thought about doing it that way. Thanks!

 

[CM1995]

I'll add to my comment above.

With small trees like that lay your bucket on the ground, cut through the stumps, when you get a bucket full roll it out, shake the brush wad if it's dirty then grab the trees and back drag out. Each time you are dragging, raking or stacking with the loader teeth is an opportunity to clean the dirty out of your brush pile.