Any tricks for digging up boulders?

Mike_Lipke · May 1, 2006

Tirechains as a sling are truly awesome.

daTeacha · May 1, 2006

I've seen every kind of solution here except one -- large sledgehammer.

I guess we get so used to using the tractors that we forget we have other tools at our disposal. Yeah, I know some igneous rocks don't chip apart all that easily, but a little exercise is good for you. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

jstreet · May 1, 2006

Well, the boulder put up a good fight, but finally lost today.
I went back to it this a.m. with more hand tools, including a heavy chain. No luck with the chain -- tractor just didn't have enough traction in the still-damp ground (mud).
So I just started digging alternately with FEL, pick and shovel. Finally got so I could tilt the beast up a little bit by pushing and curling the bucket. Then while the loader held the rock I hand-shoveled dirt back into the hole behind it so it couldn't roll all the way back into hole, and repeated this cycle a few times, each time leaving the rock a little higher.
Finally it was up and out far enough that I could push with the bucket and get it rolling downhill and off the trail.
I found a "sister" boulder sticking up nearby, and it wouldn't budge. I'm leaving it where it is and will mark it with a driveway marker so I remember where it is and avoid it with the Bush Hog. The Kubota has earned a rest anyway.

AndyMA · May 1, 2006

Good work, just to be a pain, I'll throw in my 2 cents. many on this board try to do with a FEL what is backhoe work. Many hours with a FEL or a few minutes with a backhoe. Backhoe is also much safer. If you have a bunch to move you may want to think backhoe. It's my favorite atachment.

Andy

texasjohn · May 1, 2006

Mike_Lipke, I keep learning things!@!

I've been carrying tire snow cables around and never need them here.... have now converted them to tractor duty for service next time I need to put a rock in a sling. Thanks for the idea!

David_G · May 2, 2006

Have the same problem but I use a demolition hammer (electric jack hammer) to take the top off the rock.
Quite quick and relatively easy.
Dave..

Swanee · May 3, 2006

I find that what beenthere describes works well for me also. I find an old set of pallet forks (fairly short, a little under 3ft long) works great. Just drive them into the ground next to the rock and work on rolling it out. I suspect that if my forks were longer the leverage would work against you when trying to "roll the bucket" so to speak. I got my forks from a neighbor for nothing since the tips were worn too thin to be used at work anymore. Hence, why they are a little shorter than normal since I chopsawed them back to a thicker cross section.