Excavator

[SD51555]

I’m praying nothing breaks when I’m a mile from the shop lol

I’ve not had a piece of diesel equipment work in my south plot without some kind of failure. That area eats machines.


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[TreeDaddy]

I’m praying nothing breaks when I’m a mile from the shop lol

Dawgs

That's the only place where my s*** breaks

bill

 

[TreeDaddy]

I regret not taking pictures before I started and then after the jobs were done. Learning that the "jobs" might not actually ever be done. Seems like there's always something I'm finding to keep expanding or improving somehow. DIESEL THERAPY. Sitting in a stand on opening morning is the only thing that beats running equipment on my own property. jmo

I love that term

Also love the smell of diesel and Remedy

bill

 

[rocksnstumps]

If you Google diesel therapy you get a completely different perspective. Guess guys sent to the big house look at it differently. I like our kind of diesel therapy tho also

 

[jsasker007]

I suppose "seat time" wouldn't be any better phrase in the big house either. Poor attempt at humor. I'll try to do better.

 

[jsasker007]

Where I'm at it's john deere and CAT for options to rent a mini ex as far as I know. Wouldn't mind trying out a Bobcat just to see what those are like. Maybe if I make it to the state fair this year I can check out some different brands at my favorite place at the fair= machinery hill.

 

[deepsleep]

I got to my place this afternoon and put about 3 hours on the rental (Kubota U55-5). I managed to clear some roads of trees we cut in January, dug up several stumps and rough graded a small plot in the woods. There’s definitely a learning curve, but I’m getting some work done. Digging is actually easier than I expected. The hydraulics on this thing are very strong. It was a wonderful evening sitting in an air conditioned cab. I can see why you guys enjoy these machines so much. Tomorrow I’ll tackle some more stumps and grading as well as some clearing for some apple trees I need to get in ASAP.

 

[deepsleep]

I just finished up my week with a U55. I was able to clear a bunch of plots of stumps, grade them, expand plots, free up various fruit trees from MFR and AO, make shooting lanes, move around logs from a new power line, push over trees, scrape under licking branches, make a burn pit, etc.etc. The most impressive thing, however, was making and repairing roads. We have gone to mostly box blinds these days, and I noticed most of them were in places with pretty easy tractor access. I found I could get that machine pretty much anywhere on the property and grade well enough for tractor access. We were able to optimize blind locations and even added a few more blinds. As someone mentioned above, it was pretty easy to get the hang of. By the end of the first day I wasn't even thinking, just doing. The big problem now is I feel like I need one!

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I just finished up my week with a U55. I was able to clear a bunch of plots of stumps, grade them, expand plots, free up various fruit trees from MFR and AO, make shooting lanes, move around logs from a new power line, push over trees, scrape under licking branches, make a burn pit, etc.etc. The most impressive thing, however, was making and repairing roads. We have gone to mostly box blinds these days, and I noticed most of them were in places with pretty easy tractor access. I found I could get that machine pretty much anywhere on the property and grade well enough for tractor access. We were able to optimize blind locations and even added a few more blinds. As someone mentioned above, it was pretty easy to get the hang of. By the end of the first day I wasn't even thinking, just doing. The big problem now is I feel like I need one!

The grading is so underrated. I leave my skid steer in the garage when it comes to road work

 

[T-Max]

I just finished up my week with a U55. I was able to clear a bunch of plots of stumps, grade them, expand plots, free up various fruit trees from MFR and AO, make shooting lanes, move around logs from a new power line, push over trees, scrape under licking branches, make a burn pit, etc.etc. The most impressive thing, however, was making and repairing roads. We have gone to mostly box blinds these days, and I noticed most of them were in places with pretty easy tractor access. I found I could get that machine pretty much anywhere on the property and grade well enough for tractor access. We were able to optimize blind locations and even added a few more blinds. As someone mentioned above, it was pretty easy to get the hang of. By the end of the first day I wasn't even thinking, just doing. The big problem now is I feel like I need one!

That’s not a problem. It is a sign from the gods…


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[deepsleep]

The grading is so underrated. I leave my skid steer in the garage when it comes to road work

My land is generally flat from an elevation standpoint but it has a lot of potholes that makes off-road tractor driving dicey and/or impossible I felt like I could get that mini ex anywhere and quickly grade to a “safe for tractor” smoothness The U55 is a true zero tail swing machine which was super nice in the woods. I loved everything about it, although I’ve heard the KX series is a little more stable. It also has a bit more reach. I was originally contemplating a bigger machine, but this one seemed to do everything I needed. The only thing that took any time at all was digging up a larger stump from a freshly cut tree and that was almost as fast as grinding.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

My land is generally flat from an elevation standpoint but it has a lot of potholes that makes off-road tractor driving dicey and/or impossible I felt like I could get that mini ex anywhere and quickly grade to a “safe for tractor” smoothness The U55 is a true zero tail swing machine which was super nice in the woods. I loved everything about it, although I’ve heard the KX series is a little more stable. It also has a bit more reach. I was originally contemplating a bigger machine, but this one seemed to do everything I needed. The only thing that took any time at all was digging up a larger stump from a freshly cut tree and that was almost as fast as grinding.

Stumps are so much easier if the tree is still attached! Dig around the tree a couple times to pop the roots and use the leverage to lay the tree down and the stumps comes up in one piece
I’m sure I’m not saying anything you don’t know but it was counterintuitive to me initially

 

[deepsleep]

Stumps are so much easier if the tree is still attached! Dig around the tree a couple times to pop the roots and use the leverage to lay the tree down and the stumps comes up in one piece
I’m sure I’m not saying anything you don’t know but it was counterintuitive to me initially

Yup. I did this a few times as well on pretty simple trees, as I'm both inexperienced and uneasy without good overhead protection. It was amazing how much smaller the rootball ends up as you can get the roots to break much closer the stump with the extra leverage I've seen some guys using a frost tooth/ripper to break roots around trees. I suspect one could get away with a smaller machine with a frost tooth for this. I rented with the smallest trenching bucket they had (12 or 18") to make stump work easier. The machine had a thumb as well, which added massively to the utility. The biggest problem I had was the wet clay layer a couple feet down at my place. Every stump had a foot of it stuck to the bottom, so after I loosened it up, I had to flip it and scrape all of it off. Of course, this was all in air conditioned, bug free comfort. I can also confirm another thing mentioned previously--the fuel economy was outstanding. I put about 32 hours on the machine, and I bet I didn't even use 20 gallons of diesel. The CTL we rented, OTOH, drank the fuel.

 

[Turkish]

If you assume depreciation is 10% per year, a fellow can do a lot of renting. Joel Salatin said it best: if you own equipment (especially specialty equipment), you better run the snot out of it.

 

[deepsleep]

If you assume depreciation is 10% per year, a fellow can do a lot of renting. Joel Salatin said it best: if you own equipment (especially specialty equipment), you better run the snot out of it.

Even if you assume no depreciation, there is still opportunity cost. If you’re not using equipment to provide income, you can definitely rent a whole lot for less cost. That being said, as an absentee landowner, it’s nice to have reliable tools available on demand. There is no doubt it’s a “luxury” that doesn’t make strict financial sense, though. That really goes for most of what we as habitat managers do, though. Beyond a chainsaw, the law of diminishing returns kicks in, but it sure is fun!

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

My only calculation I ever factor is do I want it plus can I afford it.

 

[SD51555]

Stumps are so much easier if the tree is still attached! Dig around the tree a couple times to pop the roots and use the leverage to lay the tree down and the stumps comes up in one piece
I’m sure I’m not saying anything you don’t know but it was counterintuitive to me initially

I’m a new operator myself. I just reached 100 hours in my life running an excavator.

What do u do with the stump on an uprooted tree? I cut all mine down ahead of time and dealt with the brush and section the logs before I have a machine on site. That way it’s just grab and go.

I will say, some of my stumps this year took up to 5 minutes to get them out, and that is an eternity when there’s a lot of them. Thankfully, most of mine were 1-4 scoops and out. Then I could throw them around and knock the dirt off.


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