Root Removal - BB Rippers?

[Beltzington]

Neighbor asked me if I would consider removing tree roots from his yard left after he had several hard wood stumps removed. I have a 4WD, 4K LBS, 40 HP tractor with a MD 6' box-blade, is it up to the task? The ground is fairly soft and the largest roots are about 2 - 3" diameter.

I know "try it" is the obvious answer but my tractor is about 50 miles from his yard and I would like some idea before I haul it.

 

[HEC]

Those roots can go pretty deep , depending on soil and water conditions. I have a 57 hp tractor and wonder if it would be up to the task , but not sure. I suppose if a man kept at it long enough it could be done. A back hoe sure would be nice .
Good Luck

 

[bcp]

Park on a flat surface with scarifiers fully down, top link shortened, and resting on the scarifiers. Then measure how far the main cutting edge is above the surface. The scarifiers will go a little less deep than that measurement.

Bruce

 

[Dave M7040]

I have a M7040. Dont think it could do the job.
A 3" hardwood tree root is a pretty tough thing to break. I think a regular case 640 backhoe would struggle a bit.
At best you could only pull one tooth on the box blade but I am doubtful even then.
I have used a sawzall with a very coarse tooth blade to try and severe most roots. It is a lot of back breaking work.
Rather than haul your tractor 50 miles there and 50 miles back why not encourage him to get someone with a real backhoe.
A couple of hours with the backhoe could cost less that the fuel to haul your tractor there and back.
Dave M7040

 

[sixdogs]

If you get the roots out it will be a bear of a job on the equipment and there will be lots of irregular divots near impossible to get out without a bulldozer. You'll never get them all out. Then next year the ground will need to be worked all over again to get it smooth. Hardwood roots give up very little and very slowly. Plus it will take forever.

 

[Eric102]

Don't bother trying it, I have on my 3320 and once the ripper grabs a big root all that happens is 4 wheels spinning, power isn't the issue. A backhoe or dozer is the answer. I was able to dig out 2-3" roots with my 447 backhoe on the 3320 but even that was a slow go and took several days.

 

[gwdixon]

I helped take out a large eucalyptus orchard for a neighbor. I wouldn't even think about using scarifiers on my 3PH for taking out the roots (and stumps) and I have a fairly heavy-duty BB. Using it would lead to tractor damage, BB damage, or both.



Here is another option that I also wouldn't use with my M7040



As the others have said, a small backhoe or excavator is the ideal solution. It will make a total mess of the lawn but the roots will be able to be effectively removed. It might take a couple of hours.

The best bet is to rent a small excavator from a local rental center.

 

[sdef]

+1 to all previous posts. My tractor weighs ~ 7k pounds, depending, with filled rear tires and a 2"+ root will stop it dead in its tracks using my 720# ROBB with its shanks down. Maybe if I were only using one shank- maybe I could break a 2" root... maybe... But it would not be removing anything. I have also used a heavy subsoiler to better effect but it still does not remove anything- only break through it. I would not waste my time nor potential damage to an expensive tractor and implement.

 

[Beltzington]

Thanks Folks - What I needed to know, it will save me the headache and him the cost to haul it.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

General question: how does one of those walk behind trencers (ditch witch) do with 3" hardwood roots?

 

[Beltzington]

General question: how does one of those walk behind trencers (ditch witch) do with 3" hardwood roots?

From my experience with 2" roots not well at all, this year I had to dig 30' of 3" wide 18" deep trench in hard clay with roots so I rented the largest tracked walk behind HD had. It still beat me up and I had to manually chop through many of the larger roots with a hand tool.

 

[sdef]

General question: how does one of those walk behind trencers (ditch witch) do with 3" hardwood roots?

My property is a small hardwood forest with heavy, dense clay and rock as deep as I and the various utility companies have gone. I cleared ~ 1.5+ acres for our new home site and had a bulldozer remove the stumps I did not. The cable company trenched with a vibratory plow type of trencher for fiber (lucky me due to some gov. rural communications program I imagine) ~ 150' alongside the road, then ~ 375' up the middle of the driveway and then ~ 200' across the front yard. Their machine was a bit larger than the typical Ditch Witch I have seen but they had no problem going down ~ 24" - 32" cutting through everything and uplifting large amounts of rocks with many weighing ~ 50 pounds each. I threw away some 3" and maybe a bit larger roots they uplifted, although most of the cleanup was rocks.

 

[check]

I would get a sharpened ripper truth, and if it is not already on the tooth, grind some teeth so you can actually saw the roots. This would work very well on your BH if you have one on the tractor.

 

[rswyan]

Roots ? ... we got roots ...

Piles are a combination of roots and some brush, some taken up with a root rake/grapple, but mostly with our Kubota B2910 and the scarifiers on our 5' Woods box blade, set the deepest they will go. There are some 3 inchers in there.

They are however mostly poplar/aspen - which are fairly brittle and break easily - and not hardwood:

FWIW, I'm guessing that removing roots that are no longer attached to a stump might be a little easier than removing ones that are ...