I'm dying to....

[Runner]

...use my backhoe to take out these two stumps. The second one is hard to see, but it is mid way between the stump in the foreground and the tree in the background.

I called the dig-rite people and they marked the property as you can see. The blue lines are the water main and the orange is cable TV.

How would you guys recommend attacking this problem?

I'm thinking of digging on the three sides opposite from where the lines are shown and am hoping to be able to rip these out without having to do much on the street side.

 

[flusher]

...use my backhoe to take out these two stumps. The second one is hard to see, but it is mid way between the stump in the foreground and the tree in the background.

I called the dig-rite people and they marked the property as you can see. The blue lines are the water main and the orange is cable TV.

How would you guys recommend attacking this problem?

I'm thinking of digging on the three sides opposite from where the lines are shown and am hoping to be able to rip these out without having to do much on the street side.

Those two stumps are way too close to the utilities. I'd rent a stump grinder and finish the job in an hour since there's only two stumps. You only need to grind the stumps down to 6" below grade and backfill. Your backhoe is the wrong tool for this job.

 

[QRTRHRS]

That is what I would do as well. You are going to end up with big hole but take your time and dig out around the stumps. Don't be in any hurry to pull on the stump, not that it would readily budge anyway.

The roots may have been severed by the utility installation hence the dead trees to start with, maybe not. You might just have to cut some roots to avoid disturbing the lines.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Flusher said it best.

Life will bring you lots of times to play with your backhoe. Dancing with the utilities isn't where you want to start.

 

[Gizmo2]

-------↑-------
What he said.

 

[Jeff244]

Also keep in mind that the marked lines are only approximately where the actual utilities are. Sometimes they are a couple feet off, especially the cable tv lines. You are supposed to dig by hand and find them before using any machinery.


Jeff

 

[Hookblock]

Flusher said it best. Rent a power sweeping stump grinder done in a hour or less. Some rental places are flexible with the equipment. The place I get equipment from will get me a good deal if I call about something at 3:30 pm and have it back by 8:00am the next morning. I did this with a grinder, picked it up at 4:00 pm fri. had it back at 8:00 am sat, did 63 stumps and got charged for 2 hrs rent.

 

[Willl]

Yup, grind 'em.

 

[EddieWalker]

Grind them.

The roots are probably wraped around the pipes to some degee. The hoe will move and twist the stump quite a bit before it breaks free and there's no way of nowing how much movement the water lines will be able to handle. Even if by some miracle that you managed to get them out and not break the water main, you could still be liable for it if it breakes in the future if they determine that your digging ruined the integrity of their line.

Which brings up the most important reason to not dig. If you cut a utility that was not marked, then it's not your fault and you are not liable for the repairs. If you cut a utility that was marked, they will send you the bill for the repairs. This can easily cost you a fair amount of money depending on the size of the line and how angry they are about your actions.

A guy that I knew in California used to do utility work with $1,000,000 in insurance. They changed the minimum to ten million since a million wasn't covering the cost of allot of the repairs that they had to pay out. That was in the SF Bay Area back in the late 80's.

Some risks are worthwhile, others are just plain foolish. I wouldn't touch those stumps with anything but a grinder, and even then, I'd probe the heck out of the area and know exactly where those pipes are before doing anything. Never assume how deep a pipe is or that it's marked correctly. Most of the time when a pipe is broken, it's because it was near the surface. Sometimes just a few inches down!!!!

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[dqdave1]

I agree; grind them; in Ohio, you must stay away from all marked lines by at least 18", anything inside this ; you must hand dig. Not worth it to dig, grind them.

 

[Runner]

Guys,

Thanks for the helpful advice. Looks like I'm renting a stump grinder for this one. Actually, they're small and rotten enough, I might just use an axe to chop them out

I guess if I was really very confident that it could/should be done with the hoe, I wouldn't have asked the question.

Always good to have knowledgable people to bounce these things off of.

 

[Renze]

My sister and brother in law, had some sort of pine brush growing in front of their house in town. I helped them redo their garden years ago, when they bought the property. We thought that a car could handle the tree, but since i was there with the tractor anyways, we used the tractor. I had 4 tons of tractor, spinning all 4 wheels on the pavement !!!
Later we found that the roots had grown into the wall of the house, even though it was just a small brush-like tree, with three or four 3" branches on the same stump. that was about 2 feet away from the house.

If you want to play with a grinder, you can do that, but you can also dig around it by hand, then cut off the roots with an axe and just throw the stump out.
If the stump is too big for that, you could also dig out, wash it with a hose, then saw off another 7", backfill and forget. Then backfill a bit more in 5 years when the stump has deteriorated.

 

[Runner]

Just a quick update:

The stump grinder was the best advice I've gotten all year. I rented it for four hours yesterday and took out ten stumps (including one from a tree cut down in the middle of the process).

The unit was a two-cylinder, 35 hp gas powered model and had hydraulic controls for everything. No seat, you walked along beside it (VERY SLOWLY....) but it did a great job.

Only mishaps were from getting the cutter wheel a little too close to my wire fence (dang it...) and getting it stuck in the mud by the ditch (2520 to the rescue....).

So thanks again for the advice guys.

 

[Ductape]

And you blew this opportunity (excuse) to purchase a new impliment for your tractor ????????

 

[rtdiggr]

This is my stumpgrinder it is an awesome machine. Shane

 

[3RRL]

View attachment 111754 This is my stumpgrinder it is an awesome machine. Shane

Shane, do you have a photo of the other side?

 

[Runner]

"And you blew this opportunity (excuse) to purchase a new impliment for your tractor ???????? "

If I was one of the guys on here who has acres of stumps to dispose of, I'd do it in a heartbeat. However, these were the only ones I needed to get rid of, so it woudn't pay for me (then again, since when has that ever stopped me from buying an attachment?).

Also, I can see the need to do a more complete job of removing stumps where a building will be located, and fortunately, mine were all in grass areas.

Incidentally, the only one that gave the grinder even a little problem was a 24 inch diameter hedge stump. That one probably took 15 minutes, but it is now history, just like the rest of them.

Spent a little time seeding and laying down straw yesterday, so hopefully I can get some grass growing before winter sets in.

 

[rtdiggr]

Here you go Rob. I would highly recommend this stump grinder. Besides being a powerful machine it was a few thousand less then any other machine i was looking at.
Shane

 

[3RRL]

Thanks Shane,
Boy that sure looks like a simple straight forward design. Keeping it simple like that makes for easier maintenance and lower production cost. They certainly didn't skimp on the gear box and cutter though.
Looks like a very good product.

 

[rtdiggr]

Hi Rob yes the design is straight forward. I would think someone with some skill could build one, the only thing you would probably want to buy is the cutting wheel the cutting blades are on certain angles. If you want more pics let me know.

Shane