Mud Wrestling or...

[jinman]

...fighting with a willow stump. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I have two ponds on my property that were breeding ponds for a soil conservation lake built back in 1941. Both of the ponds have silted in and need to have four to six feet of material removed. About four years ago we had a long dry spell, and the ponds dried up. I arranged to have a dozer come to clean out the ponds, but two days before the scheduled date we had a "gully washer" and the ponds filled to the top. One day soon I'm going to pump the ponds into the lake and let them dry enough during the summer so I can easily get a dozer in there to clean them out. The attached picture shows the extremes of wet and dry I've seen over the last four years. Notice the willow tree on the right in both photos.

That willow decided to fall over into the pond this year, and removing the willow from the pond is the topic of this project post and several to follow showing my step-by-step approach to removing the stump using only my New Holland TC45D with loader and a chain saw.

 

[jinman]

The willow fell over seemingly from its own weight. The root ball started to lift out of the bank of the pond. I was able to undercut 80% of it from the bank using my FEL. I backed up to the stump, walked out onto the trunk and attached a chain to pull the stump around onto the bank. I should have taken a picture of this "wacky" fun adventure, but I didn't think of my camera until I already had pulled the willow parallel to the pond dam as seen in the attachment.

 

[jinman]

I kept pulling the willow up onto the bank in hopes that I could leverage the stump around and break any remaining large roots. I had three wheels spinning and my FEL digging to pull until one of the main forks of the tree broke and peeled off. The top photo of this two-photo set shows me pulling over the edge of the bank. The bottom photo shows the tree after I broke the limb, moved it out of my way, and came back for another round of "tug-o-war." /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[jinman]

This time I was determined to break the stump loose, so I drove directly over the bank of the pond to use all the traction I could muster plus the weight of the tractor. With a groan and a snap, the willow roots finally gave up as I slowly drove down the embankment. It's not like it broke and I lunged forward, it was all a very slow and controlled movement with me digging with the FEL bucket every inch of the way. After taking the picture, I got back onto the tractor and just backed right up the bank without even using the FEL bucket for assistance. Isn't 4WD a wonderful thing? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jinman]

After winning this battle, it was an easy thing to reposition my tractor and pull the stump up perpendicular to the bank so I could trim off all the small limbs using my chainsaw. With this done, a few back-and-forth tugs unseated the stump and I was gloating with victory as I pulled the stump around the bank toward my brush pile.

 

[jinman]

Well, there's nothing like the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when reality sets in and you discover what you thought was going to be easy turns out to be a major butt-whoopin'. That darn stump was so heavy with mud-laden roots that I couldn't pull the thing up the bank and out of the pond. About now I was thinking my decision to not load my tires wasn't the brightest decision I ever made. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Though, by the size of the root ball, I'm not sure that would even have helped because I snapped a chain and had to go to my backup chain rated at about 7000 lb. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I kept working the stump back and forth on the bank and was able to "walk" it up over the lip of the pond at the lowest and flattest spot I could find. I spun my tires so much my bank look like moon craters when I finally got the best of that willow.

 

[jinman]

Once the root ball was up on the bank, it was a simple process to cut off the mud and excess roots so the stump became manageable. The smell of that old pond mud was exactly the smell of a hog pen. I had that stinky mud all over me and if you hadn't known what I'd been doing you'd think I'd been wrestling one of Cindi's pigs. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I deposited the stump on my brush pile right next to the one I took out last weekend. I could burn the brush, but it works good to stop erosion which is always a problem on my property.

For now at least, the score is Jim - 2, willow stumps - 0. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Jim,
Nice project, thanks for the photo's.
From the project photo's you have posted, it doesn't look like your tractor has time to sit around and develop to many cobwebs on it.

 

[have_blue]

Jim,

Feels good to win, doesn't it? Yea!!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I once cut down a chicken tree the size of that willow, but with a lot of leaves and without the root ball. I chained the trunk to the FEL bucket and hoisted it up with intentions of dragging it backwards to a brush pile. Wouldn't you know I got the balance point exactly right and the entire tree cleared the ground. My little TC29 looked an ant carrying a cow across the field. Wish I had gotten a picture.

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...it doesn't look like your tractor has time to sit around and develop to many cobwebs on it. )</font>

Mark, I don't get to do much Monday thru Friday, but almost every weekend I put my tractor to work. My neighbors are always commenting about my tractor and what I've accomplished with it. It's such a joy to use a nice piece of equipment that my hourmeter just topped 525 hr. The weather here is Texas allows me almost year-round use for projects. I don't envy anyone who has to covert their tractor to snowplow for the winter.