Clearing Stumps.... best equipment??

wfcjr · July 13, 2015, 09:07:01 AM

Quote from: Piston on July 12, 2015, 02:34:22 PM
I think it's all relative to what you use, and the stumps you pull.....

.... Nothing beats the shear weight and power of a larger sized excavator! Puts my little 16k lb backhoe to shame.

Agree with your first statement, but disagree a tad, with the final two sentences.

It is all relative to the job at hand and the situation. When I read the posts throughout this forum, it is pretty obvious that there are a large variety of machines, machine types and machine capabilities, being put to use in an equally large variety of situations. What works well for one person, may not fit the bill for the next. It really is amazing the variety and versatility of the tools and machines employed.

Consistent with the point above, I don't think that anyone's equipment puts any other person's equipment to shame. It is all a matter of situation & use. This forum runs the gamut from professionals to rank amateurs like me. The machine that works well for someone who is doing work for himself, or on a hobby woodlot or farm, won't be appropriate for the gent who makes his living where time is money, and vice versa. I am consistently amazed and humbled by the expertise, experience and ingenuity of the seasoned folks on this forum and how they get stuff done. It certainly has opened my eyes in a number of areas and caused me to think differently at times. But it has never led me to believe that one guy's equipment is necessarily better than someone else's.

gww · July 13, 2015, 12:03:03 PM

My dad has an old john deere 410 (I think) Backhoe. It has worn out bushings. Its hydrolics are slow as a snail. My uncle had a bit bigger and newer backhoe. It is so fast compared to dads that I am thinking of having it moved for $200 to dads to try and salvage logs in a lake building project. I relize situations are differrent and there are differrances in an $8000 machine and a $16000 machine. I love dads back hoe but depending on the job the machine that better fits makes life a little easeir. It reminds me of when I mowed 3 acres with my craftsman mower compared to the zero turn. It would get the job done but you needed 4 hours compared to 1 and 1/2 hours. I know, a useless comment, but this thread put it on my mind.
gww

Dixon700 · July 13, 2015, 12:30:17 PM

Well from what I've read the newer machines don't really dig faster or are hydraulically stronger than my 580sk. My Era of tlb was about the prime of them and I'd agree I love that machine. Some days an excavator in the 40k lb ranger and a d8 or so would be nice too lol.

Piston · July 13, 2015, 07:21:54 PM

Quote from: wfcjr on July 13, 2015, 09:07:01 AM
Quote from: Piston on July 12, 2015, 02:34:22 PM
I think it's all relative to what you use, and the stumps you pull.....

.... Nothing beats the shear weight and power of a larger sized excavator! Puts my little 16k lb backhoe to shame.

Agree with your first statement, but disagree a tad, with the final two sentences.

Just to clear it up, I wasn't saying that Case 580 and other sized machines like that aren't good, I was just saying that based on my limited experience running a CAT 315, vs quite a bit of experience running my JD 410, the 38,000lb excavator puts my 16k lb backhoe to shame. I really don't think anything can beat the weight and power of a large excavator like that, which makes sense, since they are designed specifically for digging, vs the versatility of the backhoe.

Even as easy (relative to my smaller equipment) as it would have been to dig out the 3 good sized stumps I had to deal with using the CAT 315 Excavator, I still chose to grind them instead, it's just so much neater and easier to deal with when the stumps get really large.

Here are the before and after pics of a few stumps I ground down, using a PTO powered grinder:
(Nevermind, I guess even an iphone takes pics too large for the photo software to handle.)

Best I can do is a time lapse video, a stump like this takes between 10-15 mins to grind with my little 40hp PTO tractor.
https://youtu.be/ibhGW35AFGw