What size dozer for this land clearing job? (2024)

I had a D5G a number of years ago and it would handle that reasonably well. But the larger trees look to be 9-12" diameter? Those would take a bit more time, so maybe a D6 to speed things up?

My concern with a dozer is that you will take a bunch of top soil with the trees. And I think more with the smaller trees than the larger ones. They will just fold over if you hit them with the blade above the surface, so you will need to cut down enough to pop them out, and you will take a blade width of soil with it. I think you will end up skimming a few inches off the whole area and end up with a lot of soil mixed in with the trees and it will be harder to burn.

I'd seriously consider clearing it with an excavator since I think you can better separate the trees from the soil. And if you can live with leaving the sapling roots in the ground, I'd look at clearing all the small stuff with a mulcher, then pull the bigger trees with an excavator.

Maybe you could sell or give it away.

Bruce

Spike56 said:

The trees "look" fairly small diameter. A D4-D6 would do that easy. Two inputs from me are: The larger the dozer, the less time. With 30 acres... I'd see about a D6. I would not rent anything ! Have the dozer person bring the rake and pile them up for you. A good operator would get most of the dirt off the root balls and save you a LOT of time trying to move those around. As a bonus, the dozer can flatten out / level out the ground.
Good Luck.

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Agree. The learning curve rental hours will eat up money. It would be cheaper to hire a dozer with experienced operator. Also second the recommendation for the brush bar (take) so they can pile the brush without pushing dirt into the pile.

Dozers are pretty easy to run. I have rented more than a few over the years and they have different controls, depending on age and model.
I rented a Deere 450 and it was my first hydrostatic dozer rental. I was used to a powershift. I was able to master the hydrostatic hand control (left hand) and the 6 way dozer blade (right hand) in a few hours.
Also, dozers are pretty cheap to rent for what they can do in a day. The one I just rented last week was under $300 for the day. They are slow, strong and stable.
Don't be intimidated because its big. Just go slow and you'll be doing fine.

I’d be more concerned what to do with all the debris once its down.

I agree that they are easy to run. But for clear

Hay Dude said:

Dozers are pretty easy to run. I have rented more than a few over the years and they have different controls, depending on age and model.
I rented a Deere 450 and it was my first hydrostatic dozer rental. I was used to a powershift. I was able to master the hydrostatic hand control (left hand) and the 6 way dozer blade (right hand) in a few hours.
Also, dozers are pretty cheap to rent for what they can do in a day. The one I just rented last week was under $300 for the day. They are slow, strong and stable.
Don't be intimidated because its big. Just go slow and you'll be doing fine.

I’d be more concerned what to do with all the debris once its down.

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I agree they are easy to run. I’ve climbed aboard and tore things up for awhile in a gravel pit. But clearing forest land, raking and piling the brush into burnable piles without removing the top soil is a practiced talent. A good forestry operator can do this far quicker and neater. And 30 acres of clearing and leveling is a sizable task. He’s going to want a level site and good topsoils remaining if he’s going to establish a pecan grove.

4570Man said:

It’s hard to clear that little stuff. It’s hard to pull out with without either breaking it off or taking a bunch of dirt with it. My recommendation would be to take a skid steer mower through it and mow all the little stuff then skip the dozer and go straight for the trackhoe to pull everything and burn it. A skid steer mulcher would in the theory clear the whole property but then you’ve still got a lot of chips to clean up. I’d limit the mowing to the smaller stuff and then pull the rest.

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I had some of my property mulched. A forestry mulcher can take out everything and incorporate a lot of it into the top layer of soil. Shouldn’t be any need for clean up, nutrients go back in the soil, helps prevent erosion.