Titan HD Tree Shear Review - A great forestry mulcher alternative - Long Term Review by Real Owner

I have used this Titan HD tree shear for over 3 years now, mainly to clear large buckthorn and honeysuckle in my woods. It has held up great and makes clearing large buckthorn much easier and safer than using a chainsaw. Some additional benefits of a tree shear are: Cut large debris into more manageable sizes for collecting and burning, much easier on the hydraulic system of your machine, and no high flow is needed.
I would highly recommend this for a skid steer, but I am neutral on using it on a tractor...unless you have huge auxiliary pump capacity on your tractor, cycle times will be pretty slow. More importantly, unless your tractor has a forestry protection kit on it, I think it is only a matter of time before you damage something on your tractor when using this.
Where a forestry mulcher is a hammer, this is a scalpel. This is a much cheaper alternative to buying a forestry mulcher and it is much cheaper to operate.
One could use this for limbing trees, but the lack of hydraulic tilt makes it difficult and clunky to use for that purpose.
If you have any tips or questions about using a tree shear please comment below. As always, if you found this review useful and would to see more in the future please Subscribe!
driftlessinwi

[@tf987]

thank you!!!

[@jimtilley383]

Great video! Thank you for sharing! Great info.

[@larrybauman7430]

I really like mine. I'm cutting cedars up to 14inches. I only cut into base of tree as far as the wedge. Then cut above it 6 inches. Then I can take it out with nose of shear. And just keep repeating the process.

[@driftlessinwi]

Cool, thanks for the tip!

[@larrybauman7430]

I have the same problem with it bending pin. So I put a heavy washer then the key. That seems to work great!

[@driftlessinwi]

Good tip!

[@ronaldbrennan8787]

Cut out a small area of the screen to slide the hoses through.

[@GraniteRidge]

Goat power

[@bear9923]

I'VE HAD 2 QUICK ATTACH SHEARS. THE 1st ONE WAS EARLY GENERATION UNIT/DESIGN. IT LITERALLY BROKE APART ON ME AFTER INFREQUENT USE OVER 2 YEARS. THEY TRADED A NEWER DESIGN FOR A REDUCED COST WHICH SEEMED TO BE A LITTLE BETTER. NEITHER WOULD COME CLOSE TO SHEARING A 12" TREE AS ADVERTIZED. HARD WOODS OR FROZEN WOOD...MAYBE 8" TOPS. THE DESIGN IS THE SAME AS YOUR UNIT WITH A WEDGE ON THE MOVEABLE BLADE. THAT IS TO DIRECT THE FALL TO THE RIGHT. WITH YOUR UNIT FLOATING I COULD SEE THE TREES MIGHT FALL ANYWHERE INCLUDING ON YOU. I WOULD GET THAT PIN OUT OF THERE AND REPLACE WITH GRADE 8 OR SIMILAR. TYPICALLY THE PINS DISTORT LIKE THAT CAUSE YOUR TRYING TO SHEAR TOO BIG OF TREE FOR THE CAPABILITY. AS THE TREE STARTS TO LEAN FROM BEING PARTIALLY SHEARED IT TORQUES THE UNIT/PIN AND SCREWS IT UP. WE ARE "BROTHERS IN ARMS" SO TO SPEAK SO PLZ DON'T TAKE THIS AS CRITIZIM, IT'S JUST TO TRY AND HELP US ALL WITH THESE THINGS. GOOD VID. THANKS FROM NW WISCONSIN

[@driftlessinwi]

Thanks for the comment, I understand your points. I don't worry about 8-12" trees falling on my cab though, especially since I typically cut high up first. I would never use this attachment on a tractor or cab less machine, pin or no pin :) Thanks!

[@jamesbailey3939]

Can you go underground an inch or so? Tired of tripping over little cedar stumps in the pasture

[@driftlessinwi]

I'm sure you could if you have soft dirt around tree. I would be worried about crunching up rocks though, while the blade is very durable it probably wouldn't last real long cutting on rocks :)

[@michiganhay7844]

Nice video are used mine and after a few trees the bottom wedge on the sheer blade busted off the bolts sheared right off have you had that problem and how important do you think that wedges are

[@driftlessinwi]

I have not had that problem, but I have noticed that Titan uses inferior bolts on most things (most of the cheap imports have low grade bolts and steel in general). I would try putting new bolts in if you can. The wedges help direct the fall so they can be important depending on your use and machine. If it were me I wouldn't care much if I was in a skidsteer because of steel cage, also if you cut mainly smaller trees like buckthorn and honeysuckle the wedges don't do much anyway. Hope that helps and good luck with the fix!

[@michiganhay7844]

@@driftlessinwi Yeah thank you the only thing I’ve been able to find right now it’s a metric 16 mm and I bought class 10 metric bolts which are like SAE stand grade eights but I haven’t Bama find the subdued had Alan Keyes instead just the cap screw do you think it matters of the bulkhead sticks up much above that wedge

[@driftlessinwi]

Hard for me to say, but I would think flush would be best so it doesn't stick when opening shear in a cut. I guess you could always try it out...or try to weld it...? Not sure.

[@georgehofgren6123]

Any idea how well this will cut with lower flow of about 16gpm? (it's rated for 12.5gpm min.)

[@driftlessinwi]

Should be fine, just slower. Sorry for late response, I've been away for awhile.

[@arnoldromppai5395]

those tree shears are a joke,, 1 the ram is way to small not enough power, it should be a minimum of a 10" ram, and one fixed cutting blade and the one moving blade, there should be a set of holding arms, so you have control of the tree you are cutting and able to carry it into a pile. not just falling every witch way, making a huge mess never mind very danger-est. for that an the small ram size and no 2nd blade i would never have one years before saws came out on the bunchers they had big shears to cut the trees down, for pulp, saws didnt come until years later, they had a fixed blade and one moving blade, the ram was 14" and the rod was 4.5" they had holding arms, same with the towers on the short wood koring harvesters, the boom sheered the tree off and handed it over to the tower that stripped the limbs off and sheared it in to 8 foot long logs and kicked them back into the bunk that held 8 cords, once full you walked it out to the road and it had a 2nd boom with a clam to off load

[@driftlessinwi]

The shear works great for what I need, buckthorn and honeysuckle. A saw is much better for bigger trees, especially hardwoods, and when you want to keep the lumber in good shape. Thanks for the comment!

[@arnoldromppai5395]

@@driftlessinwi thats why when the paper mill opened the stud saw mill,the sheared trees were no good for studs due to splintering,there is a shear on the market with2 rams and 2 shear blades and holding arms for skid steer and mini ex, they cut up to a 14 lnch tree, also available with a carbide saw.. you can carry the trees all over. they rent them here, witch i have fore a cat 304 mini ex.. dont like skid steer in the bush.. i used it a few times to clear poplars my cows push over or were they are growing in to thick and stops the grass from growing.. and fence lines,were you need full control over the trees an brush. i pile them up for small game hiding and nesting.. since i busted up my back in 1987 i cant bendover to use a power saw