Re: Pulling stumps

Posted by Dan-IA on May 24, 2006 at 19:06:11 from (207.177.13.221):

In Reply to: Pulling stumps posted by Mike_Joel on May 24, 2006 at 15:27:15:

For small trees (less than 18 feet high or so, and smaller in diameter than my neck or your average 3 pound coffee can), I say just cut 'em high.

Little saplings, cut a foot above the ground, then wrap the log chain around it twice and hook it. Then run the other end to the drawbar, and drop it in the lowest gear. I like my Cockshutt 30 for this, because of the creeper gear and you won't hurt a gas engine by lugging it hard enough to stall the engine. (But don't abuse a diesel like that--I've heard it'll bend the crankshaft.) You might have to try pulling it a few times before it actually comes out, but most usually come on the first or second pull.

Larger trees (up to about 20-25 feet high and as big around as your head or less) cut high again. Number of feet high roughly equal to the number of inches across the trunk.) If it's bigger than about 6 inches across, borrow or rent a small backhoe (mine's a 3-pt backhoe) and dig down about 3 feet on 3 sides of the trunk, making a "U" shape. This might take a couple hours. What you're doing here is breaking off a lot of roots. Then tie your cable/chain close to the top of the stump, drop the tractor in low gear, and pull 'er out. You'll want to pull it in the direction of the side of the tree where you didn't dig. (Well, I do, anyway. The direction might not matter.) The height above the ground where you tie the chain is important--you're adding lots of mechanical advantage here. (Think about a lever. You apply force at the end of the lever, the fulcrum is at the ground (the roots) and the distance the top travels as it comes out is multiplying the force that is being applied by the tractor and chain.)

This last method may work for even larger trees, particularly if you dig deeper to cut more roots or tie that chain on higher. (That's all the bigger I've taken 'em on. Bigger than that, I call the local electric company to have 'em cut it down with their big bucket trucks, then have the local excavator guy dig out the stump.)

Risks? Well, yeah, cut the tree down to the height you wanna pull from (sometimes that might be 10 feet high!) This way you won't have the tree fall on you or the tractor. Don't cut it too short though, or tie the chain too low--I've personally snapped several log chains doing that! (And I've been lucky. I've heard of people getting killed if they snap a log chain and the flying chain hits 'em.) But tying that chain good and high will help prevent a chain break.

But that's what I've done. I've stuck with just 3 tractors for pulling trees: my Cockshutt 30 (wish I had a 40--much bigger bull gears), a Farmall 560, and a White 4-150. (Yes, the 4-150 is a diesel. But we figured that cat engine could hack it.)

Take this with a grain of salt. But don't do anything you're not comfortable doing--maybe hiring somebody to cut it just above the ground and using a stump grinder might be the best route for your situation.

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