Hydraulic stump/post puller suggestions?

[red92s]

The edges of our back yard were badly overgrown when we moved in last year. Lots of shrubs and bushes that had gone wild. I've got everything cut back to stumps now. Problem is, many of those stumps are grown underneath an old chain link fence, making them hard to remove. My plan is to remove the fence (including posts), then the stumps.

Here at work I've got access to essentially limitless scrap steel, and hydraulic cylinders.

Anyone seen something like this or have any advice for how to go about it?

 

[Big-Foot]

Look on Northern Tool's website for a Grubber. You can use a grubber with a chain connected to your pickup truck or even a cherry piker if it's not huge.. Otherwise you'll have to rot them out or grind them...

 

[ilovevocs]

I have never seen someone pull a stump, they typically grind them. My friend grinds stumps of large tree's for 50 bucks cash. Their are posts regarding fence post removal with a floor jack, pipe, and a chain. I believe it was in the gen section.

 

[ilovevocs]

That grubber is cool but that is some very sandy soil their pulling out of. It wouldn't work around here with the clay / cohesive soils we have.

 

[red92s]

Little more information:
- This is in a yard where I can't easily get a truck back there to pull them without messing up a lot of grass in the process.
- These are not tree stumps. These are bushes. Most are only 3" in diameter or less. I've dug a couple out by hand . . . I'm just looking for a faster way.
- Burning them out isn't an option. This is a major metro area and we can't get burn permits.

Hoping to do something like this:

 

[justanengineer]

If you can grab the stump with a rope or chain, a chain fall attached to a tree or other wolid structure will pretty easily pull most small bushes pretty quickly. As for grabbing stumps otherwise, Ive seen folks using small grapples stuck in the ground, the only problem is knowing if theyre grabbing the stump or getting stuck in the ground. Personally, Id use this as an excuse to rent/borrow a small excavator or skidsteer and do a bit of digging. Quick, easy, and fun.

 

[James_B]

Back in the 60s, we'd do it on our grazing land in Australia with ANFO, but that's not really an option these days.

At our house in Newfoundland, when we had to remove stumps after a bit of tree felling to increase the cleared space at one end of the yard, we rented a small excavator (Yanmar SV08 but I've since used a Kubota K008 as well) and in 2 days, learned to operate it while removing the stumps and digging 100+ feet of drain channel.

 

[cdeer001]

Do a Google image search for "shrub puller" tons of ideas that you could probably build.

Like:
http://www.canonbal.org/weed.html
http://www.thebullpull.com/
http://www.misterhoneysuckle.com/
http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=80231
http://www.extractigator.com/action.html
http://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/manual-brush-sapling-puller-589676.html

 

[theoldwizard1]

There are many homemade and commercial post puller designs on YouTube. If you have steel tube, a welder and a hydraulic cylinder I'm sure you could make one of them.

I used something like the one in this video because I had a floor jack and some 10' long 2x10s. I did have to screw 3 2x10 together (2 screwed together started to crack) to make a stronger enough beam. I had to add a short piece of 2x10 nailed to the bottom of the beam, parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the beam where the beam rested on the ground to prevent the beam from twisting.

My soil is also heavy clay. I dug down around the posts far enough to warp a chain around the concrete post footing. I fill this hole with a slow running hose for over 12 hours. Once I got sufficient tension on the footing, I did get in there with a shovel and add a little help.

It looked pretty Rube Goldberg, but one old man got 3 lumps of concrete set at least 40" deep out in less than 2 hours (not including set up time).

 

[theoldwizard1]

Back in the 60s, we'd do it on our grazing land in Australia with ANFO, but that's not really an option these days.

That sounds like Fun !

 

[James_B]

That sounds like Fun !

Learned all about it by doing.

Dig a hole under each stump, pour in the ANFO mix, use between 1/4 and 1/2 plug of gelly as a booster for the detonator, and after everything's set up, walk down the line lighting the 30 second fuses. The last thing you wanted was for a fuse to prove difficult to light, so we'd light the fuses by holding the match head to the exposed end of the fuse, and strike the head with the match box and get a guaranteed quick light every time.

I was 15-16 at the time. Haven't handled the stuff for over 40 years.

 

[jimgreen]

Dont use an engine crane. My friend successfully pulled out 8 with his 2 tonne crane, then the arm sheared out of the top of it on the 9th. 20mm bolt sheared out through 8mm steel plate. The 8 tonne bottle jack on the thing doing its worst.

 

[kmacht]

No need to weld anythign up or get fancy with hydraulicy cyinders and pumps. Place two hydraulic floor jacks on top of 2x10's on either side of the stump. Get a piece of 2" gas tube about 2' long and put one end on one jack and the other end on the other. Wrap a chain around the tube and then around the stump. Pump each jack up equally until the stump pulls out. There aren't too many shrub stumps that two three ton floor jacks can't pull out.

Keith

 

[red92s]

No need to weld anythign up or get fancy with hydraulicy cyinders and pumps. Place two hydraulic floor jacks on top of 2x10's on either side of the stump. Get a piece of 2" gas tube about 2' long and put one end on one jack and the other end on the other. Wrap a chain around the tube and then around the stump. Pump each jack up equally until the stump pulls out. There aren't too many shrub stumps that two three ton floor jacks can't pull out.

Keith

Yeah, thinking I'm going to attack it like this forstarters.

http://www.familyhandyman.com/landscaping/how-to-remove-shrubs-and-shrub-roots/view-all

 

[steel 35]

Dont use an engine crane. My friend successfully pulled out 8 with his 2 tonne crane, then the arm sheared out of the top of it on the 9th. 20mm bolt sheared out through 8mm steel plate. The 8 tonne bottle jack on the thing doing its worst.

Yep destroyed my first one pulling the MILs shrubs.

 

[signcrafter]

I wrecked my engine crane also pulling out a cement fence post. Not really wrecked but it bent the end of the bigger square tubing arm that the smaller tubing arm slides in and out of. Took a lot of pressure before the cement broke free, probably all 8 tons of the ram. Need to fix that arm sometime before I need the engine crane again. I like the jack and jack stand idea, could get some serious power if you set up the fulcrum right.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Yeah, thinking I'm going to attack it like this for starters.

http://www.familyhandyman.com/landscaping/how-to-remove-shrubs-and-shrub-roots/view-all

Variation on what I did. I don't think a 4x6 is big enough !

 

[theknurl]

pulling pipe chain link posts out of ~24"-30" of concrete

2 ton hydraulic bumper jack (or mechanical one)
chain w/chain hooks
big pipe wrench
10# double jack, you have a 12# one go for it

remove all the fencing and attachments

smack the pipe ~6"-10" off the ground......look for cracks in the concrete, a couple good hits should do it.....its the impact + the vibration of the pipe that does the concrete in

couple of wraps of the chain, open the pipe wrench larger than the pipe, put it above the wraps.....
bring the ends up on the opposite side of the pipe from the jack
leave some bare pipe under the wraps....for possible later abuse

the idea is to **** the pipe wrench with the chain and then fasten it over the hook of the jack, put the hook of the jack against the pipe

put some pressure on it with the jack......smack the pipe again and it will jump out of the concrete

its a solid steel grip with tension, vibration and major impact

i had to demo a veterinarian's dog runs when i was 13.....we took a major truck load of pipe to scrap

 

[lotsoftools]

pulling pipe chain link posts out of ~24"-30" of concrete

2 ton hydraulic bumper jack (or mechanical one)
chain w/chain hooks
big pipe wrench
10# double jack, you have a 12# one go for it

remove all the fencing and attachments

smack the pipe ~6"-10" off the ground......look for cracks in the concrete, a couple good hits should do it.....its the impact + the vibration of the pipe that does the concrete in

couple of wraps of the chain, open the pipe wrench larger than the pipe, put it above the wraps.....
bring the ends up on the opposite side of the pipe from the jack
leave some bare pipe under the wraps....for possible later abuse

the idea is to **** the pipe wrench with the chain and then fasten it over the hook of the jack, put the hook of the jack against the pipe

put some pressure on it with the jack......smack the pipe again and it will jump out of the concrete

its a solid steel grip with tension, vibration and major impact

i had to demo a veterinarian's dog runs when i was 13.....we took a major truck load of pipe to scrap

I've used my Hi-Lift jack just like this with great success.

 

[SlappyWhite]

I have pulled stumps up to 2` in diameter with a small shovel, a trolley jack and a sawsall equipped with a long purning blade, including one grown into chain link. I put the blade into the ground and I cut a circle around the stump, this sevvers the surface roots. Then dig to get under the stump and cut any tap roots. Shove the jack under the stump and jack.

For small stuff like you have, just cut the circle and give them a yank.

You need to use a pruning blade for the cutting speed. If you hit a rock cut around it.