I've done a little research on here and didnt find much..So I'm asking. Ive got a few stumps to take out..One is BIG. I figure if I cut the roots out and work my way in I'll get it..But has anyone had any experience with Stump buckets? Im looking at Skid Pro and Blue Diamond Models. thanks for any advice!
When you say BIG how big are we talking and what species?
No experience but I am skeptical of their capabilities on anything of good size. I vote stump grinder is the best / easiest solution. I have seen on the internet some large excavators with shear type heads, but with ripper teeth on them. I was pretty impressed with their performance.
Size of the stump and the size of the machine you plan on using is critical info?
stump is no joke 4ft wide easy.
4 foot wide? A good size dozer or excavator would work to get that out. IMHO it isn’t gonna happen with that attachment unless you have a lot of time and want to beat a piece of equipment.
You need a good stumpgrinder for that. I had a 44hp diesel machine that would get rid of that stump in about an hour, maybe less if it was soft wood. About $200 would have been my price. Hard to beat that with any other method. Jeff
If that stumps truly 4’ wide all your going to do is **** it off with a skid steer lol Personally I wouldn’t even think about tackling that job but with enough beer anythings doable.. Your steers going to hate ya though!!
I have to agree. I have a 15 ton excavator and have absolutely pushed it to the limits with a white oak stump that was 5-6' across. The tree was about 18" in diameter. I can't imagine a stump bucket being able to get deep enough, and sever all of the roots, let alone get in a position to remove it from the hole. Now, having said that, 6" trees and smaller? It would probably work well.
Had a guy call call me to fix his skid steer after trying to take out a big stump. This is what happened
I have often questioned those stump buckets. I guess used on small trees it would work, but looks like a sure way to jack something up when you take on more stump than you should. Not to mention making a huge mess in the process.
I have a Blue Diamond stump bucket and it is a very well built unit. Highly recommend their product. I have pryed hard with it and it held up fine.
You haven't mentioned what you will mount it on. My first stump was 24 years ago. I had replaced a power line in late November VT. The ground was wet & it seemed the more I moved the backhoe, the more it squished under the tires. I had removed a volume of rocks, & there wasn't enough topsoil to fill the ditch all the way. Twenty feet from the ditch was a large stump, soil was mounded up around it. There was plenty of soil to finish the job. I remembered the day the tree had been cut 20 years earlier, I remembered it as a white pine. The stump would be rotten by then, I'd rip the top off & salvage the 4-5 yards of extra top soil. I was very wrong about the stump. It proved to be maple and very hard. I dug all the way around it to a depth of 8'. I wasn't able to lift it out of the hole, so I tipped it over and buried it. It proved to be a bigger job than I bargained for! Years later, different backhoe, I tore the bottom out of a 12" bucket digging a stump in frozen ground. When I rebuilt it I used much heavier AR 400, reinforced it. I found it to be perfect for stumping. Sold that backhoe to a friend a few years back. He says he hasn't used the 24" bucket at all, for most purposes the 12" is preferable. It is great for stump & large boulder digging out. It enables you to get to individual roots one at a time. That machine features a heavy duty thumb also. Works great.
I use a 12" bucket for tearing out stumps. It is great for that purpose.