Stump Digging

[IRTEXN]

I have a JD4110 with a 410 FEL and have been practicing digging stumps. Most of them have been cut for 4 - 5 years and the ground is mostly sandy loam. Some have come out without a lot of trouble, but I'm having trouble with others. Can anyone with simuliar size tractors could offer a few techneques you have had success with? Thanks

 

[DarinRay]

Welcome aboard IRTEXN! I think you are doing it correctly......Practice, practice, practice & more practice. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Hopefully someone else will have some better advise that what I have. When I am using something after finding out it's limits I just take my time and gradually cut the soils and roots out taking little baby bits if necessary. I have read sometimes it is required to actually manually cut the roots with a chainsaw or other means before the roots will let go. But like I stated you are doing it right.

Darin

 

[beenthere]

Would you care to elaborate on what the trouble is? Spinning, not enough lifting power, curling the bucket isn't effective, ??
There is a limit to the tractor, no matter what size it is. Maybe another five years is the answer. Are the small stumps coming out, but not the big ones? Are some a different kind of tree? Pine, walnut, oak??

Not sure what you are doing or how you are doing it? I don't understandl how DarinRay decided you were doing it right, when you didn't say how you were doing it? He must know something we don't.

Help us out please.

 

[DarinRay]

"I have a JD4110 with a 410 FEL and have been practicing digging stumps"

Ummm geeehhh maybe practicing beenthere. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gifI forgot that some people can just do it right off the bat even if told how to operate it. NOT! My whole point is practice and patients working with what you have for a tractor or any other piece of equipment and the techniques will come eventually.

Darin

 

[hazmat]

Stumps are much stronger than we give them credit for. I have had trouble removing brush stump/roots not even real trees! My TC18 has slightly less loader capacity than your JD.

Much like painting, its all in the preperation. Loosten the soil around the stump & cut as many roots as you can.

As far as technique goes: The FEL has more force curling than lifting, use this to your advantage.

 

[MossRoad]

I agree with Darin and Hazmat. Practice and see what works. Give up on what doesn't work. Maybe try it again later. And the tractor can usually curl easier than lift. I've tried putting the bucket down as low as possible on the stumps and curling it using the ground as the pivot point of the lever. It helps to pop the stump up. I also have another larger tractor(50 pto HP IH2500B) that is huge and it can have trouble with just 2 inch roots on tough trees like locust. I've pulled up 40-50 foot long roots from several feet under ground and they still wouldn't break. They are like steel cables.

My guess is when man leaves this earth all that will be left is cockroaches and locust trees(if the kudzu doesn't kill them) /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Good luck. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Soundguy]

Any possibility of burning them out to save the waer and tear on your tractor?

Maybee soak them in kerosene over night, and then pile some brush abd rocks around them and let them burn while you are working on the rest of the clearing that day.

Soundguy

 

[GregJ]

I have had success with loosening the roots all around the stump and then digging a "ramp" down below the stump on one side. This way you can use gravity and leverage to get under the stump. Also, try working on the edge of the root ball to twist the stump loose. The end result of this technique is a large hole in the ground, but with a loader, it can easily be filled back in.

 

[Soundguy]

For that matter.. if you don't mind the digging, you can dig and expose the roots below the ground a bit, and then use a chain saw to cut it out.. or at least sub-surface the stump.

I have an old beater chainsaw that i use for root removal this way... dig subsurface.. cut it out, backfill, and forget. Stump rots so slowly that naturalweathering keeps the area level, etc.

Soundguy

 

[IRTEXN]

Thanks for the ideas. It sounds like I was sorta on the right track by digging around and then trying to pop it out. I didn't know that the FEL could curl more than lift, so that may help. Too bad the FEL won't tilt down to the side....or maybe that's an excuse to get a backhoe.....yeah, yeah...that's it....Oh well, back to the practice and patience

 

[Steven]

I'm in the process of making a ripper tooth that will go on the backhoe after removing the bucket. it is 18" by 5" and 1" thick has an 82 degree knife edge that I hardend to a 65 rockwell to hold the edge sharp. I will be welding the mounting plates onto it at work tomorrow. I'm hoping to stick it in the ground and curl the the blade just like the bucket and cut the roots. this should put all the force on the knife edge with success I hope. I do not have a digital camera yet but drew up a picture to show what it looks like.

 

[IRTEXN]

Good idea on the Hoe attachment. I am starting to realize that the most useful attachment for a tractor is a welder...LOL

 

[Hoeman00]

AND SOMEONE THAT CAN OPERATE THE HOT GLUE GUN.

LOL

 

[Soundguy]

On our large backhoes for road construction, etc.. We have some units equipped with a 'thumb' to grab rocks /limbs easier.

Have also seen a scisor attatchment... consisted of 2 fixed blades, and i moving blade that scisored in between the clearance of the other two blades. Worked well on 4" - 6" stuff... any blade should be good on roots, etc
good luck!

Soundguy

 

[MikeNC]

Or if you don't have a beater chainsaw, take a couple whacks at the taproot with a sharp mattock after you expose it.