Help with sapling puller?

   / Help with sapling puller? #1  

TMcD_in_MI

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Messages
300
Location
NW Lower Michigan
Tractor
JD 4310
I'm more of a cobbler than a fabricator and I could really use some ideas on how to build something. I have hundreds of small maple saplings growing in different places that are from a half-inch to maybe one-plus inches in diameter, and I want to pull them up. I could brush hog them, but I don't want all the small stumps. Those little buggers stay around a long time. I have a JD 4310 with a loader, but no grapple.

So far, I've been wrapping a chain around them a few times and pulling them out individually, but getting on and off the tractor gets old fast. What I am trying to see how to build is some kind of attachment for my loader that I could just guide onto the tree trunk and have it somehow grab on so I can pull the thing out, and then somehow release afterward. I am trying to avoid the expense of hydraulics, so I would like a purely mechanical device. Maybe something that would wedge itself around the trunk when I backed up, but could be released afterward. :confused:

Anyway, that's my idea, and if anyone can help me picture how to build such a thing I would be very grateful.

Tom
 
   / Help with sapling puller? #2  
I made this and with a helper, to wrap chain/rope around it.
It works great, look at this, its nothing but a big shovel. Its called a tree and root bucket.
Another idea would to bolt a piece of 6 inch channel to your bucket and you would have a smaller one.

25735tree_and_root_bucket-med.JPG


Jim
 
   / Help with sapling puller? #3  
Someone here built a tree puller that could be FEL or drawbar mounted. It consisted of a frame with horizontal v notch plates that were sharpened on the underside of the v's. You just drive the v into the tree & lift. The v notch plates were gusseted so they wouldn't bend when lifted. very simple & effective.
 
   / Help with sapling puller? #4  
TDcd,
Do a search under grubbers you will find plenty of them !!!
 
   / Help with sapling puller? #5  
I have had a lot of success using a single shank ripper or middlebuster on small stumps(up to 3"-4" in Diameter). I hook the shank on the back side of the stump about a foot or so and work back and forth a bit to get the shank down into the dirt. I then pull ahead and the shank digs in and down behind the stump and hooks up with the stump base or it's roots, I lift with the 3PH while pulling forward and it usually peels them right out of the ground. If they won't go, I reposition the ripper shank to pass alongside the stump and pull ahead. The shank digs in and cuts or hooks onto the roots as well as loosens the soil, then I go back to pulling it from behind. This of course works best on something you can drive over. I brushhogged a bunch of Elderberry trees/bushes last year. The ripper now works good for going back and pulling the stumps that are starting to re-sprout. the only time I have to leave the seat is the rare occasion when I break a shear bolt on the ripper tooth, or to pick up the stump. I sometimes can get the stump into the regular bucket without leaving the tractor or if I have the fork bucket on, it is real easy to pick them up. The ripper has also been handy for trenching in irrigation line.
 
   / Help with sapling puller? #7  
There is just the thing you are looking made up here in Smith Falls Ontario by D.D. Scissons. It is called Brush Brute. Nice and simple,works better than anything else I've ever seen. Check with your local dealers for a brochure. Might be something in the older threads too.
 
   / Help with sapling puller? #8  
In WWII they mounted tooth bar looking things that narrowed between the teeth on tanks to rip through hedgerows in France. A single set would look something like a pair of sissors opened up about 30 degrees or so. The idea is that you would drive up to the sapling until it was too narrow for it to go in any farther. It would then be ripped from the ground. You could then release it by back dragging your bucket.
 
   / Help with sapling puller?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I'm sure glad I asked you guys before I started to build something. I was waaay overthinking the whole thing. :eek: I was picturing rotating knurled cams on hinged spring-loaded jaws with some kind of release lever - like I could have ever built that anyway.


It looks like the way to go is a steel V that is sharp enough on the inside edges that it will grab the trunk, but not so sharp that it will slice right through. I think I can do that.

You guys have been a great help. Thanks very much!

Tom
 
 
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