Stump Squashing

I found a new use for my backhoe. I have pine stumps in my yard that are a little over 4 years since the trees were cut down. I drove around today in the yard and either dug up the stumps or just raked them into small crumbled pieces. The smaller ones crumbled so easy, I tried to just squash them. It worked. Check out the first two photos below. Before I tackled the stumps, I did something I have been wanting to try for a while. Now kids, please don't do this at home. A professional Aircraft Mechanic performed this stunt with a professional tractor dog supervising. Check out the third photo.
hugs, Brandi

Brandi, you don't raise the Red Beast off the ground while using the hoe? I thought that everybody lifted their tractor off the ground while digging. No? More weight on the out riggers and front bucket = less tractor movement.

That is what they teach...

https://www.equiptrain.com/backhoes.htm

Good post Brandi. Who would have thunk that you could do that with those stumps. Cool. Good pics. Rep points for you.

MtnViewRanch said:

Brandi, you don't raise the Red Beast off the ground while using the hoe? I thought that everybody lifted their tractor off the ground while digging. No? More weight on the out riggers and front bucket = less tractor movement.

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Brian,
The stabilizer pads are a tad small to do that. The stabilizers won't lift it off the ground like that. I use the bucket to push myself up. I just sit the pads on the ground until they quit moving. Then I curl the bucket under as in the photo and lift a little more. I leave the bucket flat and in float to act as an anchor. This way I can push myself forward or pull backward as needed. The stabilzer cylinders are a bit small I think to take the abuse of the rear wheels off the ground and forces the backhoe entails. I will try it some day when digging in just dirt. But for digging around stumps and ripping roots out, I will have to wait until I get bigger pad overshoes installed. Besides, when it is that high, I need a step ladder to get on and off the BH.
hugs, Brandi

You are lucky having soft stumps. All mine are hard and have turned into fatlighter.

Redbug said:

You are lucky having soft stumps. All mine are hard and have turned into fatlighter.

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Redbug,
The smaller stumps squash good. The larger ones like the one below is all fatlighter (fatwood). I had one larger than this that I dug up. It had to be pinched between the boom and bucket to carry it. It didn't have any deep roots. I have dug up a pine stump that was cut about 12 or more years before that had a huge tap root that went down 9 feet.
hugs, Brandi