Moving large boulders

[Tollster]

This was one of the smaller boulders in the pic. The little BX huffed up the 1 tonner with this tool. I think it was a 1 ton as it lifted the rear wheels off the ground in his 52 horse bota with weights. The skid also limited yard repairs...considerably.This one was borrowed. Good luck,and be carefull, I bent many a digging bar, and one finger pinch than finally returned to normal color about 6 months later.

 

[Pitch1]

If you need something for a stone boat,I found that the hood from an old car or truck is excellent. You can usually find one for next to free.

 

[crudolph]

If you need something for a stone boat,I found that the hood from an old car or truck is excellent. You can usually find one for next to free.

Fantastic idea! Thanks.

 

[sierradmax]

I had a real large bolder in the way of a chimney foundation install. I could move it around and only lift one end at a time. I thought back to the egyptian era...Literally! I know it may sound time consuming but I raised it out of the ground by lifting one end at a time and filling the hole gradually. When it reached the same elevation as grade, I pulled it out of the way.

 

[JerryK]

Nice skid! My large boulders are probably in the 2-3 ton range (though I suck at estimating size!). I'll probably try and trench them out. Dig a path going downhill (as much downhill slope as I can make) and roll them.

Stay tuned .

Cheers,
Chris.

Some rocks, or dirt encrusted stumps for that matter, are heavy enouth that you HAVE to start pulling them down hill to get them to get going. Plan your pull well in advance. Pull from your drawbar, get her going, and don't stop.....

 

[Raddad]

The three point has more lift power if you use the out side holes on the lower arms. I made a chain basket, roll the rocks onto the basket and lift with the three point.

 

[madmax12]

The three point has more lift power if you use the out side holes on the lower arms. I made a chain basket, roll the rocks onto the basket and lift with the three point.

A few pics of the chain basket would be cool...

 

[Gary Fowler]

Just be really careful when skidding down a steep hill. DONT want the rock to start rolling on its own and run you over. That could cause more than a medical visit.

 

[mdelmarcelle]

I've pulled several large boulders out of our woods. The biggest I think are between 3-4000lbs. Most of them were burried at least 50%. The basic way I got most of them out is to use a recovery strap, sinching it around the rock in the best spot where it won't fall off. This involves some experimenting and digging around the rock. One key there is to not use straps with hooks. If the strap breaks, and they do, those hooks can become bullets.

For very large rocks where I couldn't get traction, I used a compound pulley setup with cables. Simply using one pulley, with one end of the cable attached to the base of a large tree and other end attached to the tractor and the pulley attached to the strap around the rock, I was able to almost double my pulling power (friction robs a bit of it and sometimes it's not possible to get the perfect angle in the pulley setup). For really large rocks, I'd use two pulleys, one attached at the rock, one attached at the tree.

This approach is relatively cheap. You can get heavy cable (1/2" or 5/8") and pulleys inexpensively. I think the pulleys cost about 40-50 bucks a piece. For safety, I always attached chain to the end of the cable and kept myself fairly far away from the cable. But, I never had an instance of the cable snapping. I did have hardware slip, but it didn't produce any sort of dangerous outcome.

 

[boggen]

you might try buying a cheap "hammer drill" any were from 40 bucks on sale to couple hundred bucks, and get a masonry bit ((a few, ya bound to break a couple of them)). drill a bunch of holes in a line across the rock. then pick up some "wedges" and a hammer. and begin tapping the wedges into the holes with a hammer. the rock should split were the holes were drilled.

above not the best explanation, but *shrugs*