Machine Heads Video: Talking Drum Mulcher Attachments with Caterpillar’s Brock Bahr
Mulching attachments are becoming increasingly popular among a wide range of industries and machines. They extend the versatility of all types of compact equipment — especially compact track loaders — which are great tracked machines that efficiently and effectively remove unwanted vegetation in all types of applications (right-of-way clearing projects, fire fuels reduction thinning, residential and commercial site preparation and land clearing and more). Many manufacturers offer all types of mulching attachments — mowers to stump grinders — but drum mulchers have emerged as the top-of-the-line vegetation management tools for CTLs.
A drum mulcher uses a spinning drum full of sharp teeth or blades, which can be lifted and lowered by a compact track loader to process just about any brush or vegetation — from high grass and other small material all the way up to medium-sized trees upwards of 12 and even 16 in. in diameter. Drum mulchers come in different sizes ranging anywhere from 59 in. in cutting width all the way up to 84 in. and offer differing features such as variable torque motors, load-sensing motors, hydraulic deflectors and bite-limiters.
Mulching trees and brush with a drum mulcher helps vegetation decay faster as compared to just cutting it down and leaving it to rot. Also, it is cheaper to cut down and mulch rather than hauling trees off. Land management practices can also promote new growth by removing old dead trees. Removing dead trees and managing overgrowth reduces the potential for fires and helps make fires more manageable.
Caterpillar offers a wide range of drum mulcher attachments, allowing for matching with just about any type of compact track loader. Compact Equipment’s Wayne Grayson (that’s me) sits down with Brock Bahr of Cat to discuss the Caterpillar lineup of drum mulchers in depth — all the way down to how Cat names each model. Bahr also talks emerging markets, hydraulic flows, tooth types, tech like bite limiters and lots more. Check it all out in the video above, and if you have any more questions on drum mulchers, check out this big article we did:
Wayne Greyson is the Machine Heads editor for Compact Equipment.
