Mini excavator

[arborworks1]

I have been looking at these things for a very long time. I have been leaning towards the bobcat 323 or 331 can't decide. More for lot clearing and dirt work. But mainly cause I would like to have one. I like the bobcat brand as I know the dealer pretty well.

How would I tie one of these into trees and make it work well?

 

[sawinredneck]

The guy I used to work with a lot had a 337, a bit on the large size, but extremely powerful!!!
The buckets are easy to change from size to size and if you add a thumb it adds so much to the versatility! Steve and Carl should easily be able to guide you on that voyage. This gives you the option to lift and hold large hunks of wood and place them higher than a mini or Bobcat.
You can also modify a mount to run an auger instead of the bucket. If it's muddy, just creep in an blow a hole then back out. No fuss.
Neat machines, lots of versatility and possibilities.

 

[Koa Man]

An excavator without a thumb is basically only good for digging soil and aggregates. The thumb is a must if you want to use it for tree work and loading construction debris.

I have seen excavators with stump grinders on them.

 

[lumberjack]

I've considered getting a 3.5-5t machine and add a dangle grapple for feeding the chipper and loading logs as well as "regular" hoe duties.

On bigger jobs and storm cleanup, it'd be the cats meow, I think. You can add a mower to the boom, for clearance/land clearing work.

Can also transplant decent sized trees with it.

Back in 06 when I rented one for a couple weeks (broken wrist) we used it to extract some trees from behind a house (mini work now), dug several ditches, tore down a building and it's slab, tore up a parking area, dredged one of the inlets to my lake, turned the mulch pile, cleaned out where our lake's drain pipe runs, buried some rubbish 5+ feet deep.

I'd love to have one with a thumb (or better a grapple on a rotator) for the bigger job I have coming up in the neighboring town. It'd probably cut two days off that particular job (30-40%).

I've considered getting one instead of a knuckleboom. I have also considered making a third section for the boom for extra reach and lift height (controlled by the bucket's cylinder most likely)

Yeah, I think they'd be pretty handy.

 

[squisher]

How would I tie one of these into trees and make it work well?

I think you'd need a pretty big tree to tie into with one, and then I don't know what you'd do with it once you got it up there.

 

[SkwerI]

He'd need a fairly substantial rope as well.

 

[thattreeguy]

331 is a bit small, if ya are gonna do big tree work with it
i use mini ex machines to skid brush, i use a cable choker and hool it up to the blade and back down hill, if need be , i pick up the choker in the bucket/ thumb and can raise the ends off the ground, and skid the pile to the chipper,
once there i un choke and 1 by 1 load the trees into my chipper,
its great we pull vw bus sized piles of tan oak right to it, i used a 331 for a week doing it, i woulda liked 1 size bigger
now i call a buddy with a 10k lb kubota or hitachi excavator
i would get a mower and the thumb a grapple would be sweet, but you can get by without.
good luck
i am trading some tree removal for a case 580 extend a hoe in a few weeks,
figured it was better than nothing

 

[woodworkingboy]

Great for tree work with a grapple. They can move around brush and logs very quickly and efficiently. I'm still in the early stages of learning, but watching a very experienced person handle one when doing tree work, it shows that it's the only way to go. Surprising how large a log can be picked up and shuffled along, if held in tight on the side. They can really throw around brush, and if you pick up some of the weight with the grapple, push along a huge pile.

 

[thattreeguy]

i get bored and have competitions with the guys at lunch, who can throw a piece of wood furthest using the bucket and thumb, its a pita to do quickly
i still lose to my crew, but hey we have fun
learn where the fuses are on the rental machines hour meter
that allows for time to have fun

 

[JohnB]

I rent a 337 bobcat with the thumb quite a bit to dig stumps, pull slash piles apart and cut temporary drainage when clearing land. But it's much safer to be in an enclosed cab when working trees. The 442 bobcat is a great choice.

 

[lumberjack]

The 442 is a 7.5t machine and weighs near 17klbs requiring a goose neck and CDL at minimum to haul it.

If I were to get a new Bobcat, I'd get a 430 Fast Track Extendable Arm (19' of reach at ground level, under 9klbs) with an angle blade, AC, secondary hydro's, Hydro x-change, and a radio.

 

[Koa Man]

I was looking at a Fast Track 2 years ago, but decided the amount of work I would use it for did not justify the purchase. I'm glad I saved my money and bought something I could use every week.

The reason I like the Fast Track was because the traveling speed is twice that of the regular excavators. The average excavator takes a long time to get from point A to B, but still faster than a spider lift.

 

[rangerdanger]

I think mini-ex's could be of great use in the arbor world. I would think with a grapple, and the reach of their boom, you could do alot more with it than a skid steer. Skid brush, feed the chipper, load logs, etc. Especially with a rotating grapple and a thumb, you could use those two things together and have yourself a mini version of those large log loader the timber companies use.

And maybe it's me, but I've heard mixed things regarding Bobcat. Some good, some bad. If it was me, I'd go with Cat, Deere, Kubota, Yanmar, Volvo, Gehl, or Takeuchi.

 

[lumberjack]

FWIW, Adrian, a thumb used with a grapple in that manner is called a heel, but that's a good point I hadn't considered.

 

[Dave Shepard]

If I was doing treework with a mini, I'd get a grapple to handle the logs and brush, no doubt. I've been running a Kobelco 150 for the last year in a logging/land clearing capacity, and the regular thumb and bucket is really limiting for handling forest products. You are never at quite the right angle or the right distance. A rotating grapple is just the ticket.

(PS, I really like the Kubota minis)

 

[ewsa]

Do they have a high flow option?

 

[sothere]

Mechanical thumb,"fixed" sucks.I'de opt for a Hitachi.Grapples are OK but too specific in their application IMO.
I just took down 150+ tress Saturday without a thumb,every one of them had to be pulled toward the machine rather than pushed,picked up and thrown behind me as my work area was limited using a 200 Deere.

 

[thattreeguy]

so a mechanical thumb is better to have with the linkage to move it rather than a cheap weld job version?

 

[lumberjack]

Mechanical thumbs nearly always have linkage to get them out of the way. A hydro thumb may be better, but I still think a grapple is where it's at.

Kinda hard to overspecialize a tree service's excavator with a grapple.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Professor Carl is absolutely right, in my opinion.

 

[thattreeguy]

i'm picking up my old 580B case extenda hoe this week,
looking for a used mechanical thumb
for it
but for now its gonna do without till i find one for a good price,
i can grab the log with the bucket and pinch it up on the boom end a bit and load em that way if i have to
besides it has a real set of forks for the front , not the over the bucket kind
this thing needs cleaning and some hoses
but not bad for a trade

 

[PCTREE]

As you probably all Know I have a TCM 804 wheel loader with rotating graple. Real easy to move around with a pickup (6000lbs) doesnt tear up grass and I cannt imagine how anything could be better for tree work. I got it as a demo unit with 70 hours for $25K and have never regretted it

 

[thattreeguy]

now thats cool

 

[SkwerI]

A couple local guys have the Yanmar articulating loader, and one guy has a Kubota (same as the Yanmar, different paint). Very productive machines with more lift capacity and much less turf damage than the skid steers. Lots of guys have the Bobcats but they are always breaking down and they tear the crap out of the yards.

 

[tntree]

bobcats Rotating Grapples

BM Excavator Grapple