Clearing Stumps.... best equipment??

[barbender]

Get all the dirt knocked off of the stumps with the excavator, then pile them up an burn them.

[s grinder]

That would work,even if you left them small piles ,nice winter project if locals will allow it,sometime they'll burn for days

[s grinder]

People that clear land, some have tub grinders,maybe you tie up a deal

[Piston]

Thanks for chiming in S Grinder, that's some good info that you posted!

[gspren]

  I'm guessing that it might depend on soil type but a dozen or so years ago at the advice of a local that did excavating I dug a few 24+" oak stumps with a back hoe and after getting the root ball out I dug about 4' deeper then put the root ball back in upside down and then buried. I was told if you have 3' of dirt on top it won't rot, so far no sink holes.

[NWP]

I mentioned this before but I never saw if you had a reason to not do this. Take the trees down whole in the 2 acre area you want clear cut.  Why mess with stumps if you don't have to?  No reason to make it harder than it needs to be. Then you could grind the remaining stumps that are here and there if you wanted.

[wfcjr]

I mentioned this before but I never saw if you had a reason to not do this. Take the trees down whole in the 2 acre area you want clear cut.  Why mess with stumps if you don't have to?  No reason to make it harder than it needs to be. Then you could grind the remaining stumps that are here and there if you wanted.

We are having some logging done this winter.  Some will be patch thinning, but we will cut & clear a few acres as well.  The logger is felling, limbing, skidding out, landing & coordinating the timber sale.

[beenthere]

Take the trees down whole in the 2 acre area you want clear cut.  Why mess with stumps if you don't have to?  No reason to make it harder than it needs to be.

Seems the best overall plan to me too, and the cheapest/easiest to get to the goal of some cleared land. Rescue the logs from the trees before things get pushed into piles. Bring tree down with root ball attached, cut out the logs, and deal with the rest easy with the Deere.

[barbender]

I agree, that's the easiest way but that takes away his main reason for getting the new excavator ;)

[NWP]

I agree, that's the easiest way but that takes away his main reason for getting the new excavator ;)

He could take the trees down with the new excavator.

[Piston]

We are having some logging done this winter.  Some will be patch thinning, but we will cut & clear a few acres as well.  The logger is felling, limbing, skidding out, landing & coordinating the timber sale.

Sounds to me like the logger is taking the trees down, not the landowner.   ???

[wfcjr]

We are having some logging done this winter.  Some will be patch thinning, but we will cut & clear a few acres as well.  The logger is felling, limbing, skidding out, landing & coordinating the timber sale.

Sounds to me like the logger is taking the trees down, not the landowner.   ???

Correct.... While I love to spend time in our woods, there are limits.
Firewood, I can fell, limb & skid out...weekend work.  Larger projects...and logs to the mill... the forester & logger take over.

[loggah]

Taking trees down stumps and all sounds like the easy but it isn,t! i had to cut a bunch of blowdown years ago after a microburst touched down in Waterville,  and every tree that was blown over had dirt thrown up onto the log. This required a lot of filing saw chains on my part , and grumbling ! ;D

[wfcjr]

Taking trees down stumps and all sounds like the easy but it isn,t! i had to cut a bunch of blowdown years ago after a microburst touched down in Waterville,  and every tree that was blown over had dirt thrown up onto the log. This required a lot of filing saw chains on my part , and grumbling ! ;D

It is definitely hard work that requires skill & experience to do properly.  That is why I leave the major falling to the loggers.

With regard to pushing trees over, roots, stumps, etc..

At our place most of the forestry work is done in the winter when the ground is frozen and firm.   Pushing the trees over rather than felling them complicates things a bit.  In winter the soil (and any attached rocks) are frozen.  This makes it more difficult to shake the dirt from the root ball.  Another reason why we prefer felling & stumping to pushing over.

All the other posters certainly have a valid point.  At the same time the technique has to be considered with in the context of the clearing goals, seasons, etc.

Thanks....

[wfcjr]

OK,

Went and played with a couple of machines on the dealers' lots.

Am now convinced of the wisdom of the posters who recommended against the mini-excavators.
Agree that the machines at 8 tons & below would be too light.  There appeared to be a world of difference between
excavators in the Cat 308/JD75/85 range vs those in the 13-14 ton range.

Am looking strongly at Cat 314 & JD 135.  Both machines are in the 13-14 metric ton range...  32,000# to 33,000#.
Both machines have a reduced tail swing.  I like this feature because machine will be more maneuverable and as a rank
newbie, I may be less likely to tear up the tail by banging it into trees if it pretty much (all but 8") fits between the tracks.

Also, after digging stumps we will have plenty of projects for it... at least for a few years.   

Three questions....

Am I still too light?

How useful are excavators in re-habbing old logging trails & putting new ones in?

Are there any mods available for triple semi-grouser tracks to help with traction on packed snow & ice?  (should this question be in a separate thread?)

Thanks,,,,,

[teakwood]

I think that size will be ok, as you dont want to go any bigger. the short tail is a very good feature for you.
Buy a quick coupler! I would never buy an excavator without one.

As for making trails and i have experience with excavators: you have to be a good operator to make nice trails in a   reasonable time. A tilt bucket would be almost a must for this work and they are not very common in the states.
Here is a vid from a tilt bucket, seems to be about same size machine as those you are looking for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDvvBxMhLbg

[barbender]

A 135 is a real nice machine. What you need all boils down to what you are going to use it for the most. 

     If you go through and grub your trails out with the hoe, and smooth the stump holes out a reasonable amount, you should be able to take your tractor and box blade and put the final touch on. We used to do a lot of trail building like this with an excavator followed by a skid steer or CTL. The hoe pops the stumps and fills the holes, the skid steer smoothed things out. You can smooth things out with an excavator but you waste a lot of time.

[wfcjr]

Update...

First, hearty thanks to all of the folks here, with much more experience than I have, who chimed in on this thread.   The input was valuable and caused me to think about the size and the uses for equipment.

Ended up getting a Volvo ECR145 DL.  Machine is a tad over 35,000 pounds and 113hp.  It is a zero clearance/reduced tail swing model (max overhang is 6"). Came equipped with a dozer blade.  Got it with a trenching bucket as well as a tilt finish bucket and hydraulic thumb.
Also had installed on the tracks, things called Montana Track Claws.  These are V shaped bars that are bolted through the track clean-out holes.  The provide great traction in both ice and mud.  When delivered, they had to walk the machine up the last mile of road and then up our gravel drive.  Was all ice and snow at the time.  Technician and salesman both said that the excavator would never have made it up the icy hill without the Track Claws.

Only saw limited service this winter due to cold, snow cover, and other extenuating circumstances (great ski season).  However in the last couple of weeks (really weekends) have installed a couple of culverts and taken out several good sized stumps, both hardwood and softwood.  Very confident based on stability and use so far that it will do well with even larger stumps in our woods.   So far stump pulling/digging has been limited to trees that we have taken out of some of the fields.  I want to get more familiar with the machine before maneuvering in the woods. 

I think that this size machine, as equipped will be darn near perfect for maintenance around the property as well as clearing stumps and forestry work for cleaning up large cuts that we will turn into fields.  Will also be enormously helpful in cleaning up some old logging roads that have fallen into disuse, and for ongoing maintenance of same.   

Thanks to the much more experienced folks who chimed in on the original post.  It caused me to look hard at use & application.  Prevented me from getting a machine that would likely have been too small.  While some probably think that even the Volvo 145 (think Cat 315/314) is too small, I think that it has all the power that we will need and it is in a package that we will be able to operate more nimbly and safely in the woods. 

Thanks again for the input.

[teakwood]

Congratulations! you chosed the best excavator brand there is (i own a Volvo EC290) ;)

We want pictures, need to see those claws

[wfcjr]

Congratulations! you chosed the best excavator brand there is (i own a Volvo EC290) ;)

We want pictures, need to see those claws

Here is a quick pick.
Will try to get a better pic of the track claws.



 

[OntarioAl]

Nice machine
You can also load out logs with the hydraulic thumb option
Al

[Bruno of NH]

Nice !!
Where are you in NH / VT ?
Jim/Bruno

[kensfarm]

That'll be fun to run.. you can tear stuff up good now.  Nice.

[Piston]

That is a REALLY nice machine  8)

[4x4American]

Was considering a JD 60D or 60G in the 13,000# & 53hp range.

But am confused... some posters are suggesting Cat machines greater than 100hp, others
are saying excavators in the 50hp range would work well.  In any case, I am assuming that
a hydraulic thumb is a must.

We have a JD 60 at work, and it can do a suprising amount of work.  It is our bread and butter machine.  We have 4- 15-20 ton excavators, but of them all, this little mini stays the busiest.  We just tow it with our F-550 and most jobs with it are a day or less, sometimes longer.  Here's a picture of it doing a wheelie tackling a large stump on fairly steep ground.