Stump removal advice

[bcarwell]

I have about 30 - 40 tree stumps averaging about 8-18 inches in diameter, about 70% cedar (juniper) and 30% live oak (Central Texas). I've read all the posts about burning stumps, using salt, etc., etc. and for various reasons it seems to me my only options are renting a stump grinder or bulldozer to push them over and clean up with a chain saw on the roots as necessary and pulling with my tractor (unfortunately a small 25hp Kabota).

Note I don't need to get rid of the stumps, I just need to get them out of the ground or below grade so I can improve pasture and plow.

Questions are: which would be better to use, a stump grinder or bulldozer ? And if a bulldozer, what size would be needed to push over stumps like this or get them uprooted enough that I could get at the roots with a chain saw ? I can leave the stump 4 or 5 feet tall when I cut the trees so I can get leverage with the dozer pushing at the top if that will help.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[radioman]

since you said you want to plow, a dozer is the best way to go. A good sized dozer can pop all those stumps without the need for the chainsaw. Using the stump grinder will only hang up the plow when passing by the stump, Not a good thing.

 

[AKfish]

A dozer along the likes of say.. a JD 450 would do the job. However, you're likely gonna make a mess of your topsoil and the root wads will be holdin' a lot of it.

Thirty or 40 stumps and the largest is only 18". I'd get a small excavator with thumb.

For 8 hours (day rate) on the Hobbs meter many rental places will drop off the machine on Friday afternoon (just before closing) and will pick the machine up on Monday morning. A 10K excavator will pop out those stumps in no time and you can clean the root wads of topsoil easier by picking 'em up and dropping them on the ground a few times.

And the hoe can scrape thru the top 8"-12" of topsoil to drag up the bigger remaining roots.

Two or 3 hours on the controls and you'll be a pro!

AKfish

 

[Marlowe]

I've never tried a dozer but I'd love to one day. I did have a similar project a couple of years ago and borrowed a full size back hoe for a weekend. At first it looked like me and the tractor both had palsy. By the end of the day we had thirty stumps out of the ground and I'd moved a bit of dirt around. I let the stumps sit in a stack over the summer and burned them that fall. They burned to nothing but ash after drying completely, and the dirt that was stuck to the roots didn't present a problem at all. Folks told me plenty of nightmare stories like the backhoe wouldn't do the job and the stumps wouldn't burn, but in the end it was actually a blast. Don't tell the wife. She still thinks I worked my butt off. I sure wish I could think of a good reason to own one of those big back hoes.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I have about 30 - 40 tree stumps averaging about 8-18 inches in diameter,
Questions are: which would be better to use, a stump grinder or bulldozer ? And if a bulldozer, what size would be needed to push over stumps like this or get them uprooted enough that I could get at the roots with a chain saw ? I can leave the stump 4 or 5 feet tall when I cut the trees so I can get leverage with the dozer pushing at the top if that will help.

Thanks for any advice.

I had 70 red and white oak stumps pushed up with the dozer in my avatar. Most were well over the 18 inches you have. I left the stumps about two feet tall and he started early one morning pushing them up and was finished before lunch. Had them push in a pile and the ground smoothed back like they had never been stumps there.

I can post pics of the stumps tomorrow if you want to see them(on dial-up tonight); or you can see them in my thread Land Clearing to House Building in the projects section...several pages back.

David

 

[wushaw]

My vote is for the excavator.

 

[bcarwell]

Many thanks to all for taking the time to reply. Very helpful and much appreciated.
What is a "10K" excavator ?
And if a bulldozer is used, is there any particular technique to pull stumps or is it pretty obvious once you start playing ? Do you drive at the stump catching it at top for most leverage all the way around the stump from different directions to loosen it ? Do you use the blade and try to dig up from below ground, hook roots and lift, etc. or is it pretty straightforward, e.g. "charge" ?

Bob

 

[AKfish]

What is a "10K" excavator ?
And if a bulldozer is used, is there any particular technique to pull stumps or is it pretty obvious once you start playing ? Do you drive at the stump catching it at top for most leverage all the way around the stump from different directions to loosen it ? Do you use the blade and try to dig up from below ground, hook roots and lift, etc. or is it pretty straightforward, e.g. "charge" ?

Bob

10,000 lbs. If you've got a 3/4 ton PU and a 14,000 lb trailer you can pick it up and haul it home yourself.

Depends upon the size/type of the stump and how big a dozer you've got. If it's a big hardwood and a smaller dozer; hitting the top of the stump and trying to pop it out of the ground will just make the tracks spin - or stall out.

The smaller stumps you can roll up with the blade starting 3-4 feet from the stump. Larger stumps you can start at the edges and clip the roots before rolling up the stump.

I'm no expert "'skinner" by any stretch - only played on a couple small crawlers for a few days. The hardest thing was to maintain any kind of level plane to the blade and therefore the amount of dirt you'd be "peeling" up with each pass. My work looked like "rollin' hills"... Up and down and uneven.

Give me the excavator; anyday.

Best of luck.

AKfish

 

[sixdogs]

With "plow" being the operative word, a bulldozer works the best if stumps tall enough to get leverage. A backhoe could work too. Had you said "plow around" I'd vote for the grinder. Not sure your intent but I had a bunch of stumps dozed years ago and pushed together. It was a mess because I had to untangle it and push dirt around later. Took a long time.

Later, I had more just popped out and left and it worked better. The dirt fell off easier and they cleaned more as I dragged to a fencerow.
If you use your tractor and a chain to pull them, take a moment to learn how easy it is to rotate (roll) the tractor upside down as the back wheels gain traction but the object being pulled doesn't move. Happens frequently.

Later, when you do plow there will be lots of roots to catch things so hang on.

 

[Ken45101]

If it's a big hardwood and a smaller dozer; hitting the top of the stump and trying to pop it out of the ground will just make the tracks spin - or stall out.

It depends on the tree species. Some hardwoods have a BIG taproot (almost the size of the trunk) going straight down. Other hardwoods do not have taproots and only have shallow, weak root systems.

Ken