land clearing techniques

[D6c10K]

Never seen a rake quite like the one the excevator is using...looks pretty handy....just pick it up, sweep up some debris, and drop it again.

 

[australian pete]

Pete - nice pics.
This is pretty much what I expected.
Please understand that thhe US is still geographically considered "forest"

For example, the land that 575 claims he cleared is "logged land".
You couldn't even believe thhe difference between tat and the pics you posted.
You can barely WALK in logged land without tripping over a stump.
The pics you posted are already cleared, bubba.

we cleared the land, there were lot of trees although most of them were 12 to fifteen inches in diameter at 3 feet off the ground, we do have some forests where there are big trees that are logged, of course the greenies are constantly trying to stop all logging, i guess that is the same worldwide, where we do most of our work is around 30 to 40 miles west of sydney for new housing estates and industrial and commercial estates. i live on 46 acres around 40 miles west of sydney at the foot of the blue mountains, the blue mountains comprises million of acres with a lot of big trees, however this is mainly national park and any kind of tree cutting is ABSOLUTELY forbidden, most of the logging in NSW is around 100 to 200 miles south of sydney.

 

[australian pete]

Never seen a rake quite like the one the excevator is using...looks pretty handy....just pick it up, sweep up some debris, and drop it again.

this is the kind of rake mostly used by land clearing contractors here, because most of our work is for subdivisions we have to leave it fairly clean for the earthworks/ road construction to follow, the downside of this rake is if you dig it in too deep it falls out of the grab which can be incredibly frustrating, it is only held by the hydraulics of the grab which means you have to rake faily lightly,when you have had a long day and concentration lapses it is easy to dig it in too deep so you keep losing it, as i said, very frustrating towards the end of a long day.

 

[Deas Plant]

Nice photos, nice area where you live.

Hi, Australian Pete.
Nice photos. Thanks for sharing. I did a little sub-division work around Sydney a few years ago, the last in 1984 to be precise. On that one, I pulled down most of the trees on a site at Avalon on the North Shore with a Link-Belt LS98 set up as a drag-line with 70 feet of stick. There was a Fiat-Allis FL12B track loader to do the stacking and a backhoe and crane to dig out all the palm trees and re-locate them.

You also live in what was a nice area when I was last there - in about 1978. I suspect that there would have been a few changes since then.

Thanks again.

 

[Iron Horse]

This is a patch of scrub that needed to be removed for a housing estate . Because of public pressure to leave it as a nature reserve years before , it became overgrown . Once the scrub surrounds big trees like these and the leaf litter gets thick , it is the end of the big trees . The scrub and leaf litter are a great breeding ground for termites and fungal growths that then attack the trees unseen . This is the damage i frequently find to big trees because the "Greenies" wont allow the area to be maintained . It was only intended to clear the scrub and leave the big trees but when i found the trees to be in a dangerous state i advised they be removed . Any "Greenies" reading this , take note . All but the biggest trees where extracted with my vertical tree grab , the rest i had to dig around and push over .

 

[Iron Horse]

Do you think if you were in the other companies shoes would you sub it out and end up putting easy 100,000 in your pocket? They do sub once and a while and im interested.

I could'nt imagine they would pay you nearly 10 grand a day to do the work for them and hope that you can do it on time so they don't lose thier bond .

 

[fiat41b]

I would say your right as they have not contacted me so i have given up on the matter and moved on to another project. FREESEN INC. is the contractor and the biggest midwest heavy construction outfit around here they have the power to bully there way thru this thing if weather is'nt to coperative anyway they do sub once and a while. Besides the weather has been real cruddy probably better off else where i was hoping to get some work for the 41b its looking slim guess it will have to keep sitting i do start it up and move it time to time. I race motorcycles too and have thought about selling it as its going on 2 years with no work for it. Maybe I should move (lol)

 

[Iron Horse]

If it's just sitting and your making payments it is probably better to sell it . It's not a sign of quiting , it's just good sense . You can allways buy more gear later if things pick up . If you can't sell it because no ones got any money , you may be able to swap it as i do from time to time . For instance a Positrack and mulcher may be more usefull to you in your area , advertise you will swap the 41 for one . It has worked for me many times , people do not allways have money to spare but allways have something to swap . I had a truck and a small excavator that were doing nothing so i virtually swapped them both for my excavator which is making money .

 

[fiat41b]

I dont owe a dime on it the first month i worked it paid for itself its just nice to have a tractor of this size and in good mechanical condition if and when the time comes it would take alot to rent one same size probably 20,000 mth or more and around here nobody rents them that big you would have to lease one like the power plants do for use on the coal piles. Anybody got any Harley factory xr750's 1972-1980

 

[australian pete]

Hi, Australian Pete.
Nice photos. Thanks for sharing. I did a little sub-division work around Sydney a few years ago, the last in 1984 to be precise. On that one, I pulled down most of the trees on a site at Avalon on the North Shore with a Link-Belt LS98 set up as a drag-line with 70 feet of stick. There was a Fiat-Allis FL12B track loader to do the stacking and a backhoe and crane to dig out all the palm trees and re-locate them.

You also live in what was a nice area when I was last there - in about 1978. I suspect that there would have been a few changes since then.


Thanks again.

i had an fl 12, bought it when i moved here 2 years ago, it was old and a bit rough looking however it went well and it had tons of power for it;s size, pushed really well,sold it after i did some clearing with it. i dont think yarramundi has changed much since you were here,we live on 46 acres in a dead end street next to a national park, it is nice, very quiet but close to everything, only 1 hour from sydney, we have heaps of kangaroos, not unusual to see 10 to 20 roos grazing within 100 to 200 metres from the house.

 

[australian pete]

This is a patch of scrub that needed to be removed for a housing estate . Because of public pressure to leave it as a nature reserve years before , it became overgrown . Once the scrub surrounds big trees like these and the leaf litter gets thick , it is the end of the big trees . The scrub and leaf litter are a great breeding ground for termites and fungal growths that then attack the trees unseen . This is the damage i frequently find to big trees because the "Greenies" wont allow the area to be maintained . It was only intended to clear the scrub and leave the big trees but when i found the trees to be in a dangerous state i advised they be removed . Any "Greenies" reading this , take note . All but the biggest trees where extracted with my vertical tree grab , the rest i had to dig around and push over .

that's interesting about the termites and fungal growth, i have a number of large dead trees on my place which are surrounded by scrub regrowth from where it had been cleared years ago, i wondered what had killed the big trees, do you think that is what killed my dead trees, i also have some dying trees, most of the tree is dead however some brabches still have live leaves on them.

 

[KMB83]

Fiat,

makes sense on Freesen/UCM. they are down state boys and since our good governa is a city boy who plays well with city donors, i get the sense they are hungery. that and how broke our state is, if you arent fixing bridges the last couple years there hasnt been much to do as far as roadwork. your right though, if there are only 10 fit days the month of february, they'll figure it out and make it happen.

i'm a little surprised that your short work, do you do any ag work? 41b would be pretty good sized for that kind of stuff. but with a wet 2008 theres been a lot of dirtwork done to get things back in order in this area. just a thought.

 

[fiat41b]

clearing

I DONT REALLY DO ALOT OF FARM WORK HOWEVER I DID A NEW LAND DRAINAGE DITCH LAST MONTH 3300' LONG 15' FLAT BOTTOM 1/10th FOOT OF FALL PER 100 FT USED D8K WITH TRIMBLE GPS IT AVERAGED 4' DEEP THAT WAS A NICE JOB ABOUT 3 MILES FROM MY HOUSE.
JUST BID A JOB IN QUINCY IL. LAST WEEK HAVE TO BID ONE IN LINCOLN IL. AND ONE IN PEORIA THIS WEEK COMING. WHERE IN ILLINOIS ARE YOU LOCATED.

 

[KMB83]

arenzville, one town down from bluffs, il. the birthplace of freesen's. you can honk on the way down I-72

matter of fact, where i work, one of the orginal freesen founders works. he is part time, works for the fun of it. great guy.

yeah i bet there is work in lincoln after that "microburst" (sorta like a tornado???) went through there from mackinaw. guess it torn stuff up.

 

[Iron Horse]

that's interesting about the termites and fungal growth, i have a number of large dead trees on my place which are surrounded by scrub regrowth from where it had been cleared years ago, i wondered what had killed the big trees, do you think that is what killed my dead trees, i also have some dying trees, most of the tree is dead however some brabches still have live leaves on them.

G'day Pete , it could well be the reason . But it could also be caused by Die Back from beetle strike . Do you see Yellow Tail Cockatoo's chewing at your young trees looking for beetle larvae ?

 

[australian pete]

gidday reg, we do have cockatoos, they are white with yellow crest on their head, i believe they are called sulphur crested cockatoos, there are a lot of them in this area, we have a lot around our place however i think that has more to do with me feeding them wild bird seed daily.

 

[Iron Horse]

It's only the Black Cockatoo's with the Yellow tails that eat the beetle larvae . They are very destructive , they will shred a young gum tree to it's middle to get the grub . Next time the wind blows the tree breaks off and falls . I have selectively cleared my place , leaving trees 50' apart . It looks like a park but now the Cockies are picking on my kept trees .

 

[australian pete]

black cockatoos are rare here, i am trying to achieve a park like look, have done that with some of the property however the local council like ugly useless scrub,especially on my place and other private properties, i notice no council land is covered with scrub, they have some or no trees and are reguarly mowed, it seems i have to provide enough trees and scrub for all to greenies to admire.

 

[firetrack]

Land clearing

I've done quite a bit of land clearing using scrub chain. Everyone has different ideas how do do this but we always put the smaller dozer on the inside so that it can go around any large trees too big for it to handle plus if there are hidden gullies etc it is easier to use the larger tractor to pull the smaller one out than visa versa. The larger tractor then has to handle all the large trees on the next lap. I assume both dozers are going to be fitted with tree spears to help in handling the larger trees. We also have cutter bars fitted to our stick rakes to pull out most of the small suckers. You carry a bit more dirt when raking but you get a much cleaner job. Cutters bars fitted to rakes are not so good in wet soil. I would think 200' of chain would be plenty. If the scrub is really big try not to pull from rippers as it makes it hard to steer. If you have thick scrub this will keep the chain up and you can pull larger trees out but if the larger trees are scattered and the chain is on the ground then this makes for tough going. 50 acres is not a very big paddock to clear and those two dozer should get over it pretty quick. We pulled 6500acres in one go a couple of years back. Didn't rake it though!!
Good luck firetrack

 

[Deas Plant]

Chain length.

Hi, Firetrack.
Welkum too ther 4um. Good to have some-one else here who's done a bit of chaining.

I too did a bit chaining in my mis-spent youth. Everything from mallee and sand plain scrub to tall timber with everything from D4's to D8's. I never did get to use a ball 'cos by the time I started doing it, folks had woken up that the ball snapped a lot of trees off instead of pulling them out of the ground.

We used to work our chain length on the basis of the width of cut we could handle plus an extra 100 feet for each tractor. When using 2 x 270 hp D8's pulling mallee or scrub country, we would be cutting anything up to 400 feet wide which would see us using 600 feet or a bit more of 2 1/2" chain. We found that anything much under that 100 feet of chain for each tractor over and above the cut would see D. R. Sends being pulled sideways and we had to work more on the steering clutches and brakes to stay on course. Not a good look, especially when you can't see your buddy 400 feet away through the bush and you're relying on the hang of the chain to tell you how well you're keeping pace with him and roughly how your cut width is going.

We often tied long sticks to the front canopy legs with rag flags on the tops to help us keep track of each other in the scrub - didn't always work. Then we'd go into a heavy timber job where we were only 30 - 50 feet apart and could see each other most of the time. Sure made a change. We shortened the chain for those jobs, down to maybe 300 feet.

With those 2 x D8H's and 600 feet of chain, we took down 6,000 acres in 5 x 13 hour days on one job, 1,200 acres a day, nearly 100 acres an hour. That's fairly cheap clearing, especially when the farmer can put a running fire over it and then plough it without raking. Cutter bars were pretty much unknown in those days, mid-1960's to early 1970's.

Ah, those were the days. LOL.