Skid steer backhoe for stump removal and tree removal

[smokey01]

Well can't believe the insurance company was including this on the claim but they gave us the go ahead to remove the stump......... We cut all the roots with the recip saw and pick. Flipped it over a few times to get it up with the bobcat. ....

I should not have to mention this, but of course the method used here is dependent on many things such as site location, tree size, access etc etc, the work you do is dangerous, you are flirting with death every day. One more thing, the sky is blue, fish swim and the Pope is Catholic.

Looking at your picture of the stump, guys with picks and shovels and cut roots from a recip saw. I wanted to share some ideas with you. I'll add some pictures in a clickable thumbnail so those that do not use a Bobcat or do not have interest do not need to see them.
This is what I used to do but the work has dried up with the building slump and my equipment pretty much sits and rusts.
I cleared lots for new homes and other clearing and grading jobs like kids play areas and such. Almost all the time I was a one man operation and didn't have to ever lift much more than a 20' section of 5/8 chain. (static single braid I think).
So, with the backhoe attachment I would fell trees by digging up the root system and basically pushing them over. Very effective and the trees generally went over slowly and would pop the rest of the stump out of the ground with it. I took many stumps out without the tree as well, many times after a customer already paid to have the stump ground but as soon as the grade was changed a couple of inches it would be exposed again. If the tree was in danger of going the wrong way, I would raise the bucket on my Bobcat, climb up and wrap the chain around it and secure it so that it could not fall the wrong direction. Then just dig around the roots until down it went. There was a technique for getting it to go just right but sitting in the Bobcat it was easy just to work my way around digging and pushing.
Once I had the tree down, I would support it with the same backhoe attachment, de-limb it and cut the logs into the length required by the wood yard, put them in my trailer and sell them. The limbs, stumps and debris would be cleared with the grapple bucket, put in my dump trailer and either dumped on property to decompose or I would take it to a mulch composting facility and they would use tub grinders to turn it into colored mulch for landscaping. Then it was just a matter of filling in the holes and smoothing things over.
It made the work pretty easy and not too costly because I'm working alone.
As you can see from the pictures, I had to beef up the wrist pin and knuckle joints because I'm using this beyond it's real intended purpose. I also made the thumb attachment myself from some 1/2 plate steel. Shut up, I know I'm not a great welder, but it works.
Anyway, this is great Bobcat attachment and not a lot of cost, thought you my be interested. This is not like the Bobcat backhoe attachment that is very expensive and requires you to get out of the cab, I sit in the cab under the protection of the cage the whole time, not that a tree coming down cant take you and the cage, but it really did make the job of stump and tree removal easy. For a complete tree removal this worked best for me, made it so easy to get the stump when it was still attached to the tree, plus the stump was not left to eventually decompose and leave a hole.
Looking at your pictures, I honestly could have gone there by myself and had that thing in my trailer in an hour.

Below thumbnails photos are clickable links to the larger image.















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[smokey01]

Sounds like your flirting with injury or death . . . . . . no way anywhere big enough of a machine to push over trees.

"flirting with injury or death"? Is this the site where guys talk about hanging from a rope connected to limbs in tall trees while using sharp tools?
I would agree that every tool, technique or method needs to be matched by size, site location and many many other variable conditions. A person can clear a place for a play set in the back yard with a D9 Cat, or with a pick and shovel. What works to take down a pine tree in Georgia may not work for a fir tree in Oregon nor may it work on every pine tree.
Just mentioned this to give some thoughts on getting that stump out an easy way with some examples of how it has worked for me.
Wish I had my little Bobcat with attachment up there in the northeast right now!

This is a side note and I am avoiding making a suggestion.

I like to take a couple of extra seconds of my own time when I use the quote function and take out much of the text to keep members from having to look at pages or text a second time. Especially when they may not have wanted to look at it the first time.
Without altering the meaning of a message a person can use the ellipses punctuation (...) (ask Jeff you have any further questions as to punctuation) to save perhaps hundreds of other guys having to scroll their little fingers off. Same thing with the photos, I like to take the time to remove the photo from the quote so others don't have to scroll and scroll. Although, this does not apply to cute little babes with their mother.