Backhoe stump digging without a backhoe

[Highbeam]

So I figured I had better test out this new version loader. I had a couple of tress cut down near my hosue about 3 weeks ago and one stump needed to go. It was a spruce tree about 18" at the bottom. It sort of looked like an overgrown Christmas tree, the old owners actually planted it as a seedling.

Pic #1 and #2: I trasfered the toothbar to this bucket and began to dig around the stump. You need to go all around the stump and since the bucket is 5 feet wide, you end up with a huge trench. With the toothbar not only can you scratch more meterial in teh bucket but you can actually hold a bigger mouthful making each scoop more effective.

Pic #3: I pretty much had decided that this whole idea of a "tap root" was a myth. Well maybe a myth in certain soils but with the sands at this property the spruce stump was very deep. Almost like a shaft heading down the same size as the tree for several feet.

Pic #4 and #5: Not to worry though, enough scooping and then reaching in to cut a few roots made this stump roll out. I knew that once I got a little wiggle out of it that the sands would release their grip. Really it is a loamy sand but pretty dang sandy compared to clay.

Pic#6 is the monster hole. The good news is that I was planning to strip material from around the house anyway so I could just fill the hole with the spoils from that operation

This stump took a healthy 5 hours to dig out over two days. Part of the time was running material away from the hole and some was spent doing some hand shoveling. Every time I am able to accomplish something like this myself I figure that I saved the price of hiring a man with his excavator to come out.

After the first few hours I stopped and decided I really needed to reseal the leaky threaded hose fittings near the quick disconnect bank up on the loader frame. The leaky oil from two hoses was making a huge mess.

The loader and toothbar worked flawlessly. Go Kioti!

 

[Dmace]

Now, to justify the cost of a backhoe, that stump would have come out in about 30mins to 1hr depending on experience. At roughly $100/hr that is $400-$450. Dig out 10 more stumps and just like that it's paid off.

Nice pics, good to see your loader problems are taking care of.

 

[kentrodngun]

Joe, great job. Thanks for the pictures. Nice to see it CAN be done without a backhoe. Some of us just can't justify (or afford) spending the money for a backhoe and have to seek alternative methods. Looks like I'll be calling Markham soon and getting me a toothbar.

 

[Jaybr]

Nice job!

You can see in my pics how thick the woods are at my place. I use the FEL anywhere I can to pop the trees up without digging too much, aso push them over when possible.

 

[Highbeam]

Didn't anyone notice that I carved my initials into the stump in #5. I have this strange habit of doing that, making mushrooms out of stumps, or even carving square holes into the trunk just large enough for a beverage can.

This parcel was an old potatoe and corn field so the only trees are the row of trees near the property line. This is probably the only stump that needs to be removed here. Now at my bigger rural parcel there are millions of stumps that I could use a BH on. They just cost soooo much money. My alternative has been to leave the stump and then when 20 or so are ready to be dug out I call the excavator guy who pops them out drops them to knock the dirt off and then splits them apart and stacks them in a burn pile. He charges less than 100$ an hour with no delivery charges. You bet your buns I could use a BH for many many things. I could build most of a barn for the price of one though.

Toothbars are almost essential for this type of work. You'll be trying to scoop out undisturbed soil that can be very compact. Also, trying to pop small roots and clean between them with the teeth.

My only problem now is backfilling with a steep slope to retain the neighbor's fence. You might notice that my glory hole extended almost to the property line and he has one huge cow over there that would have no problem pushing it over now that the fenceposts aren't as stable.

 

[RexB]

Nice property and a heckuva dig....I'm lookin' forward to this one doing that great shovelling. Thanks for the inspiration!

ps: y'all grow pretty big stumps down there!

 

[Highbeam]

Between the day I started the stump digging and the day I finished it I had a chance to do a little deep sea fishing. Here's a photo of me and my pops. Those are ling cod and we also limited on halibut with two each. You've got to stop working every now and then for some recreation right?

33 miles into the ocean and then 320 feet above the sea floor and drop the line. His Maker's Mark hat had me thirsty before starting to reel up those critters.

 

[RexB]

Whoaaa I'm jealous. That was a good fishing trip, your freezer is full!

Just visited my folks in Oregon and we got a few green Ling and Dungies, but nothing like your haul. The motion and smell of the sea is nirvana.

 

[BTDT]

Didn't anyone notice that I carved my initials into the stump in #5. I have this strange habit of doing that, making mushrooms out of stumps, or even carving square holes into the trunk just large enough for a beverage can.


I noticed what looked like FJ, I just figured Farmwithjunk had been over there and left his mark.

 

[RexB]

LOL :~))

After that job i wouldn't have the energy to carve. When you get some free time i've got trees/logs lying around you can pull out and carve.

Please.

 

[Highbeam]

My initials are JF and I carved it just after the tree was cut down. I'm grading today before the big rains come.

 

[IslandTractor]

Sorry to be late to this thread but I have an open letter to Mrs. Highbeam:

If you would like to see you husband more often and would like to have smaller holes in your property as well as lower his carbon footprint, then please GET THAT BOY A BACKHOE AND GRAPPLE!!!!

He desparately needs the right tools for the job and needs to stop trying to do all this land clearing with just his bucket and toothbar. Father's Day is coming up so that could be a good time to surprise him. I'd suggest a Woods 80X and a 48" light duty grapple. PM me for details if you want to surprise him.

 

[fastpat]

So I figured I had better test out this new version loader. I had a couple of tress cut down near my hosue about 3 weeks ago and one stump needed to go. It was a spruce tree about 18" at the bottom. It sort of looked like an overgrown Christmas tree, the old owners actually planted it as a seedling.

Pic #1 and #2: I trasfered the toothbar to this bucket and began to dig around the stump. You need to go all around the stump and since the bucket is 5 feet wide, you end up with a huge trench. With the toothbar not only can you scratch more meterial in teh bucket but you can actually hold a bigger mouthful making each scoop more effective.

Pic #3: I pretty much had decided that this whole idea of a "tap root" was a myth. Well maybe a myth in certain soils but with the sands at this property the spruce stump was very deep. Almost like a shaft heading down the same size as the tree for several feet.

Pic #4 and #5: Not to worry though, enough scooping and then reaching in to cut a few roots made this stump roll out. I knew that once I got a little wiggle out of it that the sands would release their grip. Really it is a loamy sand but pretty dang sandy compared to clay.

Pic#6 is the monster hole. The good news is that I was planning to strip material from around the house anyway so I could just fill the hole with the spoils from that operation

This stump took a healthy 5 hours to dig out over two days. Part of the time was running material away from the hole and some was spent doing some hand shoveling. Every time I am able to accomplish something like this myself I figure that I saved the price of hiring a man with his excavator to come out.

After the first few hours I stopped and decided I really needed to reseal the leaky threaded hose fittings near the quick disconnect bank up on the loader frame. The leaky oil from two hoses was making a huge mess.

The loader and toothbar worked flawlessly. Go Kioti!

It'd take me months to dig out the stumps on newly cleared land on which I'm expanding our vineyard. Think 10-12 inch pines and several oaks in excess of 20 inches diameter; and hickory, sweet gum, sour wood, and others. One of the oak stumps was wrapped around several rocks weighing more than 500 pounds each, all in clay soil.

A backhoe is a necessary tool for me.

 

[williekioti]

Sorry to be late to this thread but I have an open letter to Mrs. Highbeam:

If you would like to see you husband more often and would like to have smaller holes in your property as well as lower his carbon footprint, then please GET THAT BOY A BACKHOE AND GRAPPLE!!!!

He desparately needs the right tools for the job and needs to stop trying to do all this land clearing with just his bucket and toothbar. Father's Day is coming up so that could be a good time to surprise him. I'd suggest a Woods 80X and a 48" light duty grapple. PM me for details if you want to surprise him.

He, he, he. Can you add me to that list too Ed??

 

[AndyMA]

Joe, great job. Thanks for the pictures. Nice to see it CAN be done without a backhoe. Some of us just can't justify (or afford) spending the money for a backhoe and have to seek alternative methods. Looks like I'll be calling Markham soon and getting me a toothbar.

Sure can be done without a backhoe in soil like that in the picture. I could never do that in my rocky and bone hard New England soil.

Andy

 

[kentrodngun]

Sure can be done without a backhoe in soil like that in the picture. I could never do that in my rocky and bone hard New England soil.

Andy

Sadly, we grow a great crop of rocks too and hardpan is our soil du jour, but that won't deter me from trying out that tooth bar. Although I got my eye on a Ditch Witch trencher, backhoe at almost a give away price. She ain't purdy but if she works, I just might give the old Kioti a sibling. Having a backhoe separate from the tractor is my ideal setup as I often switch from brush hog to back blade to box blade to forks. IMO, I think having to remove a backhoe each time would be a PITA. Wish me luck on my quest today.

P.S. Happy Father's Day to all my fellow TBNers.

 

[Highbeam]

This thread wasn't to show or prove that the backhoe isn't a proper tool for the job of popping stumps. Rather to acknowledge that it is the single hardest thing to do to a tractor without a backhoe. I have put more wear and tear on my machine because of stumps than because of any other thing including earthwork. It can be done, just not the best tool for the job.

I don't own a backhoe, and I don't see ever buying one unless or until I have a decently large life change which is quite possible since I am still a whippersnapper. Islandtrator: I am now less likely to get a BH and grapple than I was before since the seriously important clearing and regrading at my rural property is done.

The stump in the picture has now been burned down to a chunk the size of a lunchbox. I dedicated a single chainsaw chain and used a hose to wash away dirt to help me cut the whole thing into liftable pieces which I began burning on Saturday morning. I am fairly close to a city at the house so I needed to keep the fire small.

Plus I like to show my projects and in return hope everyone posts threads showing their Kioti's earning their keep.

 

[PBinWA]

Well said High Beam,

I dug out a similar stump with my FEL about two years ago. It was a bear and even loosened some of the bolts on my FEL but I got 'er done.

Backhoes are a nice toy but if you got room to make a mess the FEL will get the job done. Of course, without the toothbar then you can forget about it.

 

[n8wrl]

I don't want to hijack the thread but I literally stumbled across another way to remove smaller stumps - 6" or smaller - the box scraper! I found that I could drive up to the stump and set the scarifiers pretty good into the stump. Then lift the 3pt. Back up and repeat. After a little while the stump was loose and came out. Hydraulic toplink helped too to keep the stump form getting hung up underneath the scraper.

Obviously this isn't a solution for the biggies, but for the oodles of small ones I have, this works pretty good.

-Brian