I am appreciating a stump grinder more and more

[treemuncher]

My fastest and easiest method on stumps is with a stump grinder on my FTX140. 140 hp, 69 gpm @ 6,000 psi means fast stump eradication. Most fresh cut oaks & hickories @ 18" above grade and 18" dia at the cut, subsurfaced 6"-10", normally take the machine 3 minutes or less. I remember doing some stumps spanning 6' at the butt swell, low cut, taking no more than 10 minutes. Horsepower and torque are the key.

Unless I have a day or more to justify that attachment and machine, I just plane them flush to grade with my regular cutterheads. At that point, if a customer needs them out of the ground, they will split and extract easier being cut low. There is usually only 6"-18" of solid wood below grade on most stumps so splitting something that thin is much easier. At that point, a dozer can usually easily split the stump into pieces if it takes a glancing blow to a side of the stump.

My favorite method for low cut stump extraction is a Tiger Tooth on the corner of the excavator bucket. You can punch a "split line" into the stump with that tooth and at an end of that line, bury that tooth into the wood then pull back firmly. That will split it apart into smaller, managable pieces that pull out and shed dirt easier. Normally, for me, once extracted like that, I just grind them up with a cutterhead and get on with it. No hauling, no burning, less soil disturbance, faster performance.

Either way, grinding them up on site is much faster and easier than hauling them off. And it puts the nutrients back onto the ground.

 

[skyking1]

those purpose built machines are nice. I think they are going to send a bunch of those nutrients into the air by burning them.

 

[CM1995]

those purpose built machines are nice. I think they are going to send a bunch of those nutrients into the air by burning them.

We just sent 2 acres worth into the air..with a pit burner of course.

 

[skyking1]

Pit burner?

 

[mowingman]

We just sent 2 acres worth into the air..with a pit burner of course.

Did you have to get state and local permits to do that burning? Just wondering, as we always found that permitting to be a nightmare in Texas. If we were to burn, we needed a state permit, a county permit, and a city permit.

 

[skyking1]

This little fire will be a permit from the local Fire Department for him. Either that or it is not happening.
In retrospect I wish I had taken more time to break those stumps once. Now that I have them out, I see the method would be different with that little machine. You'd leave all the roots in on one side and find an armpit between a couple of roots to wiggle into, then pop it while all those far side roots hold it for you.
I have 5 more stumps to do and I will try that out. They burn so much better in at least two pieces.

 

[Tones]

It's funny how people become creatures of habit an won't accept a different better way of doing a job.
I had a C140 and ordered with a stumpgrinder and boy was it hard getting work for it. I thought that combining it with a mulcher would have been a good business case but getting past the dig em out thing in most cases proved impossible.
One job I was on 1200 acres of eucalypt was being cleared, stacked and burnt and the boys were having trouble with burning the stumps. I was waiting for parts for the mulcher so I put the grinder on and ground the stumps off the trees laying down prior to the being stacked. Now one understood what I was going until after the fires had gone out, then the penny dropped, the wow factor was immediate and got me 3 weeks more work .

 

[CM1995]

Did you have to get state and local permits to do that burning? Just wondering, as we always found that permitting to be a nightmare in Texas. If we were to burn, we needed a state permit, a county permit, and a city permit.

Well we had a city FD permit. This county doesn't have a permitting process. Jefferson county permits through their health dept and it can be a process so to speak.

Our metro area consisting of 5-6 counties can only burn from Oct. 1 to April 30 mandated by the state due to air quality issues.

 

[CM1995]

Pit burner?

Yeah I rented one from a local HWY contractor. It was a small unit but it worked well.

 

[skyking1]

looks slick. Last fires of any quantity I had (3) honda powered fans, as I marched up a freeway right-of-way to add one side to a divided highway.
I had an old Cat 225 and would burn a pile and walk up to the next, go back and re stack, repeat for 4 miles.

 

[CM1995]

The trench burners work real well when the wood is dry and clean. The little unit we rented did very well considering how wet the wood was since you could squeeze an 8" pine and water would shoot out like a garden hose.

Bought one of these back in the mid 2000's for a 75 acre project. IMO it's the best burner on the market however the cones in the promo pic around the hole made me laugh, if the burner was working at full production those cones would melt within 10 minutes. We melted the tail light lenses on that burner once..

Trench Burner

airburners.com

 

[Acoals]

I dug one out a couple years ago; I didn't measure it, but over 40". I had to get it off the job site, there was no way to lift it high enough with a 315 to get it I to a dump, so I ended up getting a 30 yard box in. The stump took up nearly the whole length of the box, within a couple feet of each end, and it was sitting crooked sticking up a couple feet on one side.

 

[FarmWrench]

I'm not sure I want to try a method the Amish use. They plunge cut a slot or cross into the center of the stump and fill it with black powder. Claim is they can split the stump into 1/4s. Tamp it with a feed bag of soil or a 1" thick rubber cow mat.

I'll probably end up with"Stumpy" as a nickname if I tried it.

 

[skyking1]

I took out the last stump last night. It was like an iceberg.
In this picture I am holding it by the bottom roots, the roots I can't cut or break with the bucket. They are protected by the stump itself.
All I could do is break all the big side roots, and then pry on the stubs of those roots with bucket heel force, and slowly extract that central root. It takes a while to wiggle it out.
Butt dyno has it at ~3000 pounds after cleaning.
It is an example of " there is no replacement for displacement."
A 200 would have tilted that last bit out in one go.


I put the 4' bucket on and started slicking stuff off.

 

[Tones]

That's why I advocate using a ripper for stump removal, it gives the digger a lot more breakout power. Last week I took out some stumps with a 5 ton digger that had a Powertilt quick hitch and a ripper. Not only busted through the lateral roots but could bust through the tap root. It really surprised me with its efficiency.

 

[skyking1]

I would have one if I ever took out stumps in number. This pile is the biggest that this machine has ever seen and I'm done now. I'd like a ripper for hard digging too, but this machine also has a "slow change" bucket with a two bolt wedge.

 

[skyking1]

I fired up the machine today to start slicking things off, trench a sleeve, fix the driveway approach. I had them call the 89 year old neighbor over and got him in the seat.
He had stopped by on his quad a few times to watch me work, and I knew he wanted up in the seat.
He has a 780 and a 680 Case, an IR 642 telehandler, a lumber mill, big stump grinder and all sorts of goodies.
He had never operated an excavator before


That bump between us and him was 1'+ higher than the rock, so I did a cut and fill slick off of that circle area. The trailer is in the way, so I will do a little bit when I go to load out.


This was the area they really wanted stumped and smoothed, to park his half dozen trailers.
That last stump was right there at the edge of the road and had sent some huge roots across it for speed bumps.

 

[skyking1]

The area behind those tarp carports was rough, and I offered to go slick it off.
" that's OK, no need to move the carport"


The previous folks had dozed a bunch of junk into this berm that was in the way, so I started there and promptly found some scraps of braided chokers. That really chaps my hide, if you have ever had to get old rusty cables out of your tracks you have been there.





I cut and dressed out the approach. All the rock was there in a big pimple in the middle.


He has a big pressure washer and I will give the machine a much-needed bath.

 

[CM1995]

That's awesome you let the neighbor get in the seat.

 

[skyking1]

I know a kid when I see one. I put all the kids in the seat when I can.