hillrunner
5 year old buck +
That looks fun. How heavy is that thing?
Skid steers
- Thread starter Howboutthemdawgs
- Start date
Big Snow Man
5 year old buck +
Jordan what projects do you have lined up for that beast
Jordan Selsor
5 year old buck +
21k lbs
Jordan Selsor
5 year old buck +
Redo couple farm ponds, dig some small water holes, clean up loggers mess an build some buck traps with tree tops ;) Hoping to get a logger our in Feb.
Northbound
5 year old buck +
Not sure your climate but if you have snow id personally avoid a tracked machine. I've had both and will stick with wheeled (and good tires! ) the metal ott tracks can always be added if dealing with mud. Skid steers are so efficent that I wish I would have bought sooner in life. I still enjoy relaxation time on a tractor pulling a disc or crusher but when it comes to production and efficent use of time you'll never regret owning a skidsteer.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I agree, a skid machine is much better for snow removal, and on ice. Track machines are great in the mud, but are a challenge on ice.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
On my ground I couldn't do much with a skidsteer---not enough clearance under the machine. A tractor was about my only option.
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hillrunner
5 year old buck +
Rubber tracks are awful on ice but so are tires. Skid loaders plain suck on ice nomatter what. The nature of how they steer makes them terrible in slick conditions. Chains do help a lot though.
cavey
5 year old buck +
Yep, I make mine work (wheeled skidsteer) up here in Wisconsin for snow removal at the farm but on bare ice she sucks!
Triple C
5 year old buck +
Another fan of the track skid steers for managing habitat. Out of 287 acres, 160 of it is in planted pine plantation. We burn em every 2 to 3 years and constantly battle sweetgum and privet. Also, some areas volunteer pines get up to a point where fire doesn't kill em. Grapple, tree shear, and brush mower are the 3 attachments that we find invaluable. And if I had to choose only one, it would be the brush mower. Just put a new one in service that is a freakin' beast. As close to a forestry head as you can get without being a forestry head. 10" pines are cut instantly on contact as well as any hardwood saplings that are beyond a normal tractor bush hog.
My son runs a JD 323 and 333 in his business and does most all of the habitat work at the farm. The unit below is hitched to his JD 333 hi flow machine. 4 blades that rotate as needed inside the blade carriage. Carbide teeth on bottom of the blade carriage to mulch material to ground level. This is the Mega Mower from www.quickattach.com. I've bought from them since purchasing the property in 2011. Good folks.
1st job with this unit clearing volunteer pine/hardwood infestation.
Afterwards
Pic of tree axe from back in 2012 on one of his first track loaders when we cut an access rd through the pines.
My son runs a JD 323 and 333 in his business and does most all of the habitat work at the farm. The unit below is hitched to his JD 333 hi flow machine. 4 blades that rotate as needed inside the blade carriage. Carbide teeth on bottom of the blade carriage to mulch material to ground level. This is the Mega Mower from www.quickattach.com. I've bought from them since purchasing the property in 2011. Good folks.
1st job with this unit clearing volunteer pine/hardwood infestation.
Afterwards
Pic of tree axe from back in 2012 on one of his first track loaders when we cut an access rd through the pines.
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Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Triple C
5 year old buck +
Yep. That was an earlier model open cab JD track loader back in 2012. Having run that tree shear a lot on our place, it is much safer than the brush mower in terms of flying material. Shear cuts tree in a way that causes it to fall to the right upon shearing and the push bar on the top of the unit assists with the direction of the fall. Cut hundreds of trees with it. With that said, both units today are enclosed cab. Wouldn't run it again in an open cab.
On the brush mower. That thing will sling some material, particularly when mulching.
MRBB
5 year old buck +
yes skid steers typically suck on Ice, due to how hard the tires are and rubber tracks be!
BUT if you actually BUY snow tires, it makes a HUGE difference, they grip 10 times better, get you more down force on tires as there more narrow, so just better traction period on snow and ice!
and if you don;t have to worry about damaging the road surface, Steel OTT work pretty well for plowing off road/gravel/dirt driveways
But pure ice, is hard on anything , even dozers and excavators can be useless if there is enough ice down and you get into angles and gravity will win!
BUT if you actually BUY snow tires, it makes a HUGE difference, they grip 10 times better, get you more down force on tires as there more narrow, so just better traction period on snow and ice!
and if you don;t have to worry about damaging the road surface, Steel OTT work pretty well for plowing off road/gravel/dirt driveways
But pure ice, is hard on anything , even dozers and excavators can be useless if there is enough ice down and you get into angles and gravity will win!
MRBB
5 year old buck +
ALSO a good idea, if possible,
for me here due to I have a sloped drive way, I keep stock piles of gravel and road millings, if needed I can top dress the ice and get about and it will also make it melt faster, as past few winters, Ice storms have been major problems here, this Dec, I had like 2 inches of ice on everything for 4-5 days
even the ATV wouldn;t get up the drive way till I spread millings on top! and just walking to anything outside was super dangerous
had deer break its leg the first evening it came down, still here daily, but feel bad for the poor critter!
Good to know that's a quality shear. May see one in my future
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
We have over the tire steel tracks which helped traction a ton!
Tree shears have 2 moving blades (not one) and will cut trees flush with the ground or slightly below. Tilt them a little and the tree falls away every time. Open cab. I was somewhat dangerous learning how to clip at first with some branches damn near coming inside with me. I learned real quick how to avoid that!
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Tree shears have 2 moving blades (not one) and will cut trees flush with the ground or slightly below. Tilt them a little and the tree falls away every time. Open cab. I was somewhat dangerous learning how to clip at first with some branches damn near coming inside with me. I learned real quick how to avoid that!
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Triple C
5 year old buck +
We cut an access rd about 600 ft long thru planted pines with that tree shear. Blades work like a pair of scissors and to your point, tilt the unit downward just a bit with a little pressure from the top bar and every tree fell just as shown in pic. And that was done with an older model JD that was standard flow. Haven't use it with the 333 hi flo. I'd prolly rent one had I not bought this one due to the fact that once we finished with major stuff we wanted done, we seldom have a need for it any longer. A good heavy duty brush mower/mulcher is invaluable.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
That brushhog is on my shortlist (doesn't mean I'll get it though... but I want one). The tractor has a brushhog but there are so many places the tractor can't go. One on the skid would be used a ton!
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