I needed to clear a lot of trees for a new home we are building. I was primarily pushing the trees over with my CAT 323. I found pushing to be difficult in a thick forest and it also resulted in broken trees. My experienced excavator operator friend showed me a new way of taking trees out by pulling them with the excavator instead of pushing them. It works brilliantly and is much safer.
By lining up the tree so that the arm is between the operator and the tree, it makes it highly unlikely that the tree will fall on the cab. Another benefit is the tree drops right next to the excavator so it is easy to process without having to move the machine any.
Enjoy!
driftlessinwi