BX24 and a big stump

RayCo · Jun 30, 2008

My BX24 impressed me yet again, quite considerably. I had a 70 foot tree that my father-in-law pushed over with his Case 580 a few weeks back, and when he went to move the stump from it, the chain he was using to hold it against his loader snapped. And it was time to finish up from tree-cleanup task that day anyway, so the stump remained where it was, inside a circle in my driveway. I decided yesterday that I needed to try to move it myself. I had tried before with my BX, but I couldn't even budge the thing, let alone pick it up and move it. But, I went out and ripped at it with the backhoe for a while to remove all the dirt and any smaller roots that I could rip through to try to get it down to a manageable weight. After cleaning it up, I was still unable to pick it up, but I was able to knock it around and get it into a much more favorable position. It was on a hill, so I was able to come up from underneath it, chain it to my loader, and drive off with it up in the air enough so that I could drive away with it. I couldn't lift it any higher, but I was able to hold it at this constant height. I had the backhoe stretched out a bit to help counterbalance the thing, since I'm guessing it weighed about 800 pounds. I toted it about 300 feet uphill along my driveway and dumped it off the side in the spot where I had planned on asking my father-in-law to put it. It was great being able to move it myself instead.

Here are pictures that I wanted to share.

offcamber · Jun 30, 2008

Nice job...

My BX24 does amaze me all the time. I have been able to move some really big rocks...if I can't pick them up with the BH I try and get them with the loader and if that doesn't work I usually end up using the loader to roll the rock where I want it....

Every time I use it I think what a great investment it was. I keep coming up with new ways to use it. I do things with it I didn't even consider before I bought it.

RayCo · Jun 30, 2008

Yes, the uses are endless. I picked up a swingset for my daughter a few weeks ago, and once again, the BX was there to help. We needed level ground to build the thing on, but we live on a hillside. So, I created level ground (actually, my wife did most of this - she also loves the BX!). Then, when it came time to assemble the set, there were some bolts that I couldn't reach, so again, the loader made for a perfect stepstool.

I also used my backhoe and thumb to crush a coffee maker yesterday, because I was so angry at the thing and wanted it destroyed.

Hmm, also, when I picked up this swingset, I brought it home on a 5.5'x10' landscape trailer on a Sunday night. I needed to leave it on the trailer until I was ready to put it together, but I also needed the trailer disconnected from my truck. The trailer doesn't have a jack, so, there came another use for the backhoe, lifting the trailer off the ball and putting it back on a few days later.

The hardest part of owning such a machine is identifying and accepting situations in which doing the work by hand is the better choice.

KeithInSpace · Jun 30, 2008

RayCo said:
...is identifying and accepting situations in which doing the work by hand is the better choice.

Huh? When'z that?

I've given away all my shovels, picks, rakes, bars, carts, wheelbarrows, and anything REMOTELY associated with manual labor. If I can't move it with the heel of my boot or lift it with one hand, best break out the BX.

Kidding...but just a little.