Hickory tree stumps and dirt are very heavy

[Scott_in_WVA]

I had an episode/adventure at my place Saturday. I have been landscaping a road bank and managed to get a Hickory tree about 6" in diameter down root and all.It had a chunck of dirt intertwined in the roots that was about a 4'x4'.
Problem I need to get the root back up the road bank and away from the road.Well I soon found out how heavy this was.My JD 4400 would not even touch it.I think, hey my neighbor has a new Massey Ferguson 245 4x4 53 hp,he can move it ,no problem....WRONG,we decide it would be easier to drag the stump down the asphalt road(remember pulling it downhill) on slight downward grade.His Ferguson could not pull it,I hook my JD 4400 loaded tires/weights and all to the Ferguson and we both are sitting on the asphalt spinning our tires,still no go.We hooked his F-150 Ford 4x4 on the front of my JD 4400 and both tractors and pickup in low range(differental locks engaged) are spinning the tires on the asphalt moving slowly down hill.
My original plans was to drag the stump back up on my property........well that was impossible since we did not have a dozer,so I had no choice but to roll it down the bank onto my neighbors property(across the road) in the brush.Now I have to go and tell my neighbor what I done and why. They said not a problem(whew)so I tell them,where do you want your garden at,I have a JD 660 tiller just waiting for some action/they say you do not need to do that...I say I would be glad to...Anyway I have a big log chain that we used to pull the stump and it actually stretched the chain on one end where the links will not move. I nor my neighbor never did dream a 6" Hickory stump and dirtball on the root would weigh that much.

 

[billfires]

Scott, did you try to "scrape" the dirt off the root ball? Sometimes when I use the BH digging out stumps it is not strong enough to lift the stump out of the hole, so I rotate the stump and scrape as much dirt off as I can. This also means a smaller hole to fill in. Don't know if this would apply to your situation, just a suggestion.

Bill C

 

[MDNY]

Scott,

That is one hell of a stump. Got any photo's?

 

[Wingnut]

... why getting along with one's neighbors is so important.
So ... what kind of damage did you do to the asphalt? /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Scott_in_WVA]

Sorry men,
I do not have any photos.I do not think I hurt the asphalt any ,if anything the state owes me money for putting a rubber surface on it for them/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.I was not in a position to knock any dirt of,it was packed pretty tight around the roots.I measured the dirt clod and it was 7' wide and about 5' thick from bootom of the stump clear through the dirt clod and probably about 3' thick out on the ends. Before I asked my neighbor with the Ferguson to help,I tried moving the stump back up the bank with my Warn winch (9000 lbs) using a block and tackle and my chain broke that was holding the block and tackle and I had to go across the road in the grass and find my block and tackle.(is it called block and tackle or snatch block ??)I am glad it missed my head,like I say the tree was only about 6" in diameter,but man that dirt really is heavy.
On another note my neighbor that has the Ferguson,several years ago he had a little John Deere (350 ?) stuck and he had 8 neighbors bring there farm tractors out and pulled the dozer out.His wife snapped a picture of the event.

 

[Redfisher]

That would have been one good picture(2 tractors and a truck pulling a tree down the road)/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[theboman]

That stump attached to Sandstone Mountain? I've seen some big'ns too. Lots of times those trees have roots that grow thru rocks.

 

[tgello]

scott, i dug out a maple stump that had to be a good 6 to8 feet in dia. with a jd410 backhoe. had to flip it in the hole a half dozen times and scrape the soil off. finally got it out and curled in the hoe arm/bucket the front end was off the ground. had to move it into the woods using the steering brakes. what a ride!!!....tgello

 

[Scott_in_WVA]

What amazes me is that this hickory tree was only about 6" in diameter.

 

[cisco]

I only have a L3410 4X4 and a pick-up, so that leaves me 1 tractor short - guess I won't tangle with any large hickory stumps.