What are the weaknesses on a 350C

[Greasy Fingers]

Gents:
Seems as though there are several of you with experience on a 350C Diesel crawler/loader with a 4way bucket. What are your experiences and what are some of the weaknesses that I should watch out for. I just acquired one in very good shape with low hours to use to clean up buckbrush, greenbriers, multifloral roses etc. on a 10 acre tract. I will use it in my septic installation business and to probably skid logs to a a bandmill on my 119 acre Farm. How do they do skidding? How rough can you be with the bucket?? As you can tell I have several projects scheduled. Also how did/do you haul your 350C's-on a pintle hitch trailer or gooseneck. I have a '93 Ford 3/4T 4X4 diesel but think I'm short on trailer to haul it?? Any suggestions appreciated.

[Howard Yoder]

You didn't say if you had a 3 point or a winch on the back but it helps to get one end of the log up in the air to skid them. I know a guy who put cleats on a loader but he kept tearing up the clucthes. It should do what your wanting to do with it as long as you don't expect to take trees of any size out with it.

[Greasy Fingers]

Don't have a 3 point setup but would expect to build-up a wheeled gantry like some of the old Cat's used in the 30's. I always thought that those were pretty interesting. What do you mean about not taking too large a tree out with it. Can you qualify "large"? I know that my other dozer an International TD9 (about the physical size of the 350C) will push out a very large red cedar but doesn't do very well on a 5" hickory or Post Oak.
I mostly need to clean up Osage Orange and do some digging at the side of some fire trails,etc. Does anyone know how hard it is to push our an Osage Orange (hedgeapple)? I haven't had any experience with the International dozer as it is located on my other farm where believe it or not I don't have a hedgeapple anywhere.

[country53]

Pushing out hedgeapples was the first thing I did after I rebuilt my 420. They are about like pushing out some type of elastic tree they give easy but getting them out is a different story. The roots of the tree are right ontop of the ground thus you're trying to shove something out your setting on. If that 350C got a power hydraulic blade would make it nice for cutting roots before you shove. The ones I took out were about 6" dia and it took about an hour, there were 3 of them. Also hedge apples sprout back from roots I got 3 of'em but about 30 came back to take there place, so make sure you got a bushhog handy.

[Howard Yoder]

A lot of it has to do with what kind of soil you have and what type of trees and what you consider resonable. I took out some tall 10" cottonwoods with oput to much trouble but had a lot of trouble with 6" hackbury with a 440icd