Danuser Intimidator

[GeraldVG]

Anybody here have any personal experience with a Danuser Intimidator on an Orange Tractor MX5400 with cab? Specifically, I need to remove all sizes of whole cedar trees, tops left after logging, their close-cut stumps, general woods litter, and brush piles. I understand that the nose tip is hard to see from the operator's position, but I already plan to install a forward-looking camera that should cure that problem.

How is the Intimidator at working logs already on the ground and brush piles? Here is a video of almost exactly what I am wanting to do except it doesn't include feeding a firewood splitter work table (

). Are the implement's side teeth a plus or minus and why? How well does the Intimidator function compared to a stump bucket with a grapple lid? Is the cab's glass an advantage or disadvantage in my scenario?

Is what you get with the Intimidator worth its high cost?

Any personal experience advice and/or comments would be sincerely appreciated. I've been using a New Holland open station 3930 with FEL for over 20 years, but these new hydraulics-operated implements are new ground for me and I'm kind of groping for good answers.

 

[Jchonline]

How many? Tractor FELs just arent made for this kind of work. My advice if you have more than a few is to just get a 40 ton excavator and have someone clear them.

 

[GeraldVG]

I have nearly 1000 acres of cedar-infested woodlands, but no illusions of ever getting them all. The plan now is to have as many of the saleable cedars logged out and sold as possible and to gradually clean up after the logger who will leave the stumps from the saleable size logs he cuts to sell, their tops, and trees too small to cut and sell.

My place is in a conservation easement that protects the hardwoods timbering not planned as forest improvement, endangered species preservation, and practices by Arkansas government forest conservation agencies.

 

[Jchonline]

Ah. My suggestion is big iron if you want to knock a serious dent it in, or just leave them be. Now if you have money to burn and don’t care if you damage the tractor up give it a shot! It has nothing to do with you as an operator, tractors FELs just aren’t designed to pull things out of the ground.

 

[GeraldVG]

Thanks for the advice, Jchonline, but hiring an excavator is not an option. I've already reinvested all the income I've been able to generate to date from the sale of harvested cedar in a forest mulcher. From here I will be gradually chipping away at what I can do myself until I can generate the option to hire another logger. Doing that, however, requires being able to remove enough stumps to get to the tops the a logger leaves and to the smaller, unmarketable stuff. I don't see any acceptable way around my active participation.