Tips on getting large stumps out of the ground?

[jk96]

You'll need more undercut. As much as possible. It's amazing how much hold even a few large roots have. Here's one of the biggest and most challenging I've done.

 

[cwjones]

I have a few stumps this size and a bit bigger. I've done completely around them but they do not budge. Any tips how I might be able to get them out? I'm running a CAT 306 which I believe is around 15,000 lb. I want to say that I pulled a stump out bigger than this with roughly the same size excavator before, but I don't remember exactly what I did.

Neighbor has helped “rip” many stumps for me. He has what I like to call a “dinosaur tooth” welded to the back of his bucket that he can curl through the roots around the stump and even right through the middle of the stump. It makes mince of the whole thing in minutes. The “tooth” is kind of semi-circular, maybe 1.5”-2” thick metal with the leading edge serrated. Photo grabbed from the internet. Kind of like what he has.

 

[bgr]

One thing I have done to cut roots underneath after digging all I can around the stump. Take a 50 foot 5//16 trucker chain, wrap it one full turn around the stump below where you have not been able to dig so one end is out about 6 feet and the other end is out 40 feet. Have the two chain ends coming out about 45 degrees apart. Attach something heavy(a big log, for example) to the 40 foot end. Attach your tractor to the short end and pull straight away. The moving chain will saw through the roots under the stump and loosen dirt.

Repeat as necessary till stump is loose enough to remove. A smaller diameter chain is better than larger. If your machine can't pull the chain, open the angle between the chain ends until it can. You may have to start with the ends 180 apart if your machine does not have good traction.