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Tree "Slicer" Built From Silage Cutterhead
"It'll cut trees up to 2 inches in diameter," says Charles Hardenburger, Jr., Haddam, Kansas, who built a skid loader-mounted tree cutter using a cutterhead off an old New Holland pull-type silage harvester.
Hardenburger uses a reversible hydraulic motor to power the unit. The silage cutter's two 12-in. dia. ro
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Tree "Slicer" Built From Silage Cutterhead HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Miscellaneous 31-3-3 "It'll cut trees up to 2 inches in diameter," says Charles Hardenburger, Jr., Haddam, Kansas, who built a skid loader-mounted tree cutter using a cutterhead off an old New Holland pull-type silage harvester.
Hardenburger uses a reversible hydraulic motor to power the unit. The silage cutter's two 12-in. dia. rotary knives do the cutting and mount on a steel frame that hooks up to a Deere 3-pt. quick-tach hitch, which is in turn welded to a universal skid steer attachment plate.
"After we cut the big trees down on our pastures, it doesn't take long before thousands of small trees come up. This machine lets us easily take care of those trees before they get big. As far as I know there's no tree cutter on the market that can cut such small trees as efficiently," says Hardenburger.
The knives were originally driven off the silage cutter's gathering chains. He stripped off the knives, along with the chain-drive components that drove them, and welded them to a homemade channel iron frame. The hydraulic motor connects to a right angle gearbox that's used to drive the system.
"We've used it for three years. It works great," says Hardenburger. "I already had most of the materials so it cost very little to build. All I bought was the hydraulic motor, hoses, and a cushioning valve. It limits the amount of pressure to the motor, so if we try to cut a tree that's too big the knives will stall instead of breaking. The gearbox came off the straw spreader on a New Holland 1500 combine."
According to Hardenburger, a tractor won't work as well with this system because it's not maneuverable enough. "The skid loader we use has about 45 hp. You don't need a big skid loader but you do need one with external hydraulics.
"We could, however, mount the 3-pt. unit on back of a tractor," he notes.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Charles C. Hardenburger, Jr., 1995 Concord Rd., Haddam, Kansas 66944 (ph 785 778-2962).
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