How do I get this boulder out of this hole?

[future_vision]

The picture makes it look a lot smaller than it is. I'd say it is at least 7-8 wide, maybe more, and goes down at least 5-6 ft. These are just guesses. I haven't climbed in to measure since I'm not sure how I would get out. The CAT 306 I rented won't budge it. Not even a little. I have a Harbor Freight 12,000lb winch (synthetic rope) but no trees nearby. At least nothing substantial. Any thoughts on how to get this out intact? We want to use it as a focal piece in landscaping

 

[LouNY]

A deeper hole beside it to push it into, or rent a much larger machine.

 

[LXT]

see if you can rent the 306 with the Hyd jack hammer or have some one hammer it & use the 306 with thumb to remove?

 

[future_vision]

A deeper hole beside it to push it into, or rent a much larger machine.

A deeper hole would just put it deeper. We actually want to get it out of the hole and use it for landscaping. As for the machine what size are you thinking? I'm not eager to drop $1k+ on a one day rental

 

[future_vision]

see if you can rent the 306 with the Hyd jack hammer or have some one hammer it & use the 306 with thumb to remove?

I should have clarified that we want to keep it intact and use it. I'll edit my post to reflect that

 

[Mtsoxfan]

This reminds me of a funny story...
In the mid 80's, my first home, I was tired of mowing around what was a small 12"x2" high rock. I started hand digging, and it kept getting bigger the deeper I dug. This was a multi day event of me digging by hand. It soon took on the role of "The Mission". In the end, after several days of digging, the rock turn out to be about 5'x5'x4'. I took the wrecker from work, and after a bit of fenagling, lifted it and took it 50' to its final resting area, a landscape focal point.

NEVER AGAIN!!!

 

[LXT]

gotcha - yeah you will need a much bigger machine, perhaps a crawler with some straps to drag it out. pic is good but probably deceiving as to the situation. keep us posted

 

[not2old]

Many years ago, I was working on a crew installing swimming pools when we encountered such a rock. After two of us wasted the better part of an hour with sledge hammers, a blasting guy was called. When he saw the rock, he went back to his truck and brought out a hammer drill and drilled two holes less than a foot deep each and then drove in wedges he called a feather, to split it in half. In less than a half an hour the rock was in two pieces, each small enough to handle with a little difficulty.

A few years later I encountered another similar rock while digging to install stairs into a parking garage. I spent more than an hour digging a hole to roll the rock away. It didn't roll far enough and I had to do it all over.

 

[LXT]

OP - I know what its like to move earth or rock, I dug a addition foundation at our previous home with an old International Harvester FEL with Hoe, found rock, wife wanted rock - I moved that big ******* but couldn't get it into the bucket let alone lift it - I pushed that mega ton hockey puck all over the place and finally as stated above ended up using a concrete saw with feather wedges to split it & dispose of it cursing that heap every step of the way.

Neighbors watched and shook their heads, in the end i found a smaller rock (still big & heavy) but the wife was ok with it. I guess my point is..........are there any smaller rocks you can use, LOL

Good luck

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Can you dig a ramp for it to be rolled up?

Using the excavator to pull it up the ramp?