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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Earthwerks Unlimited" data-source="post: 25693" data-attributes="member: 1300"><p>I spent and year and a half cleaning up Hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast. I dug many a stump and even whole trees, and may acres of heavy land clearing---not to mention "gently moving" a "few" cars in New Orleans for the Army Corp with a grapple. For trees that had spreading roots like magnolias and live oaks I used ONLY pallet forks. The bigger pines that have carrot-like roots I used the pallet forks too. I remove oaks back home here in Michigan too with forks. Last year I dug one out that was so big I could barely roll it out of the hole---it was roughly 6' across. Live oaks that had root balls 10'-12' across were no problem since they grow in a fan-like manner. For pines and other trees up to say just under telephone pole size, I used only the grapple bucket. I got pretty good at using brute forward force while lifting the loader arms AND tilting the bucket back since it was caught it a notch I made in the trunk. Some trees that were 10-12" across 5' up  I actually cut in half just with the grapple.  Other times I could tilt the tree sideways, bend it over and with the open grapple grab the trunk. Then pull it back and up and voila! It's out in a matter on minutes. Pallet forks work well since you can control the slicing action on the roots as you drive forward. Put the forks close together for better root cutting--breaking roots 6 or 7 inches in diameter are not a problem. If you drive the forks under as far as possible then lift as you tilt the forks forward you get tremendous leverage to lift the stump---the dirt on the other side of the stump under the forks acts as the fulcrum point. I cut the safety backboard off my pallet forks so I can use the lower stronger portion to push the tree over. You need a bigger machine AND tracks---I use TracksPlus lightweight alloy tracks---works like a dozer. I use a New Holland Ls185.b with weight kit which makes mine have a 5,500 lb. tip rating.</p></blockquote><p></p>

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