# how to remove stumps



## climber338 (Jan 11, 2010)

Now i dont know if this is the right place to ask but ive been thinking about clearing some land of mine and i was just wondering what to remove the stumps with. The trees are everything from saplings to 200 year old maples. im looking to farm landscape trees with my buddy. Any imput would be nice. Thanks.


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## gwiley (Jan 11, 2010)

I use a bobcat 743ds with a stump grubber bucket that has a small opening with 3 teeth. This is perfect for popping roots and stumps without torturing the machine as badly as using a dirt bucket would - it lets you focus the power onto a small area. I can pop an 8-10" diameter tree out of the ground by breaking the roots on the side that faces me and the left and right and then just pushing it over with the bobcat. The whole operation takes less than 10 minutes, later I come by with a few guys setting chains and skid all the pulled trees up to a landing to be bucked.

We put in an extra 150ft of road on our property that was quoted at $8K - spent $6K on the machine and did it ourselves. The difference is even greater when you consider that I would have to earn a lot more than the $8K to pay the guy because Uncle Sam takes a big chunk out of my paycheck. If you are in the 15% bracket that means you must earn $9K to pay someone $8K.

If you are willing to spend the time to do it yourself you really need to look at used skid steers - functional machines can be found for $6k and less and will pay for themselves by you not having to hire the work out. 

One warning about older skid steers - you will need to be willing to become your own mechanic. If you aren't comfortable learning to do basic maintenance and repairs then you might end up spending too much $$ to have it done.


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## 385XP (Jan 11, 2010)

A medium sized excavator is the most productive tool ive seen for removing stumps.what ever ya do dont try to it with to small of a machine.


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## Walt41 (Jan 11, 2010)

385XP said:


> A medium sized excavator is the most productive tool ive seen for removing stumps.what ever ya do dont try to it with to small of a machine.



Good advice! We use a Kobelco 160, can remove the largest stumps in under a minute, pops em right out like nothing.
***make sure you have a plan to dispose of them, some towns are really nutty about pulled stumps, I found out the hard way.


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## bitzer (Jan 11, 2010)

A decent tractor backhoe works fine too. A large single frost tooth is the best for stumps on either an excavator or backhoe. The bucket is nice for filling the hole back in though.


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## Curbside (Jan 11, 2010)

You could use a large tracked stump grinder. If the stumps are close together should be able to do 500 + stumps in a day depending how close together they are and the size. At least you wouldn't have to haul or burn stumps.


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## climber338 (Jan 11, 2010)

i was thinking an bobcat or an excavator would be easy to get my hands on but not strong enough to pull out stumps but if you use it then ill give it a try. Ill look into what i can get becuase i can also use the bobcat of if i get an excavator with a thumb for loading logs onto a flatbed truck or trailer. Thanks alot guy you just reinforced my idea.


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## gwiley (Jan 11, 2010)

climber338 said:


> i was thinking an bobcat or an excavator would be easy to get my hands on but not strong enough to pull out stumps but if you use it then ill give it a try. Ill look into what i can get becuase i can also use the bobcat of if i get an excavator with a thumb for loading logs onto a flatbed truck or trailer. Thanks alot guy you just reinforced my idea.



If you go with a bobcat you will want one of these:







http://www.rootgrapple.com/stump.html

http://www.highrockskidsteerattachments.com/servlet/the-197/skid-steer-stump-bucket/Detail

I think the one we bought was from the first link. You will destroy your dirt bucket on stumps, but this stump bucket absolutely rocks. As with all skid steer attachments there is a huge difference between techniques - the right one works, the wrong one just wears you and the machine out. Take some time to play with wimpy pine stumps to get the hang of it.

I have found the key is to approach the tree from one side, use the bucket/teeth to break the holding roots on each side and front (facing the bobcat) then push the tree over. If the stump has no height you will find it harder, but it will still work.


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## Hddnis (Jan 11, 2010)

Blasting!



Mr. HE


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## Meadow Beaver (Jan 11, 2010)

:agree2: black powder baby oh yeah


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## sILlogger (Jan 11, 2010)




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## 385XP (Jan 11, 2010)

climber338 said:


> i was thinking an bobcat or an excavator would be easy to get my hands on but not strong enough to pull out stumps but if you use it then ill give it a try. Ill look into what i can get becuase i can also use the bobcat of if i get an excavator with a thumb for loading logs onto a flatbed truck or trailer. Thanks alot guy you just reinforced my idea.


If you can get a excavator id go with that.A bobcat would take to long.


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## super3 (Jan 17, 2010)

Walt41 said:


> Good advice! We use a Kobelco 160, can remove the largest stumps in under a minute, pops em right out like nothing.
> ***make sure you have a plan to dispose of them, some towns are really nutty about pulled stumps, I found out the hard way.






No offense Walt, but if you are using a 160 and getting it done in under a minute.......they are not very big stumps.


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## Gologit (Jan 18, 2010)

Anfo.


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## dingeryote (Jan 18, 2010)

Gologit said:


> Anfo.



State permits are still easy. Renewing the Fed Lisc. is now so harrowing that diging them out with a spoon is more palatable.

The days of 2-1 breaker and pusher charges are OVER!
Can't even do any ditching without notifying every dadgum agency within 50 miles that ya might rattle a window.

D-7 with a root breaker or a mid sized Hoe w/thumb is the ticket.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


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## tramp bushler (Jan 18, 2010)

climber338 said:


> Now i dont know if this is the right place to ask but ive been thinking about clearing some land of mine and i was just wondering what to remove the stumps with. The trees are everything from saplings to 200 year old maples. im looking to farm landscape trees with my buddy. Any imput would be nice. Thanks.


.

It called " stumpin Powder"..


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## tramp bushler (Jan 18, 2010)

I,ve made many many lots of stumps that a 6300 Link Belt / 245 Cat and 450 Hiatachis had to work their butt off to get out ....


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