Tree Removal with a Backhoe

[alltoys]

I had seen a fellow on this site that had removed trees by using his hoe. I have a 30 hp tractor with a hoe attachment I was not sure if it was big enough to do the job. Especially digging through some of the roots. My trees were close to 75 feet tall 60 inchs plus in diameter. Basically I dug all around the tree then gave it a push with the tractor. At first I was going to use the hoe end but decided not to as if I had to move fast there was to many things to lift, move contract, jump off hoe attachment, jump onto tractor, put in gear and drive. At my age I am not as nimble as I was once was.

After I was turned around I used the bucket pressed up against the tree to topple it. Here are some pics of my exploit.

 

[MikeInEburg]

Actually, this is a trick that I learned on TBN that has worked out very well... Only difference is that I throw a long and sturdy rope high in the tree before digging. I dig then move to a safe distance and pull tree over. This way I don't need to worry about moving quickly should things go wrong. I also get great leverage on the tree by going high. The only downside is that I need to find spare "dirt" to fill the void left by the rootball.
Mike

 

[Airic]

What is the gain by doing it this way? I can't see the pros outweighing the cons. Why not cut the tree down and then dig up the stump? It's much safer. I pushed a tree once and a decent size widow maker came down 6' next to me. Enough for me to not do that again.

 

[MikeInEburg]

The big advantage for me is that the root ball pops out of the ground with very little effort due to the leverage of the tree. Also -unless you're doing this during a stiff breeze, the tree will remain upright until I move to the end of my pulling rope - well out of harms way. On rootball alone I've dug for an hour go get it out of the ground. With this method, I dig for maybe 15 minutes and out she comes.
Mike

 

[MarkV]

This is a much faster way to remove ALL of the tree than digging up a stump.

MarkV

 

[Egon]

60 inchs plus in diameter.

Will we see some pictures of these trees?

 

[alltoys]

60 inches in circumference my booboo.

This is a great way to remove the root ball. Took me a little longer than 15 minutes to dig around the trees as the roots were rather large. My little hoe could only chip away at the larger roots. Although I was surprised at how easy it was to cut through the majority of them. Next time I will use a long cable to pull it over.

I had perfect conditions, nice sunny day no wind, it worked excellent.

 

[workinallthetime]

Dont we all just hate looking at stumps, lol. I have dug alot of trees and by digging with the tree intat this helps so much when your using a compact tractor, the amount of leverage is so much greater like others have stated and the fall is usually much slower. I made the mistake of cutting a few smaller oaks off my property before going after them with the b/h. due to the tap root, rocks, and clay some of the stumps are still there after a couple trys at removing them. I have noticed that when the entire tree is there the tap root on the oaks will split when you push the tree down.
lots of fun !!!!!

 

[alltoys]

I was amazed at how much it took to push over the trees especially after the roots were cut. Next time I will use a long rope to pull it over.

Years ago I helped my father remove a very large stump from our field on the farm. At first we tried digging around the stump by hand, used horse team to pull it over that didn't work. Tried a loaded farm truck that didn't work. Then our neighbor came over mixed us up some farmers helper. Drilled a few holes in the ground chained enough used tires together to go around the stump. Drove stakes in the ground to anchor the chained tires together to keep the dirt from flying away from the stump. When it was set off the blast popped the stump out of the ground just like a cork. Of course can't do that in these days and times.

What took us four days to do years ago I removed three trees complete in a day.

 

[willfick]

I've taken out many trees with my old backhoe; just take your time and don't get too ambitious.

Good luck, Wm