Helping out our local vineyard clear some trees so they could plant more grape vines. Simple technique with the 1952 ~24,000 pound Caterpillar D69U. First you plunge the blade in on the right side of the ground and tear up the root structure. Then switch over to the left side, lower the blade and power through the roots underground. Then back up and lift the blade up to about 5 to 6 feet off the ground to get more torque and push into the tree trunk. This breaks the back roots free and start the tree leaning. At least it does with a 90 HP D69U boring into it. Last move is to backup, lower the blade into the remain roots and drive forward to dig into and severe the remaining roots under the trunk. Once you get the tree leaning over hard I lift the blade to pull the stump completely out and essentially flip or lay the tree down on its side. Never fear, once the trees were cleared, thousands of beautiful new grape vines were planted that will stabilize the soil and provide a great habitat for wildlife and soil microbes for decades to come. (NOTE OF CAUTION: always check to make sure there are no loose or decaying branches above you when you uproot a tree. The force applied with the bulldozer can easily cause them to break off and come down on top of you.)

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