Stump puller

[tree grower]

Jimi--the Valby grapples are close, except they are full of cherry-picker hydraulics. Who is manufacturer of the skidsteer attacment in the third photo?

I just discovered Westendorf's website, and their Brush Crusher has some interesting action. That design could be modified to make a stump puller, but there are too many pivot points

 

[Knotbored]

PS-Phil, what is the software you use to make the drawing? Auto cad? I would love to find a simple, Windows-based application for making quick line drawings.

You might check this one out-the free version works just fine for simple sketches
CadStd - Cad Standard Lite freeware and inexpensive Pro software.

 

[MrJimi]

I have no idea who built it, it was something I DL when I was looking for grapple ideas. It does have a winch mounted at the top and looks like its designed for logging, I made the picture a little bigger but its not sharper but you will get the idea. Here is another site that may have close to what your looking for
Wikco.Com Catalog Of Tools And Equipment

Take a look at some of These grapple pictures
I wish I could be more of a help
Jim

 

[philbuilt]

Tree grower
I used coreldraw 12.
One of the designers at work likes to use this as well.
It's free and 3D
Google SketchUp - Home
Good luck there seems to be a lot of options.
Phil

 

[ns_in_tex]

Greetings all, from a new guy on the site. I am a Christmas tree grower, and find that I fabricate as many attachment as I buy. My current need is for a stump puller which attaches to my Bobcat 742B. I have rented a small Kobelco excavator with thumb several times, but it digs too much dirt, and the thumb doesn't have enough travel. There are several manufacturers of root grapples for skid steers, but they are designed for picking up debris which is mostly on top of the ground. I have Googled and researched for two years, and concluded that what I need isn't made commercially, so let's fire up the torches and welder!

I envision a mechanism which looks like a cross between a root grapple and a log loader grapple. The purpose is to extricate a single Christmas tree stump with minimal soil excavation. This will be fabricated as a universal skid steer mount using heavy channel and angle iron, not a full-face plate--I need to see through it. I am thinking of using box blade shanks (AgriSupply), two on the mounting plate and three arranged to act as a thumb. Max width for the three tines is 12" (6" apart), and travel so that they by-pass a little when closed. The mounting plate has 117 degrees of travel from -8 @ full roll-back to 109 @ full roll-out. I plan to mount the grapple assembly (think ice tongs) so it 'hangs' plumb when the mounting plate is rolled out @ 45 degrees. This will maximize my travel options.

I picture the operation as follows: approach a stump with the plate rolled out to 45 degrees, and the opposing tines (thumb) fully retracted. Dive in under the stump with the tines on the plate, roll back a little to get under it, then activate the thumb to clamp the stump. With a little forward-and-back with the machine, and some roll-back and roll-out with the mount, the stump is loosed and can be lifted up easily. Only 587 more to go!

This all sounds too easy, so I need some feedback to identify flaws in my design. Thanks in advance

I really wonder if something like my treegetter might be easier, cheaper, & work faster. If your stumps are spaced out, where you only want to connect to one at a time, your implement could have only one V in it & be very simple to build. My tractor weighs only about 3500 lbs & we hang maybe an extra 1000 lb on the rear & it is amazing what it will pull. The link shows pulling trees, but we normally connect near ground level or just below. No hydraulics needed other than the lift & tilt of the loader. The closer it is to the tractor, the more lift and if designed right, the tilt can act as a leveraged pry bar against the ground. Also you can dig down to connect with more roots.

I presume your machine has hydrastatic drive. This helps a lot. We have seen times, on a hard to pull tree, we would rock back & forth with the rear wheels in the air, till the tree came loose.

here is a link to that thread.

 

[jeff_jeff]

Hi - as a x-mas tree farmer myself, I've been working/thinking about the stump problem for a while. A rented track-hoe with a thumb seems to be the ideal solution to me - but gets expensive every year. My backhoe on the tractor works great, but is way to slow for positioning/transitioning - if I had a reliable partner, I might be tempted to try one person on the backhoe while the other moves the tractor.

So I'm looking at attachments for my skidder - I recently built a ripper attachment:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=92780&stc=1&d=1199247878

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=92779&stc=1&d=1199247864


this works ok, but not great. My small skidder does not have enough power/weight to lift out most stumps, so I usually take a couple of rips in the ground on either side of the stump - then rip under the stump itself - I often have trouble grabbing the stump on the first try, since its just a single ripper - more of a grapple design might work better.

Using opposing grapples may be a good idea.

I've been thinking about building a modified hydraulic tree spade - using hydraulically operated tongs to grab the stump, and hydraulically raised feet to rip it out.

I don't really worry about the dirt coming up with the stump - my primary concern is getting the stump up quick and getting on to the next one.

I'm planning to experiment with a backhoe/thumb combination mounted on the front of the skid loader - if I move the controls inside the skidder, and use a 5" wide bucket, I think it may work pretty good.

And, unless you build the skid loader yourself, you're cheating ;-)

Jeff

 

[tree grower]

Neal--the tree getter looks sharp, but it still must operate in forward motion. I'll definitely save the photo, though.

Jeff, the modified tree spade idea sounds very creative, but why the hydraulically-operated legs, unless your machine is too light to lift out the stump. Did you build your own skidsteer?

 

[jeff_jeff]

yes, I need the legs because at 1500lbs (including 250 in weights) my machine rear end tends to go up and the stumps stay down.

and, yes, since you ask, I did build my skid steer (doesn't everybody?) Here's a link to pictures at machine builders network

Machine Builders Network

 

[rox]

To bad there isn't some type of collar you could quickly attach to the stumps to aid in their removal. Then perhaps you could jsut use a hook?

 

[john_bud]

If you want to keep the nutrients in the soil (and you have a LARGE tractor) check out the FAE Forestry Tillers. Able to till down 15-20 inches and break up about anything.

jb