[AT] Clearing scrub brush

Sun Jan 24 05:23:41 PST 2016

Nice equipment! The 2 tool bars made from chisel plow shanks are 
interesting. I guess he uses them just to scratch small roots out of the 
ground? I guess he can get enough clearance on them to keep from choking up. 
The stump puller looks very well made. What's up with the bushog behind the 
Cat? I'm assuming he's reclaiming land that would demolish tires?

John Hall

-----Original Message----- 
From: Brian VanDragt
Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2016 11:14 PM
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
Subject: Re: [AT] Clearing scrub brush

Here is a link to most of my dad's current arsenal:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ibkghvzkkrpu3ja/AAA6fZ7eR-WHB18v4IfmzaK7a?dl=0
Dad is a one man show and is almost 70 years old.  He has been in business
for himself since about 1971.  In the pictures you will see a Cat 225D LC
excavator, a Cat 950B loader, a Cat D4H LGP dozer, a Cat 55 Challenger
tractor with Ashland scraper or John Deere MX10 mower, a Cat 257B mini track
loader, a 1979 Kenworth with an even older Rogers lowboy trailer, and a GMC
5500 truck.  In one of the pictures the Challenger 55 is pulling the scraper
and the GMC down the road.  He put a RV style tow bar on the back of the
scraper so when he drives the tractor and scraper to a job, he can take the
truck with him to get home.  It is faster and easier to drive the
tractor/scraper combo than to haul it in two loads on the semi.
He has been downsizing a little, the D4 has been sold, the Kenworth and
trailer are for sale and the 257 mini loader has been traded for a new 259.
He has no plans to retire though.
There are a few more pictures of the brush puller in there as well as some
other homemade brush rakes made out of chisel plow parts.  The brush puller
comb was burned out of steel plate by a local fabrication shop.  The teeth
are obviously tapered to pinch the brush as you pull it towards you but when
it was cut out, the torch was angled to make the teeth narrower on the
bottom and wider on the top to get a grip on the brush without it just
slipping through.  You can see this if you zoom in on the pictures.  There
are no special serrations, just the slightly jagged torch cut.  These are
the pictures I had on hand, the brush puller is probably buried in snow
somewhere right now so more pictures could be hard to get.  The bucket that
it is mounted to has a factory ripper shank mount welded to the back of it.
When he is digging stumps out, he puts a single ripper shank in it so he can
rip through the roots on each side of the stump before digging under it with
the bucket and thumb.  I don't know if that bucket is at his house or out on
a job but I will try to get a picture of it if I can.  There are also
pictures of his hydraulic brush cutter on the excavator.  It is called a
"Slashbuster" and was factory made in Washington.
http://www.slashbuster.com/

Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Cecil R Bearden
Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2016 9:50 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Clearing scrub brush

Any way I could get some front pictures of that?.  I am sure it tapers
inward, but I cannot tell if he serrated the edges of the horizontal parts,
or it is just the pixels of the camera.... I also like the way it hooks to
the back underneath of the bucket as it would make it easier to clean the
trees off.  That is a great invention....!!

Cecil in OKla

On 1/23/2016 2:01 PM, Brian VanDragt wrote:
> My dad is a land clearing and excavating contractor and he made this
> tool that fastens to his excavator bucket for pulling out fine brush.
> Using the regular bucket and thumb would make a mess of the ground
> taking this small stuff out.  If you have a tractor with a loader,
> maybe you could make something like this that clamps to the bucket or
> even a three point hitch version.
> Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Mike M
> Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2016 12:45 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: [AT] Spam> Clearing scrub brush
>
> I have about 2-1/2 acres of land to clear for pasture, that is over
> grown with scrub brush; here in Michigan that consists of  1"-2" "trees"
> about 10-12' tall, that have taken over, and it's _thick_. I see ads
> for grubbers to pull this brush out by the roots (Northern Tool), but
> they run about $75 and it looks like it's a one by one process, which
> would take forever.  I would be interested in learning any old school
> tricks for pulling this stuff out.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> Mike M
>
>
>
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