Picking up lots of big-ish rocks

[eeb]

We are in upstate NY and have far too many rocks to deal with. With a JD 1050, we use the FEL most of the time, but often use the boom on the 3-point hitch, and use two webbing straps. This has worked really well when working on stone walls, as you can twist and position carefully. We also use a stone boat rock to drag the really big ones around. But the boom and straps works great.

 

[sdef]

Another vote for a grapple bucket, along with lots of counterweight on the 3PH for the largest rocks. I have dug, moved and placed many tons using this method at my home site. With practice, one can get pretty accurate with placement, along with a narrow stump bucket for adjustments once in place as needed.

 

[tjandrews]

I have many many medium to large rocks, ranging from "I can pick this up possibly without getting a hernia" to "I can't possibly budge this", as in 100-500# (I did say "rocks" not "boulders", though some of these may be boulders depending on the definition), that I need to move, and then later place nicely.
Basically, I'm excavating a small pond near our garden, and after I'm done excavating and setting up the pond just right (shaping, then placing a liner) I'd like to arrange these rocks which I've already dug up nicely around the rim of the pond.

Don't have a backhoe. We've moved many rocks around that size over the years to get them off the fields for planting seems like two or three new ones turn up every year. All we do is move them off the field into a hedgerow where they are out of the way - precision placement isn't a priority.
We scoop them up with a bucket on our JD 4600 these days, carry them off, and dump them. Some can be tricky to get, needing another person to help guide them into the bucket. Before the bucket we wrapped chains around them and drew them off with our Case SC, just as my father and grandfather did before us. It works, but does leave a rut.
My Father used to use an old car hood as a sled, with a chain to draw it where we wanted it to go. We gave up on that a while back. Car hoods just ain't what they used to be...

 

[Deepdrop]

I want to add one piece of advice. I skimmed the 5 pages of replies and didn't see this mentioned, and I don't know how experienced you are, so I hope I don't come off sounding condescending. I moved some large rocks/boulders when I was new to using my tractor (Kioti CX2510). The one lesson I learned quickly, and thankfully without any injury, it to make sure I have rear ballast if I'm lifting with a front implement. There is a pretty long thread that I started when this happened a couple of years ago. Scared the bejeezus out of me; it's an easy way to get killed. And you mentioned that your ground is not very level and stable. Make sure your ROPS is up and seatbelt is on. Have fun.

 

[ning]

I want to add one piece of advice. I skimmed the 5 pages of replies and didn't see this mentioned, and I don't know how experienced you are, so I hope I don't come off sounding condescending. I moved some large rocks/boulders when I was new to using my tractor (Kioti CX2510). The one lesson I learned quickly, and thankfully without any injury, it to make sure I have rear ballast if I'm lifting with a front implement. There is a pretty long thread that I started when this happened a couple of years ago. Scared the bejeezus out of me; it's an easy way to get killed. And you mentioned that your ground is not very level and stable. Make sure your ROPS is up and seatbelt is on. Have fun.

Thanks - I know it, but I need to live it more, if you know what I mean; it can't be said enough.

These threads are amusing as after a while you realize that not even 50% of the respondents bother reading the initial question. Still a lot to learn from the responses, one way or another.

To recap: I expect to move some large-to-me (100-500#) rocks a small distance away from the edge of a to-be-made pond. I'll likely be doing that with my backhoe, just pulling them 5-8' back. The thrust of my initial question was how to pick them up and place them accurately. I'm going to try tongs from my backhoe first. Given what I see on the market, I may just build my own.

Pictures will follow when I actually do it (likely later in the summer; I'll be pulling the rocks in the next couple of weeks likely, digging out while the ground is reasonably soft but not as muddy as it is now, and then I can do the rock placement later in the summer when my digging jobs are too tough from ground-bake.

 

[JBacon52]

"My rocks are all almost where I want them now; I actually just need to drag them away from a work space, do more work, but then carefully place them."

This is your best answer. Initially moving the rocks with your tractor to a staging area, then once you're ready, rent the excavator to place 'em... Easy Peasy Mate!

 

[oosik]

I have moved or learned to live with most all the big rocks on my 80. However - there is one I'm still working on. It's bigger than a normal car and located smack dab in the middle of my 20 acre high meadow.

It's come down to this. I WILL chip away and finally move it OR I will croak and my son probably won't care much about this rock.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I have moved or learned to live with most all the big rocks on my 80. However - there is one I'm still working on. It's bigger than a normal car and located smack dab in the middle of my 20 acre high meadow.

It's come down to this. I WILL chip away and finally move it OR I will croak and my son probably won't care much about this rock.

I had to mow around a similar sized boulder in the middle of a well groomed field for more years than I can remember. It was partially embedded so I couldn't roll it with any of my machines. I thought of renting a dozer but that would destroy the grass.

My wife's father, an old time farmer, suggested I build a bon fire around it. Let it burn for a couple of days and then douse it with water. I thought he was nuts at first but after some research, I found that was the way they did it back then. What the heck. I had cut down some diseased pine a couple of years ago so I cut up the well seasoned trunks and piled them around the rock. If nothing else, I figured it was a way to get rid of the downed trees.

I have several friends on the local VFD so I invited them over for a party. We lit 'er off and spent the afternoon and well into the night drinking beer & toasting hot dogs and getting pretty toasted ourselves. I kept the fire going for the next day and night. On the third day, the guys brought one of the fire trucks up and put out the fire. They emptied most of a thousand gallon tanker on the rock.

Sure enough, it fractured into hundreds of smaller chunks which I managed to move with the FEL on my Kubota MX5800. Yeah, it left a burn spot about 25' in diameter but after 2 years and some seed, you can hardly tell where is was. It was an interesting experiment made possible by a couple of cases of beer, a wood supply and some friends on the VFW.

 

[oosik]

All the land around me - for miles - was originally given by the government as a form of "homestead". The original idea was - build some form of homestead house and a sustainable garden. THEN - some how or other - explore for oil and minerals.

Well - I think everybody learned - real quick - no oil here folks. The only "minerals" of any value - gravel.

So the story goes - the homesteader to my immediate north had five sons. They had mules and rock sleds. Fields far and wide were cleared of rocks and low, wide rock wall are everywhere. They had cattle, sheep and goats.

A couple of the rock walls - on land just north of mine.

 

[Deleted member 216442]

Id use forks on the loader.

That's what I did when setting about 30 tons of rocks from 500-800 lbs. Built bridge abutments. Final positioning with backhoe. Didn't have to modify the machine. Keep it simple.