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Stump removal

Carsten Join Date: Posts: 1

2000-12-06          22172

I am looking at buying my first tractor. For some reason I like the L4310 with the 681 loader. I have found a used, 400 hours for 16000 but am not certain it will fill my needs.I have 30 acres with a lot of trees and rocks and am trying to justify myself to think that I can use the loader to remove tree stumps etc.Would I be able to use a front loader for this or is that something where I can only use a backhoe.

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Stump removal

Bird Senter Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962

2000-12-06          22173

Carsten, that's a very nice tractor, and sounds to me like a good price. But as to whether you can remove stumps with the front end loader; it depends on the size of the stump, type of tree and roots, type of soil, how hard it is, etc., but just very generally speaking, you probably will not remove many stumps with the front end loader. If the trees are cut off a couple of feet or more above ground, there may be some you can pull with the tractor and a good chain that you could not get out with the front end loader. ....

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Stump removal

By the Brook Farm Join Date: Posts: 1

2000-12-06          22176

I've cleared a solid acre of timber here in Maine with a compact tractor and it wasn't pretty. Forget about using your loader, unless the trees are four or five inches in diameter and then it depends on how well they are rooted. I have a JD4600 w/48 backhoe which is quite a bit larger than the Kubota you are looking at. Weight helps especially when using a hoe otherwise you end up just lifting your tractor and not digging anything. Get the biggest tractor you can afford, I would recommend a L-48 Kubota for around 40K. Understand that you can do anything with a compact tractor, it will just take you a *lot* longer than one of those yellow machines. I can rip out green pine stump up to twelve inches in diameter as fast as I can drive over to them. Maple and Oak is a different story. A green maple stump a foot in diameter might take me twenty minutes. I don't have enough power to grip and rip a maple root more than about three inches in diameter. IF you have small trees, the best way to get them out is to raise your loader about seven feet and just slowly push them over. Then lower your bucket and you can get under the root ball and lift it easily and drag the complete tree out. Took me about a month to figure that one out. Remember that your loader is designed for lifting loads, not pushing over trees so you have to show some real restraint otherwise you are just abusing your equipment. Largest stumps I pulled were oak and maple up to around thirty inches in diameter. Root ball on those was about the size of a Volkswagon Bug and would take an hour or so. Big yellow excavator could do it in about three minutes, but that wouldn't be any fun! ....

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Stump removal

Brady Join Date: Posts: 1

2000-12-06          22180

I have to go with the consensus on this. We have removed a few stumps lately with a front loader, and it is a laborious process. A backhoe is much better suited for the job. Soil type, tree diameter, and all other factors aside, a certain amount of digging ability is needed to quickly remove a stump. A backhoe attachment provides alot more digging capability than a front loader. With a front loader, you end up trying to pull the tree/stump out of the ground rather than dig it out. I would recommend putting a backhoe attachment on the L4310 or looking for a B20/21 or an L35 that already has the backhoe unit. ....

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Stump removal

Ted Kennedy Join Date: Posts: 1

2000-12-07          22196

Carsten, you are getting good advice. I do landscaping and from my experience a compact tractor can dig out stumps, but as the previous replies have stated, there are many variables involved. In my area of Connecticut many municipalities will no longer allow the homeowner to dig out stumps for burning or burial. That means trucking them away to a landfill. If the stumps are small, get a hoe. If they are plentiful, get a D9 with a Rome Rake, it may cost a few bucks but the results are amazing. And if this is a project that you will be working at a little at a time, rent a full-size stump grinder like a Vermeer. In any event, you'll need some top soil for filling the recent removals and some form of implement to level out (York rake, rear blade, bo grader, etc.). Happy digging! ....

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Stump removal

TomG Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley

2000-12-07          22197

Here's another way of looking at it. Buying a tractor that's big enough for what might be a one-time kind of job might end up sticking you with a tractor that's too big (and expensive) to do a lot of the routine work easily. Big tractors take time to maneuver or just can't get to some places. They also wreck turf. I figured that if I got a tractor that could do around 90% of the work, then I'd have about the right sized tractor. That's worked out fairly well. However, this summer’s building demolition challenged to 90% figure and I also mow the yard with a riding mower rather than the tractor. I can mow it faster with the riding mower, because the tractor would take too long to maneuver around landscaping or leaves too much for trimming. I always figured that tractors were good for taking out a stump here and there, but clearing wood lots is a place for the guy with the dozer. I'd use my compact to clean up the mess the dozer made and figure that it was money well spent. I'd also have more time of my own left over. Tractoring is fun, but it's too pretty here for me to want the tractor to end up feeling like a job. ....

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Stump removal

Carsten Join Date: Posts: 1

2000-12-07          22205

Thanks for all the excellent information I do think I will get the 4310 and then
try to talk a friend with a case 580 to come and visit after I felled all the trees where I am building.
Again thank you all. ....

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Stump removal

Art White Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 6898 Waterville New York   Pics

2000-12-07          22206

You did get some good advise and the Kubota is a good price. To have your freind come in is good and if you both work with the units together it should be a good experince for you. I just have trouble with the remark that the JD 4600 is larger than a 4310 Kubota, the only thing I really see larger after looking at the literature for both is the model number. ....

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Stump removal

By the Brook Farm Join Date: Posts: 1

2000-12-07          22213

I actually *drove* the tractors and belive me, the JD4600/4700 is quite a bit larger. Nothing personal, but if it wasn't the biggest, heaviest Compact out there, I wouldn't have bought it since $$ wasn't an issue. (Might have to trade it for a Kubota L-48 TLB now though, they look pretty sweet). ....

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