Too much stump bucket?

[Roughshod]

So I have been looking at stump buckets and grapples lately and wow, these things really do come in all shapes and sizes. I have a lot of saplings to clear and I know that a good many of them are going to be too big to directly uproot, so I'll have to dig them out. Wide buckets suck for digging out small objects, so I'm looking at stump buckets. I also like the idea of being able to do some light and relatively shallow trenching with it The tractor I'll be using it a Mahindra 2538 HST, which according to Mahindra weighs in at 3130 pounds, plus 981 pounds for the loader, plus whatever the weight in the loaded rear tires weighs. Lift capacity 1635 pounds at the pins; God only knows what that translates out to in the bucket.




After looking at tons of different stump buckets and grapples from tons of different builders, I really like the the one from Loflin Fabrication. It is more of the long thin style, which looks better for trenching than the more common short and wide ones. I also like the curved bottom, which seems better for levering stuff out of the ground. Then I looked at the length, wow, 63.5" long! That thing is huge. I emailed Loflin and asked how much the thing weighs, and here is there reply:

Stump Bucket is a great attachment ... but most commonly used on and best suited for a skid steer. 372 lbs. stump bucket alone, 554 lbs. grapple.

So now I'm in a quandary. If it was maybe 20" shorter I'd be all over it, but is this thing too big for my machine? For what it's worth I was sort of leaning toward the grapple version, but of course that is even heavier. What do you guys think? Are any of you using a similarly sized bucket on a similar machine? Thanks.

 

[Fallon]

I've got a bucket spade I use on my pallet forks (L3200, 32hp, HST, 3,500lbs or so with loader & loaded tires). Its worked well for planting some Christmas trees & burying a downspout line or 2. It is in no way a backhoe, but at $200 its not backhoe money either.

http://m.northerntool.com/products/shop~tools~product_200356534_200356534?hotline=false

I did pop a fork off the frame & tweak the frame back dragging with the front off the ground & the forks straight down. Probably qualifies as abuse though. I'd replace the bucket spade with a stump bucket if I found a good deal on one.

It is a huge pain to use given all the maneuvering you need to do to dump the bucket somewhere other than in the trench/hole you are digging. The lack of swing hurts, but you are talking a couple hundred bucks for occasional use vs. Many thousands for a hoe of any sort.

 

[BigCountry1689]

Have you looked at palletforks.com they have 2 a heavy duty and lighter duty. I have been looking at the heavy duty for my 45hp Kioti. for $650.00 I'm going to try it out. I don't personally think I would want a thumb on top of mine as a separate grapple is more practical IMHO.

 

[Roughshod]

So thanks for the advise guys. In the end I did decide that the Loflin stump bucket was probably too much bucket for my machine. I did look at both of the Titan stump buckets and had just about decided to go with the lighter one, but it was back ordered, so that one is out. After doing a bunch of reading on the subject I finally came to the realization that my machine isn't a skid steer, and as such it really isn't capable of using a stump bucket to it's fullest potential anyway. So buying a heavy duty bucket that is made for the severe abuse that a skid steer can dish out is almost certainly overkill. And the Heavy Duty models tend to weigh around double what the standard ones weigh, which of course only cuts into my potential lifting performance.

Then in an unusual turn of events I was taking an different route home from work one day and BAM, there it was sitting is a guys front yard. A brand new Tomahawk brand stump bucket for sale along with a few other attachments. I stopped in and it turns out that he had bought three of them at an auction a while back, he uses two of them on his skid steers and he is selling he third. Kind of randomly I ended up fixing an electrical problem he was having on a hydraulic power pack he had been working on for a few days, so he gave me the bucket for what he paid for it at auction, $275. Score! Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

So of course I took it straight home and put it right to work. I had been uprooting trees with a chain choker the day before, and of course when you're doing that you inevitably run into a few that you just can't pull. Well, the Tomahawk stump bucket made short work of all of them. So I moved on to something much larger, see the big cedar stump in the picture below. That took about ten minutes to dig out, but it did it with minimal trouble. Then I popped out a couple dozen more saplings; MUCH faster than using the chain choker. Then I went and dug out 8 concrete footers that used to be under a mobile home years ago, but lately are only good for tearing up my mower blades. To make a long story short, this thing made short work of every single thing I put in front of it. I've gotta say that I am impressed. It only weighs 175 pounds, which as stump buckets go is pretty light. It has the same general design as the Titan extreme stump bucket, but is a lot lighter because it isn't made out of 1/2" plate. Frankly I would be shocked if a compact tractor could tear this thing up. This may be my new favorite bucket! I will say that this bucket has welded teeth on the front, whereas the more expensive ones have pinned teeth that can more easily be replaced. Eh, shouldn't be a problem for a long while.

And finally, I had been considering a stump grapple instead of just a bucket. After spending a little time digging with one I'm glad that I didn't go that route. I'm now pretty sure that the grapple would be in the way of the digging in a lot of situations. So now I'll dig out a few dozen trees, swap on the root grapple to pile and transport them, then swap back to the stump bucket. Best to let each implement do what it is best at.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Awesome! Really nice when things work your way. I've considered a stump grapple in the past. In what situations do you think the grapple would be in the way?

 

[rswyan]

Nice score !

I built one similar to yours (and W. R. Long), using a Titan solid 1/4" QA plate and 1/4" steel ... it's only 30" long ... no idea what it weighs but it's not all that much.

Works decent on our Kubota B2910, which is a good bit lighter (probably by 1/2) than your Massey.

 

[Roughshod]

Awesome! Really nice when things work your way. I've considered a stump grapple in the past. In what situations do you think the grapple would be in the way?

If you are trying to dig out a stump or a rock then the grapple would not be in the way at all. If you are trying to dig out a tall stump, or maybe a whole tree, then the grapple could stick out an hit the trunk of the tree. I think. But hey, for what I paid for it I have zero complaints. And if I ever get the grapple itch later it is easy enough to weld on one of those add on thumbs, but I doubt it will come to that.

 

[mnredneck]

I have that stump bucket and it really is well built. I have a tc45da that I use it on. The only problem with a stump bucket and a tractor is that the loader arms are so far out front it's hard to get enough penetration/weight without lifting the front tires off the ground thus loosing traction. Works much better on a skid steer. It is nice to push the trees over way up high. I let the tines dig in and drive right up the tree. Then just back up and dig the root ball out. About 6 inches in size is max for the tractor. Maybe 10 with the skid steer. It does a great job of digging trenches or loosening up really hard soil.

 

[sdef]

... It does a great job of digging trenches or loosening up really hard soil.

Or digging holes for peach and apple trees, along with blueberry bushes. Have done a bunch of these lately. Also used the CID stump bucket to create a dry creek bed ~ 150' long by 3' wide x 3' deep in very hard clay and rock. Great tool.

 

[drivadesl]

Hey that thing looks like it would be very effective and the way you found it seems like it was meant to be.

Good to have many tools in the tool box, and you'll always have it WHeN NEeded. Best of luck!