stump removal advice

[AntrimMan]

ditto on everything Eddie had to say.
You are not deep enough until you can see that the bucket is no longer uncovering any roots. It takes a big hole to break a big stump free. I don't know WRC but a red oak the same size will have a hole 10' wide and 6 or 7 feet deep when using a BH90. The side and corner of the bucket can be worked under the stump and then curled against the bottom of the hole with the teeth prying up on the corner of the stump. Under cutting is a must. That stump, approx 24" at the cut, with a BH90 will take you half a day, 4 hours, start to finish. To get it out of the hole will require you to cut a ramp and nudge it up towards you with the hoe. I usually roll the stump over in the hole and knock as much dirt off with the hoe bucket as is possible to reduce the weight. Sometimes they roll back accidentally so keep yourself out of the hole, it will kill you. You can't pick that up with a chain on the hoe, it's too big, the tractor will pivot on the rear wheels or the hoe relief will open. If you chain it to the loader and manage to lift it, it will swing and damage everything it touches. I alway end up skidding them along with the loader or bulldozing them to the pile and that can be a wild ride so go easy.
Next time leave the stump at breast height if you can and after you dig around it you can rock it with the bucket on the top to loosen the bottom, bigger lever.
I do not advocate use of a chain saw in a hole.

Keep at it. It will come out.
All the best,
Martin

 

[fawcekj]

Ditto on all the options everyone has provided. I've tried most all of them except the tire rim trick. I don't have any spare rims without tires.
(the wife put the brakes on me using her stuff, once I used a cake cover to change the oil, 20 years later and she still yells at me about it)
What has worked best for me in GA red clay has been wait until a few days after a good gully washer, the ground has firmed back up so that it is not a mucky bog, but not as hard as summer brick. Dig down all the way round the trunk as deep as your hoe will go. Then if rocking it with the FEL won't move it. I hook a chain onto one of the largest surface roots, then around the back side of the stump, then attached to the center of my box blade. And pull, which twists the root in its whole. then back into it with the box blade, then pull and repeat. (no running starts, you might break something. low gear, 4WD, locked diferential) Sometimes twisting will break the surface tension (suction) that is holding it in the ground. time and persistance will get it out.
Good luck,

 

[SnoFalls]

I got some time to work on it saturday ... washed it some, went a little deeper (still only sand and no roots), chained it to the chevy and still wasn't twitchin.

hacked on it some with the chainsaw thinkin I might just split one of the primary roots (it has 6) from the trunk. Just couldn't get a safe way to get a chain on it.

Went back to washing it, and I'll get a pic sunday, but it now looks like it's just perched on the ground /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I think the washing, cleaning the trench, washing, etc will get it done. The biggest problem is I really only have 3 access points ... this makes getting real deep difficult, and working it with the loader tricky in the tight quarters.

 

[Phil2005]

I used a hydraulic bottle jack to break a stump free. I was in the same position where the main roots going out from the stump were cut and had a fairly deep trench all around. I dug under the one of the main roots to position the bottle jack underneath. It took a few iterations of jacking and adding more wood (2x6) underneath the jack until it stopped pushing itself into the ground. At that point the stump started to move and then a couple of pops occurred (some of the roots underneath snapping?) and the stump broke free. It was too big for my tractor to pull out of the hole so I then used wedges to split it into pieces the tractor could handle.

 

[SnoFalls]

Well here it still sits ...

(and I managaed to find that "white root" (aka septic drain pipe) /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

It started twitchin, but nothing close to starting to break free.

I did wash under it some more, and got quite a ways under in in a few spots, but still no help.

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks like your doing allot of washing and other stuff, but not digging it out with your backhoe. Is it the picture, or have you not undercut any of the stump?

I don't see any evidence that your using the best tool you have to take it out, but instead your washing off the roots and making a mess with the water. I guess that makes sense for those who don't have backhoes, but why are you piddleing around with chainsaws and hoses????

It's your stump and if you're having fun, I guess that's what's important.

If it was me, I'd just dig it out and undercut the stump. Then if I could't pic the stump out, I'd dig a ramp and drag it out. Hopefull all the mud your creating wont get in the way when you decide to take it out.

Eddie

 

[ronjhall]

Eddie
He has a <font color="orange"> Kubota </font>BH90. See first post in this thread.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Ron,

I realize he has a small backhoe, but it's still the best tool for the job. If he works at it and takes out enough dirt, he'll get it out. Soaking everything with water will just make a mess.

I understand that mine is a little bigger, but I've also taken out stumps an aweful lot larger that I couldn't pick up once free. There is no limit to the size of stump you can take out with a backhoe, just how long it takes based on how much dirt you can remove.

Eddie

 

[SnoFalls]

Ed,

In the pic above (before that last hose off), I'm about 2' below any remaining roots. It's all sand, so no mud, and after about 10 minutes it's dry down there.

I cant really do a ramp to get the loader in to undercut ...building ... septic tank ... drain field ... water+power ... ring the 4 sides of the stump.

The access limitations are a big problem I have to work around /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[ronjhall]

Your pictures have not shown how restricted the area is around the stump. The one that shows the rear end of a pickup shows a little how tight the area area is. Have you tried a come-along to another tree?