Woods Stump Grinder

[foggy1111]

My little review on a Woods Stump Grinder. I picked it up from the Implement Dealer on Saturday. I bought it with the "hose kit" which is four hoses and fittings for the two cylinders on the machine....two of them being reduced orifice fittings. I finally got all the right hydraulic connections and hooked it up today.

I bought four "extension" hoses and the couplers to hook everything up to my loader's joystick valve. I then connected the loader's lift cylinders to the 3rd function SCV on my tractor via the existing hoses I have for my grapple. After adding grease to the gear box and greasing the fittings and hooking up the PTO....it was off to give it a whirl.

I have ground over 600 stumps on my land via rental grinders in time gone by....so I am not new to stump grinding. This Woods has lots of good features like a Sandvik Grinding Wheel and carbide teeth. A five year warranty on the gearbox and a slip clutch. In looking it over it is well built....as you expect from Woods.

My land is 200 miles from where I live and where I have the tractor currently....so I went over to a neighbor with a few stumps that need grinding. The first two were pretty rotten....and I basically destroyed those in major chunks in a few minutes....as expected.

The next two were fresh hardwood.....but only about 8" in diameter. I took a pretty good pass (maybe 3") and when I was going to re-position for the next pass I pushed the wrong way on the joystick and "buried" the teeth into the stump.....smoking the clutch for a second. At least I now know the clutch is working properly.

After switching the hoses around for up and down (which I shudda done earlier) I had no more events and made quick work outta those hardwood stumps. Power is a non-event...and this grinder will grind stumps very efficiently.

About the only issue I have is learning to use the hydraulics....which will just take a few more stumps. AND....the vision from the tractor seat is not the same as standing alongside the grinder. I think I have a plan which will enable me to position the grinder better....but it will take me a bit to get that down. Still.....its going to be hard to beat being closer to the action when setting up (as you are when using a self-contained stump grinder). (Adding a remote camera (like a back-up camera) keeps coming to my mind....who knows....lol)

From what I know to date.....this is going to work out pretty well for me. From EVERYTHING I have read or heard this grinder serves people well.....and the price is pretty good to boot. I paid $3500. + Tax....not too shabby IMO.

I think this grinder is perfect for the land-owner or farmer with numerous stumps to grind. I'm not sure if it's the right thing for a commercial grinding biz (?). I'll add information after I grind more stumps.

 

[foggy1111]

I'm going to add a few pics below....as several people had expressed interest in a 3 point stump grinder.

Seems to me there are a few mis-perceptions about these. I don't think there is any kind of power shortage for this grinder with my tractor (and Woods rates the grinder at 15 PTO hp to 50 PTO hp). Also, contrary to what has been said by a few, I don't think its hard on the tractor (no more-so than a tiller IMO) and nothing shakes violently or anything like that when set on the ground and operated properly.

The pics below show (1) the Sandvik wheel and teeth. (2) The way I routed the hoses along the right fender to the Joystick connectors. (3) The view from the tractor seat.

 

[TCowner]

Foggy, I have a 36" Worksaver three point stump grinder that I used on my 4720. I sold the 4720 and now have a 3720. I haven't used stump grinder yet on the smaller tractor. The folks at Iowa Farm equipment who sell the Worksaver line tell me I will have plenty of power but the weight of the 36" model is more of the problem. I was thinking of selling the 36" and getting the smaller 26" model.

The Woods you have looks like a nice well built unit. May I ask what dealership you purchased the grinder? My local Woods dealer is pretty much a list price guy. I am in SE Minnesota so a road trip isn't out of the question.

 

[kennyd]

Great review!

 

[foggy1111]

Foggy, I have a 36" Worksaver three point stump grinder that I used on my 4720. I sold the 4720 and now have a 3720. I haven't used stump grinder yet on the smaller tractor. The folks at Iowa Farm equipment who sell the Worksaver line tell me I will have plenty of power but the weight of the 36" model is more of the problem. I was thinking of selling the 36" and getting the smaller 26" model.

The Woods you have looks like a nice well built unit. May I ask what dealership you purchased the grinder? My local Woods dealer is pretty much a list price guy. I am in SE Minnesota so a road trip isn't out of the question.

I don't think you will have any problems selling your Worksaver. I did consider that brand too....as I have read a few good things on it. I think there is always people looking for a good deal on a 3 Point Stump Grinder (at least in my "neck of the woods" )

I'll PM a name and company to give a call on the grinder purchase. This was a good discount from retail and I never "shopped" his price.

 

[foggy1111]

The weather FINALLY co-operated here and I got some seat time with my woods stump grinder. I ground about 75 pine stumps into obilvion in about 3 hours time. These stumps were mostly cut about 5 years ago and range for 12 to 16" or so in diameter. They were pretty easy to grind.

I got a trail opened up....and some more land ready to food plot.....and a couple more removed at my rifle range so I can better drive up to look at my targets.

This grinder seems to work VERY well and I am most pleased with its operation. The teeth are still like new. This grinder is faster than the self propelled "walkie" grinders I had rented in the past (vermeer and Rayco 25 hp).

Only negative is that I get a sore neck from looking backwards for such a long time. Not sure I want more than 1/2 day at a time.....pretty ruff on an a old guy.

 

[Ductape]

OK then.............. where are our action pictures??

A grinder is very high on my want list.

 

[TCowner]

I agree on the stiff neck problem. I have the worksaver grinder on my 3720 and about two hours is all I can take. It takes me about 30 minutes to get my normal range of motion in my neck back. But your right, it it so much faster than the rental units and the rates the professional grinders charge have just gone crazy in our area. The number of stumps you ground up would have cost me around $1,000.00. That is the reason I bought my own.

 

[Reg]

Hey,
I was about to search for the older thread that we had going on this.
Coincidentally... Yesterday I started on a "project" for someone that will probably turn out to be 40 or so medium sized stumps.
They were cut 3 years ago, I "discovered" a few of them late last year when I couldn't turn my trailer around on the property, so I "casually suggested" that I should come back in the Spring and grind them down.
Spring arrived, she contacted me (I had almost forgotten).

There are a few that went quickly, but most of them are a) wider than the swing of the grinder b) have not been cut off low enough to start with the grinder on the ground. c) are on slopes - working from above is tricky/awkward - working from below exaggerates the "too tall" problem.

NOTES: My attempt to stand beside the tractor's right rear wheel to operate it was not successful, it might be worth re-locating my hydraulic levers for this at some point.
Kneeling on the tractor seat to face backwards seems to work best, but becomes a lot of clambering around exercise.
Staying in the tractor seat and working over my right shoulder gets tiring/achy after a couple of hours.
There is more shaking than vibrating, I'm not liking that at all.
This tractor is currently on turf tires, which may be making it more jiggly than its loaded R4s - don't know why I switched so early.
I would like to widen the stance of the grinder's base, but even if I do that there would still be many cases where it would rock on uneven ground.
Practice has taught me that a way to "line up" is to swing the grinder head to the left of the tractor (swing cylinder retracted) and judge the grinder wheel position by the gear box - visualizing the shaft.

As for the "power" question;
Since this is over 60 miles from my house I trailered my little Kukje tractor there.
It is ADEQUATE, so adequate that I used it on the 1,000 RPM gear at 50% or so engine revs.
I like that with most PTO implements when I don't need ALL the power, it is quieter, feels like driving in overdrive (it is) and if/when the load does increase I sense the loading down a bit better.

Anyway, I think this project is going to take another day, maybe two.
After that... Well, there is work to do around the place and they have an even smaller tractor than my Kukje, so maybe the Harley Rake will find something to do there.
That would be NICE, to power rake and grade the whole area and spread a little fresh loam.

 

[sixdogs]

Great review.
What is the suggested retail price of one of these?