Anyone take out trees with an L39 or JD110?

[DmansPadge]

I have been waying the options of getting a mid sized hoe and I would love to hear from anyone with personal experience. A couple years ago I had my land cleared with a Case 580 backhoe and Case 450 dozer. The backhoe made pretty quick work of laying down large trees.... sometimes the dozer helped push them over. I realize that the 580 is about 17k pounds and has a lot more "push" than the smaller units I refering to. I don't have much desire to cut them down then dig out the stump. So if anyone has experience with what I mentioned... I'd love to hear your take on it.

Thanks.

 

[rexcramer]

How big are the trees you want to remove? I have a 580 and I would not want anything smaller for doing a large number of trees. An oak tree that is 12-14" in diameter is going to take forever to get out with a 110 JD and be hard on the machine.

If you have a lot of 6" diameter trees the 110 can get the job done, but over that it gets hard on the machine and takes a lot longer.

 

[WALT]

I have been waying the options of getting a mid sized hoe and I would love to hear from anyone with personal experience. A couple years ago I had my land cleared with a Case 580 backhoe and Case 450 dozer. The backhoe made pretty quick work of laying down large trees.... sometimes the dozer helped push them over. I realize that the 580 is about 17k pounds and has a lot more "push" than the smaller units I refering to. I don't have much desire to cut them down then dig out the stump. So if anyone has experience with what I mentioned... I'd love to hear your take on it.

Thanks.

I am not sure if you are asking about removing the tree, roots & all in one shot, or dropping the trees and digging out the stumps.

I have removed 50-60 tree stumps, after felling the trees, while making a lawn around my house, from 4" to 36" with my L-39. If you have read any of the past posts on this topic, all seem to agree that the larger the stump, the more digging around the tree is needed to break the root ball free. I also found that during a dry spell, the digging & removal of the stump is more difficult (summer) than when the ground is wet (spring). The back hoe is strong enough to lift the front of the L-39 off the ground when you hook into something big.

I have limited experience in uprooting the whole tree, due to the rocky soil conditions I work in. However, I have a 6' ANBO grapple that I have used to rip & pull small brush & trees right out of the ground as needed, shaking and leaving most of the dirt behind.

Hope this can help you out.

WALT

 

[RegL]

I am not sure if you are asking about removing the tree, roots & all in one shot, or dropping the trees and digging out the stumps.

I have removed 50-60 tree stumps, after felling the trees, while making a lawn around my house, from 4" to 36" with my L-39. If you have read any of the past posts on this topic, all seem to agree that the larger the stump, the more digging around the tree is needed to break the root ball free. I also found that during a dry spell, the digging & removal of the stump is more difficult (summer) than when the ground is wet (spring). The back hoe is strong enough to lift the front of the L-39 off the ground when you hook into something big.

I have limited experience in uprooting the whole tree, due to the rocky soil conditions I work in. However, I have a 6' ANBO grapple that I have used to rip & pull small brush & trees right out of the ground as needed, shaking and leaving most of the dirt behind.

Hope this can help you out.

WALT

Walt, Did you get your Anbo from a local dealer? I sure like the looks of those rakes but I have a smaller machine and would kind of like to see one of the smaller grapple rakes in person before buying one. Thanks.
Reg

 

[CurlyDave]

I have been waying the options of getting a mid sized hoe and I would love to hear from anyone with personal experience... I don't have much desire to cut them down then dig out the stump. So if anyone has experience with what I mentioned... I'd love to hear your take on it.

Thanks.

I have taken out mopre than a dozen larger scrub oaks, and several dozen smaller trees of various species with a JD 110.

I think Walt has it just about right. In wet soil (has to be wet enough to be soft, but dry enough to give traction) I can push over smaller trees, say up to 4-5".

I have very rocky soil, and the tree roots just love to intertwine around the rocks.

Up to about 15-18' tall, I can frequently, but not always, push on the tree with the side of the 4-n-1 bucket & by turning & using one brake, get the tree into the open bucket, and clamp down on it, which allows me to pull up on it & uproot it.

Up to 6-8" in diameter, if I cut the tree down at chest height, I can often take the stump out with the 4-n-1.

If conditions are just right, I can sometimes pull over a tree as large as 12-14" with a chain. Make sure the chain is long enough and attach it as high as possible, around 10' or more above ground level for leverage. Pull in reverse both to prevent overturns, and to see what is happening.

Somewhere up in that 12-14" range I get into the situation where it is a cut it down & dig out the stump operation.

One of the things to think about with pushing over larger trees is that a small TLB is not big enough to move the tree once it is pushed over. and you are going to have to break out the chainsaw to get it into managable pieces.

I had a guy with a Case (don't know the number, but he said 100+ horsepower) backhoe put in my septic field, which involved pushing over 15-20 trees. He did that in a day, while I would have spent more than a week, and maybe more than 2 weeks to accomplish the same thing.

He left me a burn pile, which the Case would handle easily, but which is going to be a 2 week project all by itself for my 110 & chainsaw.

 

[WALT]

Walt, Did you get your Anbo from a local dealer? I sure like the looks of those rakes but I have a smaller machine and would kind of like to see one of the smaller grapple rakes in person before buying one. Thanks.
Reg

Reg:

Seeing that you may live near me, P/M me if you would like to view mine.
I learned about ANBO grapples from this site, then when to their site to learn more. I called them, was sold on the product and ordered mine over the phone. They shipped it to my Kubota Dealer, who also installed the W.R. Long Aux. Loader valve/joystick kit. The cost in June 2005 was $3420.00 including shipping from Washington state. I believe they build to order vs. having products made for sale.

The only grapples I saw in person at area dealers were Bradco types. These are the bucket bottom, with the two top clamps. It appears that you must scoop the material into the bucket, then clamp down on it to hold it.
The ANBO is a clamshell design, which functions like your hand, allowing you to pick and place rocks, stumps etc. both vertical and scoop style. It is a more expensive design, but more versatile. The clamshell style also allows you to use as a root rake, collecting roots, limbs, stone, etc. and leaving the dirt behind.

When comparing grapples and their construction, look at the weight, tine spacing, reinforcement style, opening capacity, width, hydraulic set-up and type of steel used.
My loader is set-up with skid steer quick attach, so changing it is a one minute deal. If your loader bucket is pin-on, check to see if a grapple is compatible with your loader.

I have posted here before that this is my "back saver". I no longer need to leave the tractor seat to move the big bulky stuff that makes us all sore at the end of the day.

WALT

 

[mike69440]

It takes anywhere from 30 Minutes to +2 hours to dig out a large stump with my L39.

Also It gets real hairy carrying a large rootball in the grapple. That is why I am making wheel weights and under frame weights to get the tractor up to 8000 Lbs.

If you have time on your hands and a yard sized area with about 50 or even 75 trees or so, go to it with a L-39, L- 48 or JD 110. More than that hire out the heavy work. Don't think of doing this commercially other than one or two stimps at a time or rare occasion. For this you need a full size TLB.

 

[WALT]

It takes anywhere from 30 Minutes to +2 hours to dig out a large stump with my L39.

Also It gets real hairy carrying a large rootball in the grapple. That is why I am making wheel weights and under frame weights to get the tractor up to 8000 Lbs.

If you have time on your hands and a yard sized area with about 50 or even 75 trees or so, go to it with a L-39, L- 48 or JD 110. More than that hire out the heavy work. Don't think of doing this commercially other than one or two stimps at a time or rare occasion. For this you need a full size TLB.

Mike:

You are correct in that the L-39 does have it's limitations. A full size excavator it is not. As I had the time needed, I bought my L-39 with the plan of practicing on my yard, before doing work for others. I should have mentioned that I did hire a contractor w/ a 40,000 lb excavator to move numerous "auto" size boulders and to contour the area after I removed the stumps.
Once the largest stumps were out of the ground, I picked at the dirt with the backhoe, knocking off as much as possible. Then I dragged them backwards to my disposal area, as I could not lift them. As with all loader work, being in 4WD is needed as your weight gets transfered to the front axle from the rear axle, when lifting the load. The front axle does the braking (via transmission) and steering as the rear end load is lightened.

The main reasons I have not added permanent rear weight for ballast are as follows:
1. I frequently move the L-39 to job sites with a Ford F-250 towing a 10,000
gvw trailer. The L-39 w/ grapple attached approaches the 8000 lb. trailering weight limit.
2.Operating on finished grass lawns with extra weight does much collateral damage.

I have future plans to buy a Gannon Type boxblade to use for ballast without the backhoe with Top-N-Tilt & hydraulic rippers. These weigh 1400-1500 lbs and I would add additional weight to the boxblade as needed.
Weight equals traction with these compact machines.

WALT

 

[patrick_g]

Sorry to inject some practicality into the discussion of excuses to get or operate heavier and bigger toys but think KABOOM.

Even in the aftermath of 9-11 a good upstanding citizen can get a lisc to buy and use explosives. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or megatons of explosives to blast a stump. It is easy and doesn't hae to be dangerous with todays products.

This reduces the HEAVY equipment needed to a way to smooth the ground that gets mussed when the stump is removed. If you blast with the tree standing you reduce the use of your chainsaw close to the chain ruining/dulling dirt.

The energy needed to loosen a stump so the tree can easily fall over is not going to show up at Cal Tech on their seismographs or rattle windows for miles around. done correctly it isn't a big deal. Overdone and you won't have to worry about stump disposal as it will be reduced to toothpicks scattered over your end of the county.

Pat

 

[john_bud]

Sorry to inject some practicality into the discussion of excuses to get or operate heavier and bigger toys but think KABOOM.

Pat

Pat,

I like the way you think!

Would you like to start a new thread and detail what is needed to be allowed (federal and likely state/local) to use things that make a boom? Also how they are used, what the results are (with pictures of course!).

That would be very informative and potentially useful.

Thanks!
jb