Cutting roots prior to pulling up stumps

[hbaird]

I am in the process of building a Backhoe to use for stump removal and general digging. The stumps are from 4in dia. to 10in dia measured near the ground. The soil is beach grade sandy for the most part. I am planning on building a ripper blade for root cutting with the backhoe. I have some 20 trees to cut down and remove the stumps . My time is not a big issue for the job. Backhoe 608 by CadPlans has 2600lb ripping force. The MID600 by CDP has 4000lb. Naturally the CDP is about $500 more to build. And a little more work. Any comments?
Thank you,
Harold

[egon]

Depending on what you have to attach the backhoe to the larger size would seem preferable.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

I doubt anyone ever complained that their backhoe was too powerful! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

With the beach quality sand, if there were a water supply within a reasonable run of the stumps you could make a small vacuum dredge. Really just a venturi effect power siphon like you can buy at the lawn and garden department or plumbing department but scaled up and powered by at least a 5 HP gas driven pump.

You'd alternately aim the blast of the water at the sand around the roots and then use the suction connection to vacuum up the slurry of sand and water. If you have enough supply and pressure from a larger pump (I only have 5.5 HP) you colid "pressure wash" the roots and vacuum the slurry at the same time. You don't have to move the vacuumed material very far just a couple feet (downhill if on a hill.)

After completely exposing the major roots and making enough clearance you use a chain saw to cut them and then tractor the stumps away.

I am fascinated by the Cad Digger plans and the related company that ships prefabricated materials as a kit but just don't have the time to build one.

If burning is an option after you create a "bell hole" you get enough air to the stump to burn it up, in place. I realize these approaches may not be favored because 1. it elliminates the need for a backhoe and you are probably more interested in having a credible excuse to have a backhoe and 2. the burning even elliminates the need for a tractor... oh sacrilege and heresy!

Lets see, maybe you could run a PTO powered pump to involve at least one big boy toy. With any luck you will not have adequate water within reasonable distance and can just ignore the above ideas and go with a backhoe!

Pat

[pappy19]

Best way I have found to get stumps out is to cut the tree with at least a 4 foot high stump. then use that leverage by pushing it with a tractor, jeep ot what have you. that leverage from the high stump will generally pop the roots on one side, then go to the other side and repeat. Has always worked for me except for tree diameters over 16", then it will still work, only you will need a small dozer to push.

[Pat]

Pappy, you must have some sickly roots up there as 16 inch trees here can be darned hard to push out with a good D-6 Cat. Of course I haven't been pushing on any trees since this morning and my short term , what do you call it, may be interfering with my recollection.

I prefer an explosive charge to just about every other method for removing large stumps but since 9-11 explosives are a tad more wrapped in red tape.

Pat

[jml755]

I use my Ford 755 TLB to pull stumps with the backhoe. It is a beast weighing in at 18,000#. Some 8" stumps will come out in 1 pop, but usually anything larger than that will lift the front of the machine right off the ground when I grab hold of them and pull. Then, a little digging on all sides breaks enough roots to get them out easily. Be carefull about breaking something on the machine it's attached to. I've heard of guys bending hyd cylinder rods on smaller backhoes doing stuff like that. Easy does it and moving a little extra dirt is cheaper than fixing a busted hoe.

[dubba]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I have some 20 trees to cut down

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My favorite method for felling trees and stumping at the same time is to leave tree uncut before stumping.

you should probably be using a tractor with at least a ROPS &amp; pay up your life insurance before attempting this.

I start with the back hoe straight on to the tree so that pushing on the tree will result in the tree falling in the direction i want it to fall. Then I dig on each side of the tree back to the resulting intersection of the backhoes movement. once I'm down 2-3 feet on each side I start testing the tree by pushing on it with the backhoe until the tree falls over. I then push on the underside of the stump to shore it up while I go cut the tree off.
Then I did out the rest of the now loosened up stump

Start with small trees at first until you build some idea of how the whole process works.

BOL

[jml755]

Dubba,
sounds like a good method. I'll have to try it when I have a tree I can get behind to push over. Unfortunately, most of the time I can only approach the trees from the open area where I want to drop it. Your method would save having to prop up the trunk for trimming and slicing into firewood.