Like to have information on best size dozer for removing 12 - 36 inch diameter pine stumps in Alabama iron clay. I have dug some 30 inch pine stumps up with a 580 B Case backhoe and it takes about 20 -30 minutes . Pine trees are clear cut almost to the ground. I may have 10 acres to clean up for farming . Been thinking about buying an Excavator .
Buy a good diesel-powered stump grinder and grind them out. My 44HP diesel grinder can take out a 30" pine stump in about 30 minutes or less, and leave nothing but a pile of sawdust and small chips. No stump left to dispose of, like when you dig them out.
You may already know this but we usually cut stuff off about 18" to 24" above the ground, that way it is possible to get some leverage on the stump. I would think a 120 would be fine for that task. A thumb sure help handling the material as well. Regards, CD
The loggers clear cut the property , they don't care about the guy removing the stumps . I prefer stumps cut 30 inches above the ground for dozer to push out . I am new to removing pine stumps.
14 acres of stumps at 30 minutes too long , think I need a D7 size bulldozer with a cutting blade , maybe 40 - 60 seconds per stump .
Yair . . . Dozerbill63 Bigger the better of course but I have found Caribbean and Slash pine bust up fairly easy even with an old D6 with rippers . . . yours could be different, I was in sandy sort of country. mowingman . That sounds really interesting. How much extra time to take them to a foot below the surface? I would imagine soil, particularly sandy soil would be hard on the cutter. Do you have to dig it away or maybe blow with a compressor? Cheers.
30 minutes per stump is too long , 14 acres , mat a D7 bulldozer with a cutting blade may do it in 40 - 60 seconds per stump.
Iron clay seems hard as concrete , thinking of buying a 22 ton excavator .
I can grind out stumps in any kind of soil, as the cutter wheel has carbide-tipped teeth. Now, very rocky soil can cause the teeth to chip. I have averaged as many as 35 stumps/hour, grinding Mesquite, honey locust, and hackberry stumps. These stumps averaged 18" in diameter and were cut nearly flush with the ground. Nothing left but a pile of mulch. In fact, I cleared about 1000 acres of land, heavily covered in trash trees, and did all the stump removal with my 60HP, tracked stump grinder. When finished, landowner just turned soil with a heavy-duty disk, and was able to plant grass and hay crops. Check out Youtube for videos of various stump grinder machines at work.
Just for 10 acres I would consider hiring it out if you didn't need the dozer or excavator for other uses. I am somewhat familiar with your soil types down there, we did the site work for the Sonic in Greenville by I 65. That project didn't involve clearing but it did have undercut and haul in. We used the red sandy clay from a borrow pit for the engineered fill, loaded it with a 953C. Don't know if that material is similar or not to what you have. A loader should handle the smaller stumps but an excavator or larger dozer would be more efficient.
Find yourself an eight class machine with a four barrel multishank ripper.
If you are really interested in a 22 ton excavator, that would put you in something about the size of a Cat® 320... or there about. That's a sizable excavator... I would think it would dig out any stump you have, in about one pass... :cool2 I know that I'd sure like to have one, rather than our 312BL... brand new, of course... http://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/equipment/excavators/medium-excavators/18254206.html http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specifi...tor&make=Caterpillar&model=320C&modelid=92943 OCR
I wish I had the 690 J D I sold it before moving here , the best excavator I ever owned .
You can generally figure that an older. larger machine will be cheaper than something easy to move around. Old cat 225s and 235s are pretty cheap, and nice 977L loaders can be had for a song.
smallish excavator(10 ton) with a ripper tyne will do the job no worries !!
Yes I believe that is what I will do , I am looking for a166 Bantam or 690 John Deere
A 30" pine stump, umm no. rofessor A 325 will struggle with a 30" southern yellow pine stump, 18" or so and smaller it'll tear them out with one pass. A 320 will be digging out a 30" SYP stump.
Cost of 320 is too much money for one job , profit is a plus !
Most economical way to stump is with a kg and dozer. If you need the stumps out an excavator cause you can use the rain to help. 10 acres of 30'' stumps is enough to break anyone wanting to use brute force finese and useing your head is the cheapest and fastest way.
You are right , rain does make a big difference.
1) Grubbing stumps and trees is a task you do not want to bid cheap. 2) 27 ton excavator or larger with a large ripper attachment to remove and dozer to push. Good operators in both.
I think I have lost the job to a D65 Komatsu , I priced the job at $1,800.00 per acre , owner said he would think about it after rolling his eyes as saying I may be to high in price .
That's why I said this in my post above - It wasn't clear in your initial post whether this was a bid job or your own property.:cool2
That is why I said profit is a Plus . May do other jobs with an excavator or dozer , never know what may be down the road .
I also assumed you were working on your own property. I think I understand, If you got the job would you use the 580 backhoe or possibly buy a dozer or excavator?
If I get the job , I will use an excavator .
Depending upon how long its been cut you could factor in that they might be a little rotted by now. Around here we have some trees that were never harvested and went on to die from disease or lightening , they could be 30" and fall right over as well as the top back on you.
Pines trees were healthy and well , cut last week , green as can be , roots will be any where from 4 - 8 feet deep and about 28 -30 inches in diameter to the bottom of root wad . This is why I ask what is the fast and easier way to remove big stumps . I know there has been a D65 there , how long I don't know , can he remove pine stumps as I have described with a D65 , I don't know , can he do it for less than $1,800.00 per acre , I don't know . I do want to see the D65 in action so I may learn something about Alabama Pine stump clearing . I am from KY. . been here 3 years now and haven't seen the Alabama boy do this . ointhead
Yair . . . Dozerbill63 . When it happens you will post us some pictures? This kind of stuff is real interesting for us folks in far off places. Cheers
Hey Scrub , how ya doin down under , I would love to visit your country , half a world away . I think you can see I am not getting a lot of constructed information . The large dozer with KG blade would do the job , but over kill for such a small job, A small excavator ,40,000 lb class will do the job . 450 Case dozer can chase stumps into pile . No one has said anything about price per acre , would be nice to see what other guys price stumps per acre , I would rather work by the hour .
Hey Kentucky Man how are you ? I lived in Louisville for 60 years , what city do you live in ? My name is Bill Clark
When we in north Mo. get into ajob like yours we would rather work by the hour. If the customer wants a bid they will get one but we learned a long time ago to bid high to protect ourselves. Depending on how many stumps per acre $1800.00 might be shy of cost. All depends on ground conditions and operators.
Hey Bruce , you are right , trees were planted 20 years ago with a few old growth trees here and there , how many stumps per acre I don't know . A friend of mine said he sold his trees for $500.00 and it cost a Thousand Dollars to remove the stumps , just saying . If $1,800.00 is shy then the guy with the D65 may be getting a better education than me . I believe I will stick with an hourly figure and let those stump jobs pass me by .
Yair . . . Dozerbill63 . Smart move I reckon. I started a thread on bidding versus hourly rate on here a while back. I believe most folks did not agree but, as I see it, if a machine with a competent operator is priced at a fair hourly rate then that is what the job costs. Any deviation from that and someone is losing money. If I have to bid a job I load it to cover intangibles so the customer loses if the job goes well . . . on the other hand if I were to bid it without the built in intangible component and things don't go well I'm the one that's burnt. I would always say to my customers I believe the job will take x amount of hours and will cost x amount of dollars at hourly rate . . . if you want a firm quote it will be more. Cheers.
Yes Scrubs , that is how it is done and I do the same , the customer has the upper hand , he shows my price to the next guy and he cuts my price and gets the job , I am sure all other operators will do the same to get the job ,sometimes they know there is no profit to make . I have been called back to complete jobs that other cut throat operators under cut my price and then could not do . I will watch this guy with the D65 , maybe I will get a lesson from him .
yes I be the same too dozerbill and scrub. Tis far better to loose a job on a good price than to get one on a poor price; esp if its hard work like stumps. Your own experience is the best tutor here, though is always interesting to watch how the others go too, to see if they get it wrong, or right. If your going to do anything on contract you have to be doing a lot better than what you would be on hourly rate or theres no point in doing it. All my forestry work is hourly rate work and customers are happy, otherwise I wouldn't be there.
Thanks D6 Merv , happy to hear your input .
This gum tree took 15 minues. I dug up several hundred pines that size and piled em up at about 5-10 minute tops. D3b.
Yair . . . coxey2 . The original poster asked about stumps . . . huge difference to pushing trees. If you spend a few dollars on a bit of scrap and knock up a treepusher you would probably walk right up to a tree like that and push it . . . it would grieve me no end to take fifteen minutes on a twelve inch tree with a sixty hp dozer! Cheers.