Stump Buckets

[prometheus303]

Was wondering is a stump bucket worth getting for a tractor? I have a root grapple. Even when I tried to pick up small stumps out of the ground like 2" to 3" Diameter. I still lift my rear end off the ground. My rear tire have liquid ballast (water) and 300 LBS Boxblade. Would stump bucket do better?

 

[jeff9366]

Branson 2515​

Dimensions
Wheelbase:	65.7 inches 166 cm
Length:	120.9 inches 307 cm
Width:	56.3 inches 143 cm
Height (ROPS):	104 inches 264 cm
Gear Weight:	2989 lbs 1355 kg
Hydro Weight:	2969 lbs 1346 kg
Ground clearance:	14.4 inches 36 cm

 

[jeff9366]

Would stump bucket do better?

Probably not.

As kitted you have as much weight as you can move with <25 horsepower.

Stump buckets are best on 6,000+ pound tractors.

I notice, though, that lighter and lighter stump buckets are now in the market.

Attachments

• 
  DSC00514.JPG

  3.1 MB · Views: 671

Cut tree trunks 6' to 7' above ground. When soil is moist, near trunk top attach an appropriate strength rope, strap or chain at least 15' long. Attach bitter end of rope, strap or chain to tractor's rear/center drawbar, then pull steadily. With this technique you have leverage.

 

[rgr33]

I have one that I use with my 33 hp LS. Jeff is right, my tractor is a bit light for optimal use, but I hate digging with a shovel, so I make it work. It demands some serious counterweight for best results.
I don’t use it much, but have dug out some dead trees, and unfortunately, a couple of graves for smallish livestock.

 

[Smokeydog]

A piranha or wicked bar might be a better choice. Combining lift with force driving forward puts more pull on small trees. Cut roots on bigger stuff.

Danuser Intimdator. Never underestimate what a 26 hp tractor can do. Grab low and drive forward to pull up trees works best. Excavator teeth and saw bars break roots before pulling if needed. Then use the FEL to shake off dirt.

 

[prometheus303]

Probably not.

As kitted you have as much weight as you can move with <25 horsepower.

Stump buckets are best on 6,000+ pound tractors.

I notice, though, that lighter and lighter stump buckets are now in the market.

Attachments

• 
  DSC00514.JPG

  3.1 MB · Views: 671

Cut tree trunks 6' to 7' above ground. When soil is moist, near trunk top attach an appropriate strength rope, strap or chain at least 10' long. Attach bitter end of rope, strap or chain to tractor's rear/center drawbar, then pull steadily. With this technique you have leverage.

Actually, I actually did think about doing that and then adding a snap block getting a little bit more mechanical leverage. Thanks for the info my gut feeling was stump bucket one be that useful but I don't know what I don't know

 

[prometheus303]

A piranha or wicked bar might be a better choice. Combining lift with force driving forward puts more pull on small trees. Cut roots on bigger stuff.

View attachment 769873
Danuser Intimdator. Never underestimate what a 26 hp tractor can do. Grab low and drive forward to pull up trees works best. Excavator teeth and saw bars break roots before pulling if needed. Then use the FEL to shake off dirt.

I'll check that out

 

[Xfaxman]

Danuser Intimdator. Never underestimate what a 26 hp tractor can do. Grab low and drive forward to pull up trees works best. Excavator teeth and saw bars break roots before pulling if needed. Then use the FEL to shake off dirt

I'll check that out

There have been many threads on here about it, here is one: Front-End Loader - Danuser Intimdator

 

[cqaigy2]

I

Probably not.

As kitted you have as much weight as you can move with <25 horsepower.

Stump buckets are best on 6,000+ pound tractors.

I notice, though, that lighter and lighter stump buckets are now in the market.

Attachments

• 
  DSC00514.JPG

  3.1 MB · Views: 671

Cut tree trunks 6' to 7' above ground. When soil is moist, near trunk top attach an appropriate strength rope, strap or chain at least 15' long. Attach bitter end of rope, strap or chain to tractor's rear/center drawbar, then pull steadily. With this technique you have leverage.

I've used this method a number of times to get the stump out of the ground, the leverage from that tall stump is the key. Be aware if you attach high on the stump, it will want to want to lift if your attachment point on the tractor is below the height of the stump attachment point.

Also, i've used barrels, large wood rounds, largeish tire rim as a roll point, to pull straight up on the stump and pop the stump out of the ground.

 

[Vigo327]

My experience with stump buckets is limited to skid steers but I actually think using one on a skid steer vs a typical small tractor is probably more enlightening than the other way around.

The main problem with stump buckets is that most of them are targeted towards skid steers which have stronger breakout, stronger lift capacity, stronger loader frames, etc than most small tractors. They also weigh more which becomes a big factor when prying up with the bucket, when the ground is your fulcrum and the force you can put down on the tractor end of the bucket is limited by the weight of the front of your tractor before the wheels come up.

I think a stump bucket CAN be just fine on a tractor, IF it's sized properly and if it's used properly. Titan/palletforks.com stump bucket is one of the better designed ones for a tractor because it's lighter on its own, not absurdly long, and has a very narrow 'tip' which means better ground penetration with limited weight/downpressure from the machine.

Even with the right one, it is all about technique. The shortest thing i can say is you are likely not going to pry ANYTHING directly out of the ground in one shot unless it is tiny. You will have to dig around cutting/breaking roots around the perimeter before going for the main stump. The approach i use to get it in the ground is point it down at a steep angle, like 60-90 degrees down, push down until the front of the tractor comes up, hit the brakes and try curling the bucket up to see if it will scratch and start to dig forward a bit. May have to let off the brakes and let the bucket curl the push the tractor backwards a bit. As the bucket gets closer to 30-45 degrees down, put the front tires back on the ground, if you got 4wd pull up on the loader just a little to load the front tires for traction, and then drive forward. As the bucket digs in and tries to go lower and lower you'll have to lower the loader arms with it to keep it from just wedging your front tires down harder and preventing it from digging any deeper. Don't try to bury the whole bucket (but good luck if you try, lol), no more than around halfway in is probably best for the initial groundbreaking. Then curl to see if you can pry it up. If you can't, push your loader down until the front wheels come up again, and continue trying to curl. That puts your max weight down on the back of the bucket, and the ground under the middle of the bucket becomes a fulcrum and you are using the bucket for 'leverage' in addition to just hydraulic curl force. If that doesn't work you can try slowly pulling backward and see if the bucket edges will 'saw' whatever you're stuck under. If none of that works you'll just have to try less depth.

A lot of small tractors have a lot more 3pt lift than they do loader lift. That being the case, you may actually think about getting a 3pt subsoiler and trying to snag and rip up most of the roots around the stump itself, before trying to get the stump itself with the loader. Plus, they're cheaper.

 

[LD1]

You can dig it out with a shovel if you want. certainly a 3000# tractor is gonna do much better.

Stump buckets concentrate the force. There is a technique to keeping the rear on the ground. Gotta work around teh stump, loosen and break roots til its to the point your lift capacity can lift it.

I have plucked MANY stumps with nothing more than my old L3400 (similar sized tractor) and a standard bucket. Takes a big hole, bit it can be done.

The stump bucket, while may still take some work, is gonna be ALOT better than the grapple or your standard bucket

 

[Jchonline]

A piranha or wicked bar might be a better choice. Combining lift with force driving forward puts more pull on small trees. Cut roots on bigger stuff.

View attachment 769873
Danuser Intimdator. Never underestimate what a 26 hp tractor can do. Grab low and drive forward to pull up trees works best. Excavator teeth and saw bars break roots before pulling if needed. Then use the FEL to shake off dirt.

Yes BUT you have B26. Overbuilt FEL with above class lift capacity, and much more weight for an equiv size tractor.

4000lbs (with backhoe no loaded tires) and 2300lb FEL breakout.

 

[Jchonline]

OP asked for opinions.

I think a stump bucket is a good way to tear up the FEL on a smaller machine. I would advise against it.

 

[rScotty]

OP asked for opinions.

I think a stump bucket is a good way to tear up the FEL on a smaller machine. I would advise against it.

Yep. Same opinion here. A FEL is made to scoop and carry things in a bucket. Digging is hard on them. Especially hard on 4wd axles and lightweight removable FELs.

Sure, you can get away with using it for digging for awhile. Just know that digging with the FEL makes compact tractors get old real quick.

 

[mikester]

I don't bother chain sawing small stuff. A 2-3" diameter tree is nothing to push over lifting the roots a bit, then use the bucket to push all the way. Gravity and the weight of the tree helps you push out the root ball. If you cut the tree first then it's all grunt and brute force of your tractor doing the work.

After a good rain or when the soil is moist is the best time.

A root bucket is a great way to wreck your tractor. Rent a SS or CTL. Use a root grapple.

 

[Vigo327]

In the car enthusiast world it’s called ‘driver mod’. I used to rebuild automatic transmissions. People always had concerns about towing, and i would always try to point out that the only way to overwork the transmission is with the gas pedal. Or 3pt backhoes tearing tractors in half. Pretty sure it’s a control lever on a 3pt backhoe that resulted in a broken tractor.

If you can operate within limits of machinery then it doesnt matter what those limits are, you stay inside them and don’t break things. It’s people who have no sense of physics or ‘mechanical empathy’ or especially, no patience, who tear things up.

So depending on which camp you’re in you may not want to put a stump bucket on your tractor. But the same way you dont end up in the hospital if i hand you a spade shovel, is the same way you don’t break your tractor with a stump bucket.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Yeah, I had a stump bucket once, broke my FEL so I sold it. Luckily they were crappy welds with poor penetration so I got it replaced under warranty. The stresses digging trees with a stump bucket puts on an FEL are too much.

Part of me wishes I kept it to so small digging projects but in the end selling it was probably the right choice.

 

[sd455dan]

Branson 2515​

Dimensions
Wheelbase:	65.7 inches 166 cm
Length:	120.9 inches 307 cm
Width:	56.3 inches 143 cm
Height (ROPS):	104 inches 264 cm
Gear Weight:	2989 lbs 1355 kg
Hydro Weight:	2969 lbs 1346 kg
Ground clearance:	14.4 inches 36 cm

To be clear that weight is for the bare tractor no FEL

with his FEL~ 4020 lb

Add a 1000lb 3 point implement and load the rear tires and operating weight is well over 5000lb.
edit to add:FEL break out force is 3660lbs.

Not recommending a stump bucket or against

Just pointing out possible real world operating weights for the Branson 2515 tractor

 

[prometheus303]

Yeah, I had a stump bucket once, broke my FEL so I sold it. Luckily they were crappy welds with poor penetration so I got it replaced under warranty. The stresses digging trees with a stump bucket puts on an FEL are too much.

Part of me wishes I kept it to so small digging projects but in the end selling it was probably the right choice.

yea, I decided against it. I don't want to abuse my FEL.

 

[prometheus303]

A piranha or wicked bar might be a better choice. Combining lift with force driving forward puts more pull on small trees. Cut roots on bigger stuff.

View attachment 769873
Danuser Intimdator. Never underestimate what a 26 hp tractor can do. Grab low and drive forward to pull up trees works best. Excavator teeth and saw bars break roots before pulling if needed. Then use the FEL to shake off dirt.

It's pretty cool. It's way out my price range though.