How much wood could a wood chuck chuck?

[imagineero]

I've got a job coming up with about 60cubic yards of mulch by the time we chip all the trees. It's a block right down the back, long narrow drive with a kink in the middle. No access for our truck and chipper, could probably get a small truck in there. No way to get a crane in or even remotely close enough. I got to thinking that maybe a skidder could drag the trees out to the street? It's about 100 yards up the drive, prety flat.

I know this is a pretty vague question, but I've never run a skidder before. The trees are mostly camphor laurels, 18" and under DBH, 35' and under in height, not very wide in the crown. Will a 4 wheeled skidder be able to drag something like this, whole trees at a time? Am I looking for a tracked skidder? How big of a machine? I'll be hiring the machine, possibly with an operator since none of my guys are experienced. I'm hoping to get the job done in a day. If I cut and dragged I think I'd be looking at 2 days for 6 or guys - a lot of labor!

Shaun

 

[cfield]

I've got a job coming up with about 60cubic yards of mulch by the time we chip all the trees. It's a block right down the back, long narrow drive with a kink in the middle. No access for our truck and chipper, could probably get a small truck in there. No way to get a crane in or even remotely close enough. I got to thinking that maybe a skidder could drag the trees out to the street? It's about 100 yards up the drive, prety flat.

I know this is a pretty vague question, but I've never run a skidder before. The trees are mostly camphor laurels, 18" and under DBH, 35' and under in height, not very wide in the crown. Will a 4 wheeled skidder be able to drag something like this, whole trees at a time? Am I looking for a tracked skidder? How big of a machine? I'll be hiring the machine, possibly with an operator since none of my guys are experienced. I'm hoping to get the job done in a day. If I cut and dragged I think I'd be looking at 2 days for 6 or guys - a lot of labor!

I think a skidder would be overkill, I've got a 40hp tractor I bring on jobs when I need it. That would be plenty of power to do the job you described, if I couldnt drag the whole tree, it definetly would if were cut in half. That tractor has saved me alot of time and energy!

 

[beastmaster]

Shaun, we do a lot of land maintenance where we thin out stands of trees, only a few here and there, but often times there isn't access for a chipper and truck. We use a bobcat with a winch on the front and either drag or winch them out no problem. It's a pain sometimes if you have to drag them down a winding road, you may have to re-rig when you get to the "kink" in the driveway.
If you lay everything out right you can pile brush on the big wood and get a lot out with each drag. On a road or drive way a big truck or strong 4 wd should do it. You could also set up a long re-direct with a pulley to get more pulling power if needed.
A skidder is good if you have to pull them over really rough ground, but I don't think you'd need it for dragging down a smooth driveway. May be overkill.

 

[imagineero]

It may be overkill, but it's also cheap and easily done. I've got a 15T truck, a 7T truck and a couple utes. No 4x4's, and no tractors. I don't think you can easily hire tractors, and even if you could I probably wouldn't. I'd feel like I had to bring my cowboy hat or something ;-)

I can get a 3.5T (about 7,000lbs) bobcat for $200/day. It's a 2 day job probably, but I've got $6500 on it. I was hoping to get a crane in and make short work of it, but a bobcats going to work out a lot cheaper. There's also a big dead euc I'm going to firewood, and I can use the bobcat 4in1 bucket to load the barrels. I'm not worried about trashing the drive; they're demolishing the existing house and rebuilding including a new drive later. I'm just wondering how big of a machine I need.

I'll take some pics whatever happens

Shaun

 

[TimberMcPherson]

I would go for a tractor, a skidder is massive overkill and the bobcat might lack the ground clearance when you really need it. Tractors are not cowboy, they are practical. Much logging is done world wide using tractors. The ford county was a skidder in all but name only.\

Go the tractor!

 

[beastmaster]

If I was going to rent, I'd get a tractor also. Awsome pulling power. Around here they rent cheaper then a bobcat. Put on your cowboy hat and ride.
No matter how you do it I think you'll find it wasn't that hard. Your big truck could do it more than likely.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

i use my cat 236 skid loader with over the tire tracks alot to drag whole trees that size. just get a root grapple and or branch manager grapple, and you will make short work of the trees.

 

[dbl612]

i use my cat 236 skid loader with over the tire tracks alot to drag whole trees that size. just get a root grapple and or branch manager grapple, and you will make short work of the trees.

i would think a compact 4wd tractor would easily do your job with minimal damage to driveway surface.

 

[tree MDS]

i would think a compact 4wd tractor would easily do your job with minimal damage to driveway surface.

Right. I'm just getting this image of a skidder going through the city streets with an 18" tree behind it.. lol, that's all I'm saying.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

i would think a compact 4wd tractor would easily do your job with minimal damage to driveway surface.

My skid loader will do no more damage then a tractor, plus i will get better traction.

 

[flushcut]

It may be overkill, but it's also cheap and easily done. I've got a 15T truck, a 7T truck and a couple utes. No 4x4's, and no tractors. I don't think you can easily hire tractors, and even if you could I probably wouldn't. I'd feel like I had to bring my cowboy hat or something ;-)

I can get a 3.5T (about 7,000lbs) bobcat for $200/day. It's a 2 day job probably, but I've got $6500 on it. I was hoping to get a crane in and make short work of it, but a bobcats going to work out a lot cheaper. There's also a big dead euc I'm going to firewood, and I can use the bobcat 4in1 bucket to load the barrels. I'm not worried about trashing the drive; they're demolishing the existing house and rebuilding including a new drive later. I'm just wondering how big of a machine I need.

I'll take some pics whatever happens

Shaun

You will be fine with your bobcat.

 

[imagineero]

We did the first day of what will probably be 2 days plus an extra day for stumpgrinding. Knocked over about a dozen trees, still got a few more to go. We got a full truck chipped in the afternoon once we were done cutting (23cubes) and probably have another 2 truck loads to go tomorrow. The bobcat went well, but a log grab or some big brush forks would have been a lot better than the 4 in 1 bucket. The machine is an S185. Its the biggest bobcat I've operated, and my first time in an enclosed cab with air con. The air con was sweet, but the window not so good - we broke the windshield at the end of the day :-(

It had a lot more power than I thought. It picked up and dragged everything we threw at it. One bummer was that since we had to butt drag the trees, you couldn't really use the grab on the bucket to good effect. We ended up choking them with slings/chain. That was ok, except it meant one guy had to stay at the log pile, and another couple at the chipper. Probably could have used an extra guy.

Ill put some pics up tomorrow

Shaun

 

[2treeornot2tree]

You should be able to rent a root grapple at where you rented the machine from or from a bobcat or cat dealer.

I broke my window out of my machine last year while loading logs on my dump trailer. One hit the top of the side boards and bounced towards me . Wanna talk about pushing back in the seat as far as you can.

 

[imagineero]

Well, things didnt go so good today. Two guys didnt show, which is always a bad start. Got the last few trees on the ground, but with not enough guys, I ended up putting 2 on the chipper, and trying to limb, buck, stack, choke and drive the bobcat myself. It was raining pretty steady and the pressure was on to git 'er done. While climbing back into the bobcat for the millionth time, I slipped on the wet steel and ran my arm along a small shard if glass. Opened half the length of the underside of my right forearm nicely. No tendon damage, but I'm in the hospital just now waiting for Surgery. You'd be hoping the nurses are stacked, but no :-(. At least the pain killers are good.

Won't be finishing the job today, and I'll have to go home and finish up by hand later. The guys are going to do what they can today.

Shaun

 

[BlackOakTreeServ]

Ouch! Shaun, hope you get better soon!

 

[imagineero]

Thanks mate, funny enough it didn't hurt at all, but it was pretty gory. The pain always comes later, when you whack it 10 times a day and its all tender ;-) could have been a lot worse! Hospitals are boring as hell, I'm not allowed to eat or drink and I've got a few hours to kill before they can take me in for surgery.

 

[beastmaster]

That is just bad luck. Thank goodness you didn't cut an artery or tendon. It's going to be tender thats for sure. Hope you heal fast, and get back soon. You need to lay off and let that cut heal, but I know that isn't easy with the job half done. I'ed lend you a hand if you weren't so far away.

 

[imagineero]

Well, I'm back home. They wanted me to stay in overnight, but I was more than adamant I was leaving. I always think sleep is the most important thing for recovering, and you just cant get a good sleep in a hospital bed with all the lights and noise going on. Plus, you can't drink beer. I was lucky enough that we were close to a large modern hospital and they treated me well. I got to see a specialist hand surgeon straight away. I had to wait a few hours for my stomach to empty so they could put me to sleep for the surgery, but he did a real tidy job. It wasn't a cut so much as a gouge, about 1/2" wide, 4" long and had taken all the skin and the layer of fat under that, down to the muscle. Ht cut off all the loose flaps, and stitched it under the skin, with disolving stitches. Very tidy job! Usually when I get stitches it's done by a local GP, and it looks sort of like how my shirts look when I try to repair the rips myself. I got lucky I guess. Should be working in a week or so.

Got back to the site, packed up all my gear, and got back home. Pain killers haven't worn off yet, so I'm off to sleep befoe they do. Stay safe y'all!

Shaun

 

[Aristol]

I think a 4 wheel track skidder be a lot more for the job, as it suits for lot heavier jobs to do. But for you i guess a 40hp tractor is enough to do the job as it eill save a lot cost and time also, you will just require to cut down the trees in half of their length.