Rented a Bobcat E32 for stump digging

[TractorGuy]

The E32 was the only mini excavator they had with a thumb without going to a full size excavator. Results isn't what I hoped for so far. I had never run one so the first two medium/small stumps took about an hour. Got a couple of pretty good size cherry stumps out in the next hour. Next I started on a big sweet gum and it won. After 2 hours of digging I have a 4' wide by 5' deep trench around it and it won't budge. Looks like the stump portion is going to be 5 or 6 times bigger in diameter than what was exposed above ground. Got tired of that and moved over to another spot where I have a few big pine stumps and some medium to small live oaks. Dug out a half dozen or so of the live oak stumps getting to the first pine with no problem. Now I have about an hour and a half into the pine stump and it hasn't moved. Looking like I will need a much larger machine before I try to do the 5 acres I just had clear cut.

The undug cherry in this pic almost stood it on it's nose trying to pick it up after getting it loose.

 

[rustyshakelford]

That's a pretty small machine but it should dig most of those easy enough. Are you lowering the blade when digging? When you cut the roots all the way around it, I usually get the teeth of the bucket on the far side of the stump and curl it towards me. A little hoe takes some hours on before you become proficient. It would help if you had someone to help you.

Brett

 

[Ed of all trades]

As rusty said reach over the stump and work under it and you will be surprised what you can do with a little hoe! You just have to worry them out, keep working in different spots around the stump and it will give up. You might have to pull some out of the hole with your tractor as the little hoes are not built for heavy lifting. Wish I was there I have always liked digging stumps. Ed

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Ditto, put the blade down and use thr bucket like a lever. Get the teeth slid in from the back side and use the heel of the bucket to get some leverage. Keep practicing and trying different things. Some youtube videos of stumps being dug out might be helpful to see what we are talking about. Have fun though!

 

[TractorGuy]

Yeah I'm getting better with it as I go. Figured out pretty quick I needed the blade down while digging.

No way to get any further under this sweet gum with the bucket. It had a 30+ inch trunk and grows out about 6 feet across right under ground level. I'm going to put a ladder in the trench and get in with a shovel to see if I can expose the tap root or what ever is holding it. This little machine won't even rock it a little. Stump is still as solid as it was before I dug around it.

 

[crazyal]

Have you thought about renting a stump grinder?

 

[4570Man]

Sweet gum and hickory have a huge tap root. You might be able to use a chainsaw to cut the tap root.

 

[TractorGuy]

Have you thought about renting a stump grinder?

Not interested in grinding them. Don't want to deal with the constant depressions that form as the rest dies and rots and 5 acres of this I want to be able to harrow and plant. Can''t do that with roots and below grade stumps left behind.

 

[TractorGuy]

Ended up putting 15 hours on the machine so that should come to about $969 for two days and pickup and delivery. I could have hired a guy for a little over twice that for that amount of time who I assume has larger equipment and probably would have got all the stumps this little machine couldn't tackle.

Next plan is to get a quote for renting a larger machine for a week and comparing that to hiring the pro.

 

[rd_macgregor]

Ended up putting 15 hours on the machine so that should come to about $969 for two days and pickup and delivery. I could have hired a guy for a little over twice that for that amount of time who I assume has larger equipment and probably would have got all the stumps this little machine couldn't tackle.

Next plan is to get a quote for renting a larger machine for a week and comparing that to hiring the pro.

At least you can count your own time as "recreation" rather than a "cost".

 

[ishiboo]

If you have 5 acres to do with a lot of stumps, I would rent a sufficiently sized dozer. With this you can push it all into a burn pile (I assume in Florida nobody wants to come cut it up for firewood for free) and handle the holes made/etc. and get it ready for planting. You do not need to get 100% of the root system out, the dozer will get most of it though.

That's a pretty expensive rental, I can get a machine that size for a week for about $1000 here. But either way, that size job is for a dozer. A large hoe will rip those out easy but it will take longer to fill in/repair/etc. everything.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Here a lot of the time a three day rental is the same as a week. Sometimes more. Ed

 

[TractorGuy]

Yeah what happened is I got it for a 1 day rate but they leave it the whole weekend. $250 of it was delivery and pickup and I also added the rental protection plan. I was having too much fun to stop at 8 hours so I decided to add another day on. The actual rate per day before other fees and taxes is $280.

The weekly rate on this same machine is 780. It didn't make sense to change to that since I would be working all week and wouldn't have time to use it.

 

[MFWD]

Hello,
Years ago I built a 3 car garage on the side of my house and had to clear land to have room to build. I had a bunch of stumps that had to go so I rented a John Deere backhoe. I don't remember what model it was, but it was awesome. When that big bucket bit into the ground around the stump, things moved. I would then curl the bucket up under the stump and yank it out. Then my wife would chain it under the bucket and I'd carry it back into the woods and dump it !!!!! That machine was awesome in it's power and did a great job......besides it was fun !!!!! I could see how it would be frustrating with a smaller machine that lacked the raw power !!!

MFWD