• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

OK I give in!

Squizzy246B

Administrator
Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
3,388
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Occupation
Digger Driver
I'll admit it...there are some stumps you just can't get out with a 3 tonne excavator...which is not to stop a bloke from trying:rolleyes: Gelignite was suggested???....but probably not appropriate right next to a sewer manhole.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and of course this little stump should have been given the heave Ho with the "Hyooondeee". But of course we weren't supposed to be aimlessly digging around below grade looking for stumps that had been cut off, ground a little and then buried by the tosser before muggins me turned up. My job was to pull the stumps from the trees that were cut down then get on with the walls.

So at 4 pm, and somewhat under the pump with regard our schedule, I decide to put in another hour preparing a footings area for wall building tomorrow.....at 6pm and the sun sinking in the west the "Numbat" was sinking below grade and only the rotating beacon was visible above ground level...the things you end up doing.:pointhead
 

Attachments

  • Belmont 062.jpg
    Belmont 062.jpg
    93.9 KB · Views: 959
  • Belmont 140.jpg
    Belmont 140.jpg
    91.4 KB · Views: 953

Ford LT-9000

Banned
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
1,484
Location
B.C. Canada
Occupation
Rolling around in the dirt
If there is a will there is a way :D

No job is too big for the size of excavator you have it just takes a little longer :my2c

A guy 3 kilometers down the road from me was building a road with a 6000lb mini thought the guy was nuts. He had a breaker for the machine because he his a very large rock ledge it took him I'd say 2 weeks of breaking with the little hammer and digging out the rip rap. I think the property belongs to him or relatives but he got the job done it took for ever thou. Blasting wasn't a option in his case with a house being too close.

With old stumps we use a chainsaw with a chain that we don't care about or use a sawsall with a aggressive saw blade or chip away at it with the digging bucket. Even used block and tackle to a tree to drag a stump out of a hole using the machine to pull.
 

surfer-joe

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
1,403
Location
Arizona
You should have thrown a bone in the hole and let the mutt dig it out Squizzy. I had a dog that was nuts about digging and all I had to do was point her at the ground and the dirt would fly. She was handy at pulling roots out too.
 

OKYLE

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 15, 2007
Messages
47
Location
Illinois south of chicago
depends on the tree :/

its probably got a tap root going straight down underneath the sunuvabitch.

ive had tree stumps that wouldnt move a 1/4 inch when i rammed em full on with my 855d, trying to break em loose. Birch are like that :/ very annoying indeed.

I reccomend you get an axe, and start chopping all the roots free, and see if that will do it, this will be faster than wasting your time sharpening chainsaw blades every 30 seconds, doing those roots and hitting dirt :/
 
Last edited:

thejdman04

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
582
Location
Illinois
If there is a will there is a way :D

No job is too big for the size of excavator you have it just takes a little longer :my2c

A guy 3 kilometers down the road from me was building a road with a 6000lb mini thought the guy was nuts. He had a breaker for the machine because he his a very large rock ledge it took him I'd say 2 weeks of breaking with the little hammer and digging out the rip rap. I think the property belongs to him or relatives but he got the job done it took for ever thou. Blasting wasn't a option in his case with a house being too close.

With old stumps we use a chainsaw with a chain that we don't care about or use a sawsall with a aggressive saw blade or chip away at it with the digging bucket. Even used block and tackle to a tree to drag a stump out of a hole using the machine to pull.
We got a mini ex at work 8017 JCB w/breaker, I can swing harder w/a sledge, but dont get as tired runing the excavator. Most guys call that machine, a shovel at work.
 

digger242j

Administrator
Joined
Oct 31, 2003
Messages
6,652
Location
Southwestern PA
Occupation
Self employed excavator
I've beat my brains out trying to pull some stumps. Dig and dig, and pull and pulll, and dig some more, and nothing happens. And then.... it moves an inch. Once it wiggles, even that little bit, you know you'll eventually get it...
 

iceberg210

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2006
Messages
147
Location
Seattle (Newcastle/Auburn) WA
That's why if I know that the stump will have to go I always try to pull the try down using a bunch of block and tackle lines and a dozer. That way the whole tree comes out instead of having to go back and dig the stump out.
 

Squizzy246B

Administrator
Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
3,388
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Occupation
Digger Driver
Well of course I couldn't give in could I...not with HEF watching:rolleyes: ..so Messers Stihl & Massey Ferguson along with a big snig chain got to work today and out she came:thumbsup ...so I could spend the rest of the day with Mr Dynapac and the Numbat doing 12" lifts:( ...its just what I needed on this job....another flamin delay:Banghead
 

cat320

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
913
Location
Stoneham,MA
I've beat my brains out trying to pull some stumps. Dig and dig, and pull and pulll, and dig some more, and nothing happens. And then.... it moves an inch. Once it wiggles, even that little bit, you know you'll eventually get it...

Exactly , depends on how big it is but i just dig all around snap the roots going out then try to undermine them then that wiggle and it's all over. I have loosen some my machine could not even pull out well not with out a strugle lol.
 

digger242j

Administrator
Joined
Oct 31, 2003
Messages
6,652
Location
Southwestern PA
Occupation
Self employed excavator
Squizzy reaches a milesone...

I'll admit it...there are some stumps you just can't get out with a 3 tonne excavator...which is not to stop a bloke from trying:rolleyes: Gelignite was suggested???....but probably not appropriate right next to a sewer manhole.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and of course this little stump should have been given the heave Ho with the "Hyooondeee". But of course we weren't supposed to be aimlessly digging around below grade looking for stumps that had been cut off, ground a little and then buried by the tosser before muggins me turned up. My job was to pull the stumps from the trees that were cut down then get on with the walls.

So at 4 pm, and somewhat under the pump with regard our schedule, I decide to put in another hour preparing a footings area for wall building tomorrow.....at 6pm and the sun sinking in the west the "Numbat" was sinking below grade and only the rotating beacon was visible above ground level...the things you end up doing.:pointhead


I hadn't noticed it at the time, but going back and counting backwards, it looks like this was Squizzy's thousandth post! Congratulations on reaching...uhhh... some sort of milestone. :beatsme

There will be a small get together later, in the operator's lounge, where pineapple upside-down cake and beer will be served... :drinkup
 

Ford LT-9000

Banned
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
1,484
Location
B.C. Canada
Occupation
Rolling around in the dirt
I see the guy with the 6000lb ex is back working on the driveway. I don't think I wouldn't have enough patients to run a breaker on such a small machine. I guess anything beats swinging a sledge hammer then ending up with a hernia :D

It is a pain when you go on a job that somebody has done previously and used the out of sight out of mind mentality. You start digging and find a huge stump that has been buried or covered over. Years ago alot of the old timers buried old cars or old scrap metal :cussing
 

Countryboy

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
3,276
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Load Out Tech. / Heavy Equipment Operator / Locomo
I hadn't noticed it at the time, but going back and counting backwards, it looks like this was Squizzy's thousandth post! Congratulations on reaching...uhhh... some sort of milestone. :beatsme

There will be a small get together later, in the operator's lounge, where pineapple upside-down cake and beer will be served... :drinkup

Am I too late for the cake :confused: .......I've been on vacation. :cool2

And where is the operators lounge....:beatsme Lemme guess, I'd know if I was an operator.....:rolleyes: :D
 

SouthOnBeach

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
130
Location
Westren North Carolina
Occupation
jack of all trades
oh the joys of diggin out stumps. thats something i'm not looking forward to on my next project. but i guess i can always dig them out from below too in this one as i'm cutting out a hillside :rolleyes:
 

mtb345

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2007
Messages
115
Location
brockton mass.
Occupation
heavey equipment operator
pulling stumps

when i can i like to dig ahole in the the direction i want the tree to fall and let gravity take the stump out
 
Top