Excavator Projects

Doc · Apr 26, 2020

I'm only scratching the surface with tasks I can do around the property with the excavator, and hoping to learn from things that you use your excavator for. I have drainage ditches and culverts under control for now.

So far I've made a couple new access trails to the main trail. Original was so muddy I now have two new access points. In doing that I had to clear a lot of small trees and brush that used to reside there. No problem.

So last week I tackled some of the trails and cleared brush from the sides of the trails. So nice to be able to pulverize 8 to 10 foot tall brush, smash it, dig it up and push it all 8 ft or more from the trail. This will save the wife and I from our weekly trail trimming rides where we trim individual stalks that grow into the trail. This used to be a never ending task. Not any more.

Here are a few pics of the fun ..er I mean work I got done.

NorthernRedneck · Apr 26, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Awesome. I'd love to have one eventually. But I don't really have a need for one now.

pixie · Apr 26, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Besides trail clearing. road building and the stuff like that, I use it to haul logs up the big embankment with a long rope for firewood.
Have also loaded engines on trailers to scrap them, pick up one end of dead snowcats to put blocking under them or move them sideways a little so they are parked better.

Pushing over trees is fun but dangerous and messy cause sooner or later I still have to cut the roots off and get the log to the firewood pile

I've tried crushing cans and printers...

Jim_S · Apr 26, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

pixie said:
I've tried crushing cans and printers...

Cans not so much, printers yes, many times!

:th_lmao:

Doc · Apr 26, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Ahh yes, trees. Fun to push over but have to be careful. I have 7 or so acres that I want to clear trails through. Nice and flat. I have a trail all the way round it but need to tear into the interior. It's not close to the house so I need plenty of time to get to the area, do some work and get back to teh house. But this is on my to do list.

I had not considered smashing printers or cans. Hmmmmm

bczoom · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Doc - It appears you have a pretty serious vine issue. I'd rip them all out. I had grape vines and they would choke out and eventually kill and knock down full size trees.

Bamby · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

With this attachment in place it may even make it to much fun..

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms7Q1aamHA0[/ame]

Doc · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

bczoom said:
Doc - It appears you have a pretty serious vine issue. I'd rip them all out. I had grape vines and they would choke out and eventually kill and knock down full size trees.

I sure do Brian. And the overgrowth made it near impossible to get at the main part of the vines. I pull down the small and medium ones and chain saw the big ones now that I can get to them. Tricky stuff to deal with.

One guy was just talking about using his grapple to pull the vines down out of the tree tops. He turned to watch where he was backing to and next thing ya know he woke up with medics treating him. A 25ft tree top came down with the vines hit him and knocked him out. He was out for 40 minutes.

I love cutting and pulling down the vines but stuff like this keeps me aware of what can happen in a split second.

Doc · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Bamby said:
With this attachment in place it may even make it to much fun..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms7Q1aamHA0

Yeah Bamby, I have seen those and would love one but they are expensive. The one I looked at was over 3k. After just spending a small fortune on the excavator I'm not even mentioning this add on to the wife for a long while. Maybe next year. In the mean time I'll rough it and tear em up with the bucket.

Bamby · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Doc said:
I sure do Brian. And the overgrowth made it near impossible to get at the main part of the vines. I pull down the small and medium ones and chain saw the big ones now that I can get to them. Tricky stuff to deal with.

One guy was just talking about using his grapple to pull the vines down out of the tree tops. He turned to watch where he was backing to and next thing ya know he woke up with medics treating him. A 25ft tree top came down with the vines hit him and knocked him out. He was out for 40 minutes.

I love cutting and pulling down the vines but stuff like this keeps me aware of what can happen in a split second.

With vines and the poison that climes all thats really needed is a sharp machete or a small chainsaw and walk through the woods and cut them off at ground level and allow the vines to rot and fall on their own. It doesn't take all that long to see results once cut their source of water off at the roots.

bczoom · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

My vines aren't that bushy so like Bamby said, I just cut them off waist high (too old/lazy to bend down and cut them at ground level). They fall down after time.

If you had a thumb on your hoe, that would do a nice job of ripping them out.

If you have another person to help (so you don't have to get on/off the machine a lot), you could use a brush grubber attached to the hoe bucket.

Doc · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Thanks guys.
I do have a thumb on the bucket. Comes in very handy. I've been tearing up the brush / vines and coming back through with the chain saw and cutting what I could not rip out with the excavator. Once some of these areas a cleared I should be able to keep them down with the tractror and brush hog. Other areas are to steep or to populated with big trees. I've been cutting vines for years, the excavator has helped me to ramp up the effort like on steroids.

bczoom · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Acme Super Brush Killer is your friend.

That's what I use on my multiflora roses and it works great.
It's been awhile but I got mine at Tractor Supply.

Doc · Apr 27, 2020

Re: What do you use your excavator for?

Thanks Brian. I try not to spray but if I do I'll give that a try. Years ago someone at Tractor supply sold me something for weed / brush control and advised me to mix it with 50% diesel fuel to eradicate multi flora. I tried that method but was less than satisfied with the results.

mla2ofus · Apr 27, 2020

I've often wondered if you could set up a hyd drive on a 4' brush hog and attach it to the stick on a track hoe to mow down vines and small brush.
Mike

Doc · Apr 27, 2020

mla2ofus said:
I've often wondered if you could set up a hyd drive on a 4' brush hog and attach it to the stick on a track hoe to mow down vines and small brush.
Mike

Yep, you sure can. I was shocked at the price though. 3k and up. Would sure be handy though.

Snowtrac Nome · Apr 27, 2020

an old timer tought me how to build roads with an excavator. you strip over burdon to one side dig up the gravel 5 feet or so and stack it on the other side than throw the overburden muck in the bottom of the ditch and fill the top with gravel and do final grade some of his roads in his subdivision were 20 years old and never got soft in the spring like the state roads which were pit run over ditch cloth

m1west · Apr 27, 2020

Love your new toy, After I get the cabin straightened out I want to tackle the mountain, something like that could be just what I need, road building and another cabin site for my son and maybe a little pond.

mla2ofus · Apr 27, 2020

Doc said:
Yep, you sure can. I was shocked at the price though. 3k and up. Would sure be handy though.

I don't think it would be rocket science to build it myself for a lot less.
Mike

Bamby · Apr 28, 2020

If I were to have your machine and the time, place and opportunity I'd be pulling myself out a nice little pond somewhere on my place. It would need to be big enough to be self sufficient more or less and I'd just stock it with just some goldfish if it were small and larger would open other opportunities.

Lets see some cold ones in a cooler and a nice casual four wheeler ride to the pond to then relax and enjoy watching the fish going about doing their business... What a way to shed some stress away..

Doc · Apr 28, 2020

Yup. Good idea. We have a nice little pond. part of my brush clearing was clearing brush around the pond ...and I did it without falling in (excavator or me). That is the scary part of ponds. Grounds is soft near the edges and one cannot get too close.

pjflyer · Feb 14, 2021

Fairly new to the site just browsing, but here's one of our projects (during and after) and the old Insley.

PGBC · Oct 20, 2021

Doc, i couldn't read in the photos what model that is, is it a 30?

PGBC · Oct 20, 2021

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