This Is Stump Grinding 101

[Ben Framed]

A complete stump ground to shavings in less than a minute!

https://youtube.com/shorts/83VoOdIrLBk?feature=share

[BeeMaster2]

I?d like to have that machine. My brother and I have been digging out stumps out our soon to be pastures. We have pulled about 20 stumps so far with a backhoe and probably have close to a thousand to go.
Seems like we blow a hydraulic hose almost every other day we are using it. It is an old machine but pretty soon we will have all new hoses.
Some of our stumps are much bigger than that machine can handle. It also does not pull the side roots out. If we didn?t pull them out they will be a problem when I start plowing and discing the fields.
Jim Altmiller

[iddee]

How about this one? Is it big enough, Jim?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5BAZuNuhXY

[Acebird]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XdQ3pQ6DhBCzGFLE6
Obviously this is a lot slower but there were no hydraulic hoses blown here.  I built this specifically for removing stumps and clearing roots to make a garden.  After you dig around the tree to get the surface roots you use two tractors wrapping chains around the trunk and pulling in opposite directions at the same time.  It cork screws the stump out of the ground.  If the roots are very large you have to get further out away from the stump.  Tie the chains on two apposing roots and do the same thing with the two tractors.  You can generate a whole lot of torque tying out away from the trunk.
The only one I couldn't get was 4 ft in dia. box elder.  They rot quick though if you keep after the suckers.

[BeeMaster2]

Iddee,
None of those stumps have roots as big as these Slash Yellow Pin roots that we are removing.
That ripper looks pretty good. I?m going to see if they make one for my 580C. We have to dig at least 6? to release these roots. Pretty sure you cannot do that with just that ripper on the backhoe.
Jim Altmiller

[BeeMaster2]

Ace,
That device will not touch these stumps. I once tried to rip out a 3 inch heart wood yellow pine stump, the original tree was much much bigger, by dropping my box blade on it and tried to pull it out with a 2355 58 horse John Deere. I tried pulling several times and the only thing that happened was I damaged the tractor where the 2 bottom bars hooked onto the tractor. Took a long time to get the hydraulic fluid from leaking around those points. I noticed that on the new tractors, they totally redesigned how they are connected.
Jim Altmiller

[Acebird]

Ace,
That device will not touch these stumps.

Jim I no longer have the tractors or the device.  I am sure I have the same pine trees that you do here and I had to deal with them with my tiny John Deere.  Most of the trees here in FL have a rats nest root system because the top soil is so thin.  If you are using a back hoe dig a trench 4-6 ft out from the trunk and wash out the roots with a pressure washer or hose.  Use a chain saw at the trunk to cut off the horizontal roots.  once these are gone you can cut off the tap root or just 6 inches below grade.  You mentioned this land will be used for pasture not a garden so you don't have to go that deep.
The three point is designed to pull more then the capacity of the tractor.  When that happens the wheels spin.  Actually it is an advantage because it loosens the dirt on the top roots.  Yes I have buried the wheels on the tractor many times which is why you need two tractors.
There was a time when people cleared land with horse and oxen.  The difference between now and then is effort and time.

[Michael Bush]

My Grandpa used to plow fields full of stumps with a team of mules and a "stump plow".  I haven't seen one, but he described it as being designed to plow right through the stumps.  It didn't pull them but it split them apart more every time you plowed through them.  He told the story about how his uncle plowed through one and it closed back up behind him and closed on his homespun britches (linsywoolsy).  He just hung onto the plow and the mules kept pulling and finally, my uncle said if his galluses hadn't broken he would have pulled that stump.  I guess the point was the strength of the linsywoolsy.

[iddee]

It wasn't long ago that they weren't pulled. A cup of salt peter and brown sugar, a piece of fuse, and the stump was out of the ground.

[Michael Bush]

My grandpa would have used a bit of fertilizer and some diesel.  Or gone to the hardware store and bought a stick of dynamite...

[BeeMaster2]

Iddee,
I would love to do that. 😊. Lots of fun. They still do that in Alaska.
My buddy once tried to help a stranger pull a truck with his 75 horse tractor. With truck and tractor working it wouldn?t move. He told the guy he would be back with a bigger tractor. He came back with 2 big mules and a sled. The guy just laughed and didn?t even try to help. He hooked them up and walked that truck right out of the mud. They had to pick the guys jaw off of the ground. 😊
Jim Altmiller

[Michael Bush]

I was talking to some soldiers one day and they were talking about when they got a tank stuck.  They were in Germany and a farmer with a team of mules was coming down the road.  The farmer offered to pull them out, and they laughed at him.  He made them a bet and he pulled the tank out of the mud with the mules.

[Acebird]

He hooked them up and walked that truck right out of the mud.

Tractor is limited to the friction on the wheels.  Once they spin they just dig and bury the tractor.  The second thing that happens is when the wheels sink in the pulling force lessens in the horizontal plane and it move upward.  If the animals feet dig in they gain traction and the pull force remains horizontal.