Pushing small stumps into the ground

[joecoin]

I've been dealing with a thousand and two tiny stumps. They are three inches in diameter maximum. I started a thread about it under the "Rural living" sub forum a while back and got some good advice.


As I was beating some of the stumps in to submission with the sledge hammer, I had a brilliant idea.

Build a hydraulic ram that would push downward and shove the stumps into the soil. Same as hitting them with the sledge hammer.

I know as much about hydraulics as I know about opera (not much).

How much force (how large of a ram and how much hyd pressure) would be required to match the force of a sledge hammer blow?

I notice a recent thread here about post pounders. They are too expensive for me. Can I use a ram that would utilize the weight of my tractor to slowly shove the stumps into the ground?

 

[Egon]

If you have a loader on the tractor you already have at hand all the downward force you can get.

 

[CobyRupert]

Pounding them into the ground with a sledge hammer actually worked??

 

[radios1]

I'd use either a stump grinder, or just pull them out with a loader, they'll rot under the ground after time, and leave a depression, it's better to get them out..

 

[joecoin]

Pounding them into the ground with a sledge hammer actually worked??

Yeah, if I hit them dead on a lot of them went into the ground with one blow.

Trouble is, I'm 60 years old and after a couple dozen my back went on strike.

 

[joecoin]

I'd use either a stump grinder, or just pull them out with a loader, they'll rot under the ground after time, and leave a depression, it's better to get them out..

Yeah, I know I should use a grinder but I don't have one and I don't want to rent a small one, too much physical labor on my old bones. That leaves a large grinder, which would be over kill, but maybe the answer. Just seems like a lot of work to move a large grinder every time for a 2 inch stump?

Don't have a loader with enough power to pull them out.

My original post in the other sub forum was asking in anyone ever used a debarker to grind small stumps. Never got an answer to that question, but did get a lot of advice, for which I am thankful.

 

[joecoin]

If you have a loader on the tractor you already have at hand all the downward force you can get.

How about running a hyd pump with its own fluid reservoir off the PTO?

 

[motoman3b]

Best to pull them out before the trees cut, get a chain up about 6-8ft up the tree and use it for leverage you'd be surprised how big of a tree you can pull out stump and all this way I use my truck in 4 low if my tractor dont have enough grunt

 

[CincyFlyer]

Yeah, I know I should use a grinder but I don't have one and I don't want to rent a small one, too much physical labor on my old bones. That leaves a large grinder, which would be over kill, but maybe the answer. Just seems like a lot of work to move a large grinder every time for a 2 inch stump?

Don't have a loader with enough power to pull them out.

My original post in the other sub forum was asking in anyone ever used a debarker to grind small stumps. Never got an answer to that question, but did get a lot of advice, for which I am thankful.

Around here, you could rent a tracked stump grinder for $175/day (and if you get it Saturday you keep it until Monday) which would be an easy walk-behind job to knock out your stumps.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Don't have a loader with enough power to pull them out.

I would think that something must be wrong with your loader if it wont pull out a 2" tree. I pulled them that size with my Kubota RTV900 easily. Except for the driving back and forth and dragging a chain for each tree, there was no problem yanking out 2-3" trees. The larger ones, I just hooked the chain higher for additional leverage and they usually came right out.
Getting my B26 TLB with the hydraulic thumb though really made short work of removing my sweet gum thicket and stacking the trees for burning. If I had hundreds or even thousands of tree stumps to remove, I would look at renting a small TLB for a weekend. Get one with a hydraulic thumb and you can just clamp then with the backhoe bucket and lift them right out without digging a big hole. You can set up and do a 10 foot semi-circle before having to raise the outriggers and move. On my B26, I have a rod that I use to reach the HST pedal so I don't have to move from the backhoe operator position in order to relocate.