Stumps

[sonofczechgun]

Good Evening

I have an oak (about foot in diameter) knocked down on my land - from Isabela I believe.. Yesterday I decided it is time to do something about it and I hooked it to my B1750 and tried to move it around to get the stump out. What I tried was to use the log as a leverage and break the rest of roots from the ground.
Well, it didnt work. The only thing I got out of it was checking the functionality of 4x4 and dif lock - I was able to spin all 4 wheels in the same tiime


Anybody has a trick or sugestion what to do about fallen down trees or stumps left from fallen down trees? I rip the logs with a chainsaw into boards, but the stumps I dont really want around.

 

[Speedy7]

If you don't have a backhoe to dig it out, a stump grinder is probably your best bet. Even full size TLBs have trouble pulling out stumps.

 

[grandad]

Speedy has it right. Pulling/pushing a stump out of the ground is something you do with a dozer. You can dig them out with an excavator - the quick approach or take a little longer using a backhoe or mini-excavator. If you have a loader, a lot of space to work in and plenty of time, you can even dig a crater around the stump big enough to knock it loose.

Your trick of using the trunk of a fallen tree for leverage might work, but you probably need a bit more tractor to take on a 10" oak that way.

If your ground is as dry as ours around here right now, the roots are pretty solidly in the ground at the moment. You might try adding water to soften things up, but don't get carried away!

 

[waynokakid]

I have a similar problem with some trees in an old logging camp road I am clearing to make a drive to my house. After the trees are cut down. A buddy of mine suggested making burn barrels and putting them on the stumps full of dry firewood. And burning them out. He said that he has seen them burn even the roots as far as 15 ft. away from stump. Sounds a like good idea to me if you are in an area that burning is allowed.

 

[Bob53]

If you are set on pulling it out, Backhoe, breaking one root at a time. You may even have to keep digging out from trunk to expose more root so it will break. If you do not have backhoe and want to pull stump out only other thing I've done is expose each root branch by digging it out and carfully cut each root with chain saw. you need to get as much dirt away from where you are going to cut root. It will not do the chain much good, but should get it loose enough where you're tractor will pull the stump out.

 

[sonofczechgun]

Looks like I got the answer I expected

Two more tricks I heard of:

- cover the stump with manur, thats what amish do and it accelerates the rottening.

- use sawzall to cut the roots - the blade is much cheaper than the chain on a chainsaw.

If I feel playful, I will give it another shot with my CJ7 - I6/4.2 could do better than 20HP tractor.


Thank you, everybody

 

[RonR]

I've heard of people digging a small trench around the stump, putting a metal ring (or barrell) around the stump, filling the trench and the base of the stump with charcoal brickettes, and lighting it off.

Some have taken a wood spade bit and drilled one inch holes down the stump to open it up some.

No personal experience, sorry.
ron

 

[N80]

I've got a 45 hp L4400 w/FEL and for most larger stumps it is useless. (Soil is hard clay and rock) What has worked for me is using a 1" augur bit and drilling multiple holes in the stump, straight down and from the sides. Fill the holes with diesel or kerosene and let them burn.

As mentioned, it is dangerously dry in this part of the world and it is very easy for a fire to get out of hand quick, so waiting for wetter weather would be advised around here.

 

[Marlowe]

I've tried the dig it out by hand route, and the burn it out, and pull it out, and wait to let it rot out method. Nothing beats a big old back hoe. It might be overkill for just one stump, but if you can line up a few other jobs for the hoe while you have it, rent or borrow one. I borrowed one last weekend and got as many as nine stumps out in one hour, without breaking a sweat. Left me wondering what a shovel and an axe are for. Another buddy loaned me his track hoe this past weekend. It was a compact Caterpillar with a 24" bucket. It worked fine, but the JD Back hoe from last weekend was hard to beat. I'm up to about fifty stumps out of the ground in the last two weeks and just about done for a while with the stumps. Time to start digging the footers for the new house, but when I get that done I'll still have plenty of stumps to deal with in the other two acres yet to be cleared. I'll resort to the backhoe again when that time comes.

On another note; I went to an equipment rental place to talk to them about stump removal. When I mentioned stumps they didn't want to rent me a backhoe. They said a backhoe was strickly for digging dirt and could be torn up with stumps. They would only rent me a dozer for stumps. He then proceeded to show me a fairly small dozer he assured me would do the job of pushing them over. I wonder. I have numerous stumps that were cut very close to the ground. It seems that a dozer would need some leverage and what happens when the stump breaks off without getting the root ball out of the ground? I didn't want to leave clumps under ground to rot and leave soft spots and sink holes.

 

[RonR]

You have nice friends--letting you use their nice toys!

ron