stump removing pictures

[EddieWalker]

Gladehound,

Great picture!!! I fell for your comments and didn't realize you were joking until I saw that picture. The stump is bigger then your tractor!!! LOL

Cabin,

Nice job of taking out those stumps. I have a full sized backhoe and taking out stumps is something I spent allot of time doing when I first bought my land. Now they are all gone and I never want to go through that again!!!

One big mistake that I made was to not fill in the hole right away. After putting it off for awhile on one particular hole, and for no real reason, it rained and filled up with water. After the ground was dry enough to drive on, but there was still water in the hole, I started filling it up. The more dirt that I put in there, the more water that came out, but not enough. I ended up creating quicksand. It was a mess and for months, when I drove over that spot, I sunk into it. OOPS!!!!! Lesson learned. Now I fill in those holes right away and never try to fill one with water in it.

Thanks for posting the pics, it's nice to see some dirt being moved in winter.

Eddie

 

[Dmace]

Cool pictures Cabin!

As with IXLR8, I am still waiting for the 36" of snow and ice left on the ground to melt. Plus my backhoe was sitting in a 6" puddle of water after the warm up we add in January. That puddle has since frozen and the backhoe is a long ways away from moving...

 

[Highbeam]

I think that Gladehound was serious. The trunk of that tree is still attached and using your bucket to push over the tree with the stump is always preferred but obviously not always possible.

Good job digging with the hoe. I am itching to move some dirt myself.

 

[gladehound]

I was serious. It's amazing what a little leverage will do. No, I couldn't push it over with the bucket. I tied a strap 20 feet up and tried to pull it over with the LB1914 but just spun. Then I realized my 70 feet of strap and chain could reach my driveway where my 3/4 ton truck was sitting. Second pull with the truck on the driveway and the tree came down (70 foot hickory, 1ft diameter). I cut the stump 20 feet long, chained it to the tractor bucket and went back and forth in an arc around the base of that tree until all the roots were either broken or pulled out of the ground. Then I simply rolled it out of the hole with the bucket. Tractor couldn't lift it, but it could drag it to the brush pile after I cut the stump low.

I was amazed at how well this method worked. From cutting the stump 20 ft long to rolling it out of hole was not much time at all. I didn't time it but it was proabably about 20 minutes. It also didn't seem stresful on my equipment. Plus I think I got a lot more of the root ball out than I would have with a back hoe because the roots weren't cut. A lot were pulled out of the ground. But I figure if I've got 3000 pounds of pushing force with the the little tractor and a 20 foot lever that gives me 60,000 ft-pounds of torque on that stump. That's hard to resist.

Only thind is with this method you have to make sure that you cut the stump short enought that you can get a good arc before you are running into other trees. At 20 feet, I could twist it about 210 degrees. The apparently was enough.

Oh... one more thing. A safety note. When I cut the tree at 20 feet. It stood right up again because most of the roots were not broken. I could have launched something with it. Pulled it back down with the tractor, but just be aware that this can happen.

 

[jcims]

OOPS!!!!! Lesson learned. Now I fill in those holes right away and never try to fill one with water in it.

Oh... one more thing. A safety note. When I cut the tree at 20 feet. It stood right up again because most of the roots were not broken. I could have launched something with it. Pulled it back down with the tractor, but just be aware that this can happen.

This is why lurking TBN is time well spent...

 

[fastpat]

I dug out some stumps with my DK45S and KB2385 backhoe and quickly decided that for one and up to five or six stumps, it's is fine.

But when you have 200+ stumps, hire a track hoe.

 

[woodyacres]

Ok, So I have a question....
I have about five stumps from some 60' trees I cut down this winter. I want to expand my garden (where these stumps are) and need to get these stumps out. I have a DK35, but no back hoe. I am thinking about getting one, but not sure if it is worth the money. The first question is... will my tractor with an added BH even dig these stumps out? They are around 18" in diameter (I am guessing). Second question, do you think buying a BH would be wise for this project? I live in the woods and could spend a lot of time digging stumps, but would I be better renting or hiring it out for the little amount I would use it. I know that's an open ended question, but hoping for your opinions. Thanks!
Woody

 

[fastpat]

Ok, So I have a question....
I have about five stumps from some 60' trees I cut down this winter. I want to expand my garden (where these stumps are) and need to get these stumps out. I have a DK35, but no back hoe. I am thinking about getting one, but not sure if it is worth the money. The first question is... will my tractor with an added BH even dig these stumps out? They are around 18" in diameter (I am guessing). Second question, do you think buying a BH would be wise for this project? I live in the woods and could spend a lot of time digging stumps, but would I be better renting or hiring it out for the little amount I would use it. I know that's an open ended question, but hoping for your opinions. Thanks!
Woody

If I hired the same guy to remove your stumps here's what it would cost.

$150.00 to come to my land then $125.00 per hour to do the work. Based on watching him work, five stumps of the size you have would take him about an hour to remove, but taking worst case, two hours. That would total $400.00. Compare that to your backhoe cost, plus your time (which would be much longer), plus fuel.

A backhoe is a wonderful tool, but for digging multiple huge stumps, they're only marginally useful in my opinion. My grader had a trackhoe with a 42 inch bucket and a fixed thumb. He literally pulled up stumps like the ones you have like I'd pull up a turnip or an onion.

Save your backhoe, should you buy one, for what's it's good for. Digging trenches, foundations, and the occaisional small (10 inches or less) stump removals.

 

[rd_macgregor]

That's cutting it pretty close with the truck. If your 70' strap was tied 20 ft up a 70' tree, the back of the truck would be about 67 ft from the base of the tree. You sure wouldn't want to underestimate the height of the tree! Your description reminded me of this video:
Palm Tree Fell and other Videos on StupidVideos.com
I also saw another one of some folks who felled a fairly sizeable tree onto their truck (Tree Falls On Truck and other Videos on StupidVideos.com); try to explain that one to your wife, much less your insurance company!
BOB

 

[Highbeam]

Ok, So I have a question....
I have about five stumps from some 60' trees I cut down this winter. I want to expand my garden (where these stumps are) and need to get these stumps out. I have a DK35, but no back hoe. I am thinking about getting one, but not sure if it is worth the money. The first question is... will my tractor with an added BH even dig these stumps out? They are around 18" in diameter (I am guessing). Second question, do you think buying a BH would be wise for this project? I live in the woods and could spend a lot of time digging stumps, but would I be better renting or hiring it out for the little amount I would use it. I know that's an open ended question, but hoping for your opinions. Thanks!
Woody

I agree. It is absolutely not wise to buy a 7000-8000$ implement to remove these 6 stumps. Nothing about stump removal is easy on your tractor and this is an excellent job to hire out.