Backhoe Backhoe stump removal

[KiotiJohn]

Several members have asked me about removing stumps with a CUT backhoe. Here is a series of pics I did over the last four days. I was digging stumps for a friend's father who is crippled with arthritis. He had been trying to do it by hand!! He'd be there for the next few years that way. I removed 6 pine stumps and one large tallow tree stump (the only easy one) so far. Some of these pines had been 80 feet tall.
First pic is just a shot of the land with holes from some of the stumps. John

 

[KiotiJohn]

Notice how I've dug all around the tree to break all the larger feeder roots.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Here's that same stump out of the ground. Can't tell from this, but it's 5' wide at the base. John

 

[KiotiJohn]

In this pic, I've been digging on a monster for 4 hours.

 

[KiotiJohn]

This feeder root measured 15' long.

 

[KiotiJohn]

This is the monster that took me a total of 10 hours to get out! It sure wasn't so big above ground, but below ground, WOW!

 

[KiotiJohn]

So that you can tell the top has a square piece of plywood sitting on it.

 

[KiotiJohn]

The best way to get those feeders is to start out away from the stump where the roots are not as strong. This took so long, because there were literally hundreds of small to large roots all around. Here you can see how much space is around the stump, started out and moved inward.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Finally got enough roots broken to uproot the stump. I've had to use a chain saw, cut them off part way down in the past, but I got all of this one. The BH bucket is lifting up on the roots, but it's too big to take out so I'll break it up in the hole and cover it up.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Use the backhoe to break off all the outer roots that you can and jsut let them fall in the hole. It's now about half the original size.