Limb trimmer suggestions

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BigG

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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
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Sickle bar mowers have a little bit of a learning curve to them. The deluxe mount with the breakaway mount would be the only way to buy it. The lack of guards that protect the knives would make it risky to use along on the ground. The first time you cut the pathways it may be a little rough. But once the pathway is trimmed back it would be great at maintaining the trails.

If you buy one please let us know of your experiences with it.

I did not look at the amount of hydraulic oil that is required for the cutter. You may have a problem with the oil getting to hot. I think that would require some investigation as to the serviceability of the system on your tractor. Heat will kill your tractor.
 
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R

RDB

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2019 L2501 HST with Loader
Jun 13, 2019
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14
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Brandon, Ms
I did not look at the amount of hydraulic oil that is required for the cutter. You may have a problem with the oil getting to hot. I think that would require some investigation as to the serviceability of the system on your tractor. Heat will kill your tractor.[/QUOTE]

I think it requires 3 GPM to run it. I feel sure the L2501 could handle that. I'm green when it comes to hydraulics so I would have to get some help with that information.

Thanks
 
Dave_eng

Dave_eng

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I have a sickle mower the same as you are considering.

The manufacturer is great to deal with.

Do not buy it without the break-a-way mount.

Buy some pieces of 1/4" steel plate to stiffen your bucket where the mower mount clamps unto it. These plate pieces can just be installed as you mount the cutter.

I am using it on a M7040 and had too much oil flow. I installed a pressure compensated flow control and was able to dial in the speed to the recommended strokes per minute.

It cuts fresh growth branches easily. Old hard dry stuff is a different matter.

I ran the hydraulics from a rear remote.

I used an industrial strobe light to adjust the flow control. It is not necessary but I used it because I had it.

Dave
 

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GreensvilleJay

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hmm ... 'overhanging limbs' ...
as in a few or thousands ? in a cluster or spread out over acres ??
I only have an acre to deal with 'encroaching' trees so I use a 120V 10" pole saw powered by a UPS powered by a car battery.All this is in the dump trailer that I pull around as required. The trailer give me level,safe footing.

As that sickle bar only does up to 1.5", I'm thinking the limbs will come back,fairly fast, depending on the species of trees.Only the Op knows if this is a one day job or a lifelong 'occupation'. There may be other options to look at, I know at almost 70 I do NOT want to spend more than a day limbing trees...
 
SidecarFlip

SidecarFlip

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It would work on small limbs but not on something larger than say an inch or so. I have lots of experience with sickle bar cutters myself, mowing hay. My first mower was a sickle bar.

Like Jay, I use a pole saw, but in my case I use a HF 'Portland' pole saw (110 volt) with my small Champion Inverter Genny in the back of the side by side with a 100 foot extension cord. Limb size is not an issue, the Portland cuts up to 6" in diameter if necessary. Best part was, I had the Genny for the RV so all I had to add was the extension cord and the pole saw. Pole saw was 69 bucks at Harbor Freight and the extension cord was 15 bucks, also at HF.

I think the Genny was 400 bucks and it gets used not only for the saw but for the RV as well.

The Portland pole saw has an Oregon chain and bar. Nice unit.
 
SidecarFlip

SidecarFlip

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Dave_eng said:
I have a sickle mower the same as you are considering.

The manufacturer is great to deal with.

Do not buy it without the break-a-way mount.

Buy some pieces of 1/4" steel plate to stiffen your bucket where the mower mount clamps unto it. These plate pieces can just be installed as you mount the cutter.

I am using it on a M7040 and had too much oil flow. I installed a pressure compensated flow control and was able to dial in the speed to the recommended strokes per minute.

It cuts fresh growth branches easily. Old hard dry stuff is a different matter.

I ran the hydraulics from a rear remote.

I used an industrial strobe light to adjust the flow control. It is not necessary but I used it because I had it.

Dave
Click to expand...
Dave... You need to make up some mounting brackets for the proportioning valve, that looks coobly......:eek:
 
Dave_eng

Dave_eng

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Oct 6, 2012
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SidecarFlip said:
Dave... You need to make up some mounting brackets for the proportioning valve, that looks coobly......:eek:
Click to expand...
The valve installation was just before winter and was a trial.

Since then I severed my home from the farm lands and then sold the farm lands to a goat farmer who got out of the dairy business.

Now there is no work for the sickle :)

Dave
 
SidecarFlip

SidecarFlip

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Dave_eng said:
The valve installation was just before winter and was a trial.

Since then I severed my home from the farm lands and then sold the farm lands to a goat farmer who got out of the dairy business.

Now there is no work for the sickle :)

Dave
Click to expand...
Maybe you ought to offer it to the poster who wants to buy one new...???
 
UpNorthMI

UpNorthMI

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You did not comment on the volume of cutting or the length of drive or trails. I manage just over 5 miles of trails and try to keep overhanging limbs cut. I have tried all sorts of attachments but find the best efficiency comes with a small light chainsaw or an extending pole chain saw.

Trimming is ineffective as you have to revisit so many times, I moved to just removing all small trees on the sides of my trails. Many a day spent with tractor and chipper!

I moved on to a track loader and large rotary disk mulcher but keep returning to the chainsaw and chipper which do a nice tidy job.

Your tractor is very limited to what it can reach with a limb cutter attached.

Good luck with your decision
 
R

RDB

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2019 L2501 HST with Loader
Jun 13, 2019
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Brandon, Ms
Thank you all for the replies. We have close to 1600 acres with miles of roads through the lease. I’m just wanting to trim the overhanging small stuff no larger than an inch not wanting to remove trees as the land belongs to a timber company and that’s a no no in their book. Manually trimming them would be time consuming and with this attachment I could run it in conjunction with my bush hog. I think it would work and was just wondering if anyone actually used one. Thanks for all the input.
 
UpNorthMI

UpNorthMI

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That's a lot of acreage and potentially a lot of work. Sometimes you just have to buy an attachment and try it. Sometimes they work great and are real keepers and sometimes they don't work like you thought and that's what Craigslist is for.

My key concern would be the 1" limit, it takes me about 10 seconds of work to find something that needs to be trimmed that is larger.

There are a number of buzz type saw trimmers that mount on to a fabricated quick attach plate onto a tractor loader and are powered with a hydraulic feed, they are a lot more expensive.

Good luck with your selection, if you buy one I would love to hear your feedback on how practical and efficient it is for you
 
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GreensvilleJay

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BX23-S,57 A-C D-14,58 A-C D-14, 57 A-C D-14,tiller,cults,Millcreek 25G spreader,
Apr 2, 2019
11,429
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Greensville,Ontario,Canada
MILES of roads !!! yikes.... OK, not a weekend warrior deal then....
NOT your land, some 'timber' company......
hmm...
1st I'd see what the timber guys will ACCEPT as 'trimming', hopefully in writing.
since there is MILES of roads, I assume ALL of it has to be driven and inspected, perhaps a realtime video.....
Big thing is how wide is the road ? Hopefully a single pass 'trimmer machine' could be used. There's NO way a 'tractor mounted polesaw' will work especially if you say you'll be bushhogging all the same time.... you'd need an octopus to control the 3 operations....
obviously a hard steel cab with additonal protection is needed and some control over where the cut limbs end up.
probably lots of 'minor' details will crop up as this gets going....
 
B

BigG

Well-known member

Equipment
l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
1,951
770
113
West Central,FL
Here is a utube that might help.
 
skeets

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
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If you could get a bunch of coal buckets running up and down the road a few times a day they will take care of the problems ;)
 
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