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Got .8 mpg on saturday:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/stump2.jpg

Used $.37 of fuel, and probably saved 1-2 hrs of backbreaking work.
Say what you will about trucks. Sometimes they're just nice to have around.

By the way, I decided to start keeping track of how often I actually use the truck for stuff like this that actually requires a truck. It's not that often that I really need it, but there's times like these that I'm glad I've got it. I'll post again once I've got 1 year covered.

If everyone that has a truck used it for this type of work instead of driving to the store for cigarettes when there is a more efficient vehicle for errands in the driveway....glad to see your getting some real use out of it. - Dale

That's when you need power ;)

sometimes you just need to use it. i took my truck to the cities (mpls) again this weekend, because it was full going down, and full coming back. i also drive 60MPH on I94, which really makes me a loner in a truck.

http://livinginoz.smugmug.com/photos/443240659_KkHhK-M.jpg

As the reviewers love to say, "___ lb-ft of stump-pulling torque". :D Good thing it's 4x4, too.

As the reviewers love to say, "___ lb-ft of stump-pulling torque". :D Good thing it's 4x4, too.

I've seen that phrase too (mine's got 520 ft lb), but I don't think the torque can do much for you unless you've got tremendous traction. The wheels spin easily on grass. I got the best results by just getting the truck moving with the strap slack, and letting the stump stop the truck. Momentum is key. Just don't get moving too fast. They don't design vechicles - even trucks - for more than maybe 1 or 2 g's of acceleration/deceleration. I might have done better with all the logs piled in the bed, but I was too lazy to try that.
I think the truck's about 7000 lb empty, so even a 1 g deceleration would put a 7000 lb force on the stump. and at least 20000 lb-ft of torque on the bottom of the stump where the roots are hanging on. That's how it saved my shovel a lot of work.

I should have just kept digging, but I once hired a neighbor kid and his truck for the same task. Much cheaper than actually owning the truck!

I've seen that phrase too (mine's got 520 ft lb), but I don't think the torque can do much for you unless you've got tremendous traction.

....

I think the truck's about 7000 lb empty, so even a 1 g deceleration would put a 7000 lb force on the stump. and at least 20000 lb-ft of torque on the bottom of the stump where the roots are hanging on. .....

Having a strap with some stretch in it was a good idea too--you'll often break a chain where a strap would work. For smaller, but still large jobs I park my heaviest vehicle nearby, block the wheels and use a come-along attached to the load and the parked vehicle--you can get more pull than with driving a taut chain and more control than with jerking a slack strap--it's one way I pulled my teenagers' cars out of ditches.

I'm still puzzling over what to do with the 4' diameter stump left from the tree that fell on my house last July . I don't think the Ranger would hack it.:)

A recovery strap will stretch and help pull things out better when it contracts, but avoid ones with hooks like the plague. One with hooks on the end can kill you.

BTW, fill your bed with sand and I bet you could just about pull your house off its foundation :D

I Pulled out a coulpe of yeu's from the front of my house after about 1 hour of trying to drig them up, they just were hanging on for dear life. I attached a tow strap (with loops) to them and then to front tow bars and a littl gas and out the popped. Next time i have to do this, I will skip the first hour of digging and just get the strap and truck out:D
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/546/image_095.jpg