Digging Out a Giant Stump 

Here is the video fixing the track ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-o-GLkzLRNq4.html Here is the video burning this stump ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TvzjnId0OCw.html Use code rockhill5 to get 5% off your order at: www.agfolks.com/product/537-eliminator-tree-puller-new-version Check out our skid steer playlist for more videos like this Skid Steers and attachments, including the John Deere 325G ru-vid.com/group/PLmYnhJtNUq7eMYSMYExz40ah9thbWvFUn Thanks for watching

Always makes me think of all the work our forefathers had to put into clearing farm land. They only had strong backs and hand tools, possibly a team of pulling horses to help. Makes me grateful for all their hard work to make this great country.

The BEST way to remove a root ball (stump) is not to cut the tree down. The tree's trunk makes an EXCELLENT lever for prying the root ball out of the ground. I'm not sure what kind of tree that one is, but I've pulled out a maple about that size using a mini-excavator by digging out the roots in front and behind (relative to the direction I wanted it to fall) and then reaching up with the excavator and pushing it over.

Tree stumps really are amazing structures. It’s a lot more fun watching other people fight with them. Your grandson always tickles me, and seeing him going at it back there I sincerely look forward to your content in 10 years when he’s getting one piece of equipment mastered after another. He’s got a priceless childhood happening right now. It will serve him well in life.

i gotta tell ya! you did some great work! wow...big big massive stump work! i think we can all say, we learned so so much from your efforts, that we might not have ever known!

Tremendous amount of respect and admiration to our farmers. Jack's of all trades and some of the hardest working, selfless and under appreciated people. May God bless the farmers and their loved ones!

I admire your persistence and tenacity. As you alluded too, you experimented and learned a valuable lesson.

Excellent work. You demonstrated multiple types of strategies on a very difficult project.

Hey Brock, as you probably know by now, it’s the two thirds rule for trees. What you see above ground, there’s usually about two thirds of all that mass below ground. Great video, mate! 🙏

Very satisfying watching you get that stump out! A little determination and patience go a long way. Maybe not the most efficient way, but you did clear out the hole and that will pay off in the long run. I enjoyed this video.

That backhoe is cute, seriously good video.

Love your determination!

"An auger bit with some dynamite for this stump from hell----!"Great job Rockhill Farm.

Heck of a good time watching you. 👍

Wow, what a stump, nice job getting it out Brock.👍🏻

Ata Boy Brock! Never give up.

💥 Doesn’t matter if it was the best way. It was the most fun way for sure! Nice job Brock! *Keep on tractoring!*

Who knew what the best way is but I enjoyed it tremendously Great video

I almost stood up and cheered when you finaly raised that stump above the skid steer lol !! Thanks for the heads up on " Stump Stories." pc

Of all the things I've done with my 1025R and 260B backhoe, digging out large stumps has been the most un-gratifying and disappointing. Watching you pick at that stump brought back some bad memories - but I admit, seeing the sped-up video is encouraging to just keep picking at it. It may be hard to see the progress in real-time, but all that little picking adds up, as the sped-up video shows very well. Thanks for sharing again, Brock.

Having done this myself...I knew it was going to be a good deal of work no matter the method.

Very good Information. 👍

I was just amazed how much work you had to put into thi what a awesome job you did!

Bro, that stump gave you more problems coming out than some wisdom teeth I've removed. Your persistence paid off, as did having a variety of the proper tools.

FIRST TIME watcher here. After almost 38+ years working for Deere I want to thank you for feeding me and mine! 👍

I really enjoyed watching you cut up this tree and dig out the stump I think it is awesome I really enjoyed it keep on doing what you’re doing and I’ll keep on watching you

You have a lot of nice toys

Epic Trilogy 👍

Stumps are a pain, but when you're all done getting rid of them it feels soooo good! And you certainly do have some dry dirt!

Put that stump in your pond. The fish will love it.

I have had stumps that put up a fight. You da man!

One of the most satisfying things I've watched in quite awhile, Brock. Congrats on the victory! 😄

Cool video. Stay safe out there.

Tree stumps are hardest thing to get rid of but u did it ..good job. I have fought a few of them to the end too.

You finally got it done!

What a beautiful journey of a man and tools With great passion for the craft of work. Thank you

Easy to see why old timers used tnt before heavy machinery. Good battle and victory with the stump.

Hey Brock. Well. When I suggested digging it out I did mention packing a lunch. 😊 But at least doing it this way the stump is gone and you'll not have to deal with it again. I actually took out one almost that size with a John Deere 2305. It took me a couple of days but it was well worth it. What I started doing after that was tying the tree off as high as possible with a block and tackle, digging around them and breaking as many roots as possible and pulling the whole tree over and used the weight of the tree to pull the stump out of the ground all in one shot. It worked really well and saved a lot of work. God bless you and your family and God bless America! P.S. There's no doubt about who your grandson's best buddy is. 😊😊👍

It ain't no step for a stepper...Way to go Brock!!! I agree with the observation made by another person; the video quality looks better (HD)! Broke your commitment to your channel/viewers goes Above & Beyond! thx, tommy

Man that was one stubborn tree. I’m glad you were able to get it out. Hopefully that will be the last hiccup for the wood yard. Thanks for the video.

Allrighty then. Got her done.

I dug out a stump that big with an axe, hand saw, a shovel and a chain saw. It took the entire summer and I eventually got down to the tap root. In the process I dug a hole you could park a VW in below the lawn level. It was the most fun I ever had working around my house.

You are truly a very hard working man God bless you 👍🙏

half of doing stuff like that is the fun, playing around, moving and busting stuff........life is good !!!

Thanks for the videos, great to be able to follow the whole process. Take care and God bless.

Great video….I enjoy it

Enjoyed watchinig it - learned a lot! May never need to use your techniques, but who knows?

Just discovered this channel, it's awesome. I guess the moral of the story is, if you want to have a couple days of macho fun, burn it. If you want it out fast grind it.

Nature wants to live. I'm working on my own stump and it is kicking my butt. Great project though.

Dynamite!!! Boom gone!

Nothing beats a Deere-except for burned out tree stumps

Roots and rocks. Rocks and roots. Victory!!!

“That Power Wheel doesn’t have the deluxe towing package” 😂

Thanks for the videos I have a large stump, after watching how much trouble it was burning , I will use my small backhoe to dig it out , I will be buying a stump grinder in the future. Thanks again.

Well you got it finally lol. Definitely got a couple hours of work in it.

foundation for the new house mostly dug now 😀😀😀😀

Drill a 1-2" hole down into the center of the stump. Stuff it with black powder except the top foot or so. Stuff the top foot or so with dryish clay around the fuse and tamp it down. Light it and move away.

The trick to burning out a stump is 1) Drill a reasonably big hole from the top. Use something like a 2" carbide tipped Forstner bit. This needs to go down to grade, or better yet, below grade so an extension is required. 2) Drill an intersecting hole from the side at or below grade. Start a fire near the intersection. Add some charcoal to get it going good. Once it is going get a fan/leaf blower to blow in the side hole. You won't be able to run the fan 24/7, but the longer it runs, the better.

Firstly, good on you for your tenacity! Here is my 2 cents. My property is an ex Christmas tree farm with mostly doug fir trees that have matured to about 60 feet. I am constantly thinning and clearing. I have tried every short cut method possible and here is what I've learned. Stump grinder; effective and looks great when finished but the rest of the stump dies years later and leaves a big hole. Burning; ineffective and just makes an ongoing mess. Tree toppling; pushing the tree over with the tractor (3320) is effective if the root ball is diseased. Look for mushrooms around the base. It's a dead giveaway. Digging out; this is the last resort and most time consuming. But if you must, find and cut the main perimeter roots and try pushing the tree while it is intact. Use the leverage of it's own weight. If that fails, cut the tree about 8 above the ground. Dig and find the main perimeter roots and break them. Once the main roots are broken the tap root will be all that is left. Sometimes it will give you the most trouble because it is the hardest to access. Pick away to loosen the soil near the tap root. Once that's done start rocking the trunk. At this point it will come out fairly easily. I carry the stumps to a burn pile and light them off in the winter. No more stumps!

Way to stay with, I kept trying to tell you to "go get the stump puller!!!!" But I don't have a mic on my computer, and it doesn't have a flux capacitor so I don't think you could hear me a day or to ago when you were out there..... LOL Now make a playlist of this "adventure" and anytime someone suggests "burning" a stump out, just send them to the playlist, then you can grind the stump out (or dig it out if you need everything below grade gone as well). Have a great weekend!!!

Crazy huh, I would have thought it would have popped out also. Well it's done . I knew it would take forever burning it . Also it makes the stump harder by burning . It changes the sugars in the wood . I think you could make a screen and never have to buy gravel again with all the rocks u have lol . Good job and take care . Todd

As a bonus, you dug up some really good rocks.

Fantastic job digging that monster out. I couldn't help but notice bleed down on your backhoe. You may have a very small leak in the system. I have a Kubota about the same size as your tractor and I know how long it takes to dig stumps. Great job Brother.

OK maybe burning it wasn't the best option... it has me STUMPED! :D Even digging it out that stump put up quite a fight! Definitely satisfying to see you victorious. On to the next challenge lol Thanks for sharing Brock!

That tree puller is not going to be one of those implements that is forgotten in the back of the shed.

YEA! you did it.

I am in the middle of a voluntary project, clearing some land. So far I have removed over 30 stumps by digging 5 feet underneath each side of them with a JCB 3cx, then lifting and wobbling the things out. Yesterday for a change I had a 6 year old stump which just fell apart when I got the backhoe on it. I would like to try the burning out method, which I think would work well on a dry stump. The usual method is to scoop some wood out of the middle of the stump. Then cut an air hole, on the upwind side, as low as possible... Best of luck from N Wales...

Wow, who would imagine you would have so much trouble with one task. However, you could put these videos in a playlist and call it "I'm Stumped" 🤣🤣🤣

Your determination is unmatched. Good work man!

I have a 12,400 lb excavator. I dig 3/4 round the tree leaving the side I'm going to fell the tree towards. Then I push it over and cut the tree off on the ground. Unless I absolutely have to I'll never cut a tree first then dig the stump.

Yes you let the smoke out for sure I get it wow

That really leads me to respect the men who had to do that with an axe, pick, and shovel before machines.

this was great. thank you for doing this. this was an eye opener. I knew it would be hard. very hard, but i underestimated the difficulty by far. Every step was sort of a fail, but you kept with it to show us. No wonder so many stumps are left behind. I suspect that the only easy way would be with a 35T+ excavator (not a low cost option).

Great job man, after you get stump out I would push the little green tractor in the hole .

For future reference, you drill a hole in the top of the stump. Pour oil in the hole. light the oil in the hole. Tie some corrugated metal around the stump. Leave it alone for a few days. It will burn-out completely from the inside-out. Looking forward to seeing the next one work.

drill 20 holes and use sulphuric acid...wait 3 weeks and it comes apart easy. I did a 120yo 140 in stump tree in a front yard in Vancouver with a circular saw and acid and a pressure washer.

if you ever end up burning another out you should try dig down next to it and making an air channel through it and injecting air with a leaf blower so it burns hotter from the center out same principle as melting metal in a furnace.

Yahoo the stump is out. After looking at the video it makes me wonder if you could have dug around the stump first and then set fire to it, the stump may have burnt better that way, I don't know, just a thought. Thank you and keep the videos coming.

I recommend using a GBU 47.

Nice work, that sure was a tough job.

An incredible amount of stone in that soil. That just adds to the difficulty.

just watched this again and was thinking it's about time to dig out a few more stumps. I must admit it is a lot of fun and a challenge on some of those things. Sorry I didn't get yo see you this year at the show in Louisville.

I have had good luck with fire and leaf blower. Blast furnace burn out.

I used water (a garden hose), a chain saw, an ax and a shovel. Went fairly quickly.. Dug around the stump as far as I could. Washed the stump off to get rid of the sand as much as possible. And cut below the surface with the chain saw (and did some chopping with an ax). It took a while but was not that bad of an approach. Most of the stump is still there but below the surface of the ground.

Whole lot of work getting that thing out. Very deceptive of how much root was still left after the burn, the more you dug, the more roots appeared really showing how ineffective burning roots out is. Bet it feels good having that done. Looking forward to your future videos.

Thanks for the comparrison of the removal methods. I dont have gear to dig a stump out or grind it, looking at hte effort I would likely rent a stump grinder if I ever need to remove one. IMO the fire was not as effectivte as it could have been because how low the stump was in the fire. Root balls are dense and likely wet wood where it was green wood, if you wanted to burn it ouf quickly I think you would of had to dig it out so the top of the stump is at the top of the fire not on the bottom to get more heat and oxygen. So to burn it out you would need to do 75% ore more of the digging then burn it and thats 2-5x the labor and time of just grinding it.

Great stuff! Now just stop for a minute and think about our grand fathers who had to take out thousand of those stumps so that they could have land to farm! No hydrolic tractors back then, just horse and lots of hard work! I can't imagine the painfull days it certainly was.

The *new* basement project is coming along well I see.... LOL -- I'm actually enjoying this stump project Brock. Nice job! --J.Andre.

You should have used the grinder on it. If you dig it out, it takes longer, and what are you going to do with the stump?

After all the digging and burning the stump should be dry with enough air circulation to give it a complete second burn.

Digging them out is long and tedious but, it’s the best way. And, if it’s straggly crap tree like the invasive “Tree of Heaven”, there is really no other viable choice.

Brock : what you should do is start selling rocks.that would solve to problems at once. Money,and all the dang rocks. You could call your business BROCKS ROCKS. LOL .

1:17 Grandson ? ? ? Did you start procreating at age 12 ? ? ? I am a few weeks from having a 4' diameter mango tree cut down. Burning is my only option for stump removal. My plan after watching all THREE clips? A few bags of charcoal at the base, a blower, a chair, beer, and repeat every Saturday until it's gone. Thanks a lot. What I learned is.... Big fire is overrated. Blowers is underrated. There is no FAST way. Finally...... You are my new "man toy" hero. Thanks for the clip.

Thanks for your effort. Based on the sequence of events, I think it shows that cutting of the stump above grade and the burning effort, was a waste of time. Digging it out was more practical. So, I thank you for an excellent video. I learned a lot from the video. Isaiah 55:6. O.

It's difficult to get under the stump with the backhoe. We have really soft ground here, no rocks larger than a baseball. Once I dug down about 4 feet all around the stump I was able to start shaking it loose. Oaks have a million small roots but no big tap root like pines do.

there is no easy & best way except as you mentioned large excavator but they are costly...

The Precision stump puller had toilet paper stuck to its shoe. How embarrassing! 😂

About 20 years ago I had on my land rwo trees, a little smaller than yours I think but big. I cut them down to the ground and burned them for three days and nights and then they were both gone. I put as you a lot of wood on and the fire got after a while also to the roots under the ground.

Suggestion: Please keep a dusk mask of some kind with you. Concerned about the ash you might inhale

"So then I cut in a one lane road to the bottom of the stump." Thanks for trying out new things for the benefit of your audience.