Stump Grinder Woodland Mills WG24?

[dickfoster]

EA carries the Shaver SC25 at more than twice the cost of the Woodland Mills 24. There are more, easily replaceable carbide bits on the Woodland and to my eyes (viewing you tube demo's) the Woodland looks beefier and does not require auxillary hydraulics for the power beyond. Already have a two stump job lined up. I'll post photos/impressions.

Ken

It looked pretty reasonable to me too. I don't know why the others swing back and forth sideways when it seems so much simpler, easier and cheaper to do it the way Woodland does. As an engineer I've always been a believer in KISS and have often held that in many cases less is more.

Their chippers don't look like such a bad deal either. I've asked for a quote on a package deal. A grinder and an 8" chipper.

 

[Kennyrichmond]

Actually that reference to 20 doesn't seem to be PTO horsepower, but tractor horsepower. The Shaver SC25 with the same flywheel (fewer bits) specifies only a minimum of 15 PTO HP running through a right angle gear box. At worst I drag it through 3 inches of wood at a time rather than 5.
Thanks for the link. I know I'm gonna' like this thing. It just looks so logical to me. I've been using a Brown Bed Edger with a 6 carbide tipped stump grinder blade, and that thing cost 1 and 1/2 times more than the Woodland mill. You know that bull that gored the matador? If you hung on his horns after poking his eyes with a stick, you have an idea of what its like to grind stumps with that. Well, we will know in a few days. They called and said it would leave their facility next Wednesday for overnight delivery.

As for why it cuts going forward - it has carbide bits angled out forward, and it would be smart to have thrust bearings in that direction, although I don't know if they have them.

Ken

 

[dickfoster]

Actually that reference to 20 doesn't seem to be PTO horsepower, but tractor horsepower. The Shaver SC25 with the same flywheel (fewer bits) specifies only a minimum of 15 PTO HP running through a right angle gear box. At worst I drag it through 3 inches of wood at a time rather than 5.
Thanks for the link. I know I'm gonna' like this thing. It just looks so logical to me. I've been using a Brown Bed Edger with a 6 carbide tipped stump grinder blade, and that thing cost 1 and 1/2 times more than the Woodland mill. Well, we will know in a few days. They called and said it would leave their facility next Wednesday for overnight delivery.

As for why it cuts going forward - it has carbide bits angled out forward, and it would be smart to have thrust bearings in that direction, although I don't know if they have them.

Ken

Overnight for a stump grinder? Dayum! They ain't messing around either.

It doesn't seem that tractor HP would mean much when it's the PTO that's driving the thing. In either case I've got it covered with 38 tractor HP and 30 on the PTO.

I'm anxious to hear how it works out for you. You may be the first guinea pig here. Somebody's gotta be first.

 

[Kennyrichmond]

I was a guinea pig on the Landpride APS 1548 with the issue being whether my JD1025R could lift the 750 lbs. or so that it weighs. A lot of folks said FUGEDDABOWDIT!!! I just drilled two more holes an inch and a half further rearward through the flipped lift arms and that 1548 comes up like the factory designed the tractor and overseeder as a unit. The only thing is I can't level out lumpy landscape with it. If the scarifiers are angled too much, my tractor moans, "daddy, you're killin' me".

Ken

 

[topbuilder]

"Again, no disrespect, but I'm just curious if you've had the opportunity to use a pto powered version to some extent? Because I believe that your opinion would be different if so.

If I'm completely off base here then I apologize in advance."

Sorry Piston, I never saw your reply. Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers.
I have not used one in many years. I worked at a dealership where we sold and serviced them. There were a few transmission casualties as well. That was years ago. There could very well be design improvements since then.
My last experience was hiring a man to grind stumps on my property after logging the pines off of it. He had a 50+ HP JD with a PTO grinder. At that time $60 an hour was the going rate. He was at the end of the first hour and I tapped him on the shoulder and handed him $60. I told him It was not going to work out. He was surprised, but I told him the math was not going to work for me. In one hour he was into the third stump and I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 550 to grind.

I totally get that you want to do it yourself and have the time to grind and money for the attachment. I only wanted to bring up other options.
In my case, I was working on tractors 72 hours a week. No way it was going to get done by me. In the end I found a guy who charged $5 per stump... any size. I think he also charged $50 to get there. By lunch the second day he was done.
My 26 HP tractor suffered no harm. I do not have a used stump grinder parked in my row of other seldom used implements.

Yes, a purpose built machine is nice. As you point out, it does nothing else. I was going to post a pic of the monster oak I did today. My phone and Email are slow talking. Maybe tomorrow.
Grind on my friends!

 

[Mikejeakins]

I was talking to a dealer the other day and he said stump grinders on tractors don't work very well. What are y'alls opinion?

 

[woodlandfarms]

So I have a different beast but in a way something like what is being asked about. My grinder mounts to the front of my machine and I drive into the stumps and out of the stumps. Mine is hydraulic.

So here a downside I see no one mentioning. It is really hard from that seat you are in to guage the depth of which you cut. You can only chop so much before the wheel of death stops spinning or bogs or breaks a pin. Also you have to drive very slow as you cut through a stump. Also this shows 12" stumps. Wish my tree stumps were that small but mine are 36" and bigger. I doubt that mine would ever fit under this tractor or this grinder setup.

So, IMO interesting idea and a really great price point. I feel it is useable but the learning curve is going to be huge (clearly the guy on the video has either a ton of experience, has a big tractor behind it, and probably had guidance on getting the right cut height). I don't think this would work well on large stumps and I feel that in a normal tractor setting monitoring and guiding this grinder with any sort of accuracy is going to be difficult and frustrating.

 

[Btown]

I have a Shaver stump grinder. Watching the original posters video, I wondered two things... 1.) wouldn't there be a lot more torque on the flywheel driving forward at a rate faster than the machine could cut -- or taking to big of a bite? My engine will stall if I overdo it (no damage) an go too fast. 2.) how far below grade can this cut? I am curious to see the review!

Would think that it would lift up if you drive to fast. But you would definitely need a creeper gear or HST.

 

[topbuilder]

"Wish my tree stumps were that small but mine are 36" and bigger. I doubt that mine would ever fit under this tractor or this grinder setup."

I really don't think the PTO stumper is made for that type of work. Here is one I had to tackle yesterday.

It was a HUGE blow over. The trunk fell between the house and garage. Never touched the house. The root ball stood up 12-15' high until the trunk was cut and it fell almost perfectly back in its hole. Total grinding area including the outer roots was about a 20' circle. You can see my hat in the middle there for perspective.

 

[roadhunter]

Looks to me like it's a useful tool for occasional use on smaller material.

I'm sure that a large stump grinder would probably be faster if you were doing it all the time but this one could pay for itself pretty easily under the right circumstances.

 

[LouieJunior]

Would think that it would lift up if you drive to fast.

OR Bend it -- like hitting a stump with your bush hog.

 

[dickfoster]

I was talking to a dealer the other day and he said stump grinders on tractors don't work very well. What are y'alls opinion?

I think there are a number of folks who grind stumps with PTO grinders that would disagree with him. Tractors are like a swiss army knives, not perfect for every job they do but usually gets a variety of jobs done well enough that many people keep on in their pocket like I do.

 

[dickfoster]

So I have a different beast but in a way something like what is being asked about. My grinder mounts to the front of my machine and I drive into the stumps and out of the stumps. Mine is hydraulic.

So here a downside I see no one mentioning. It is really hard from that seat you are in to guage the depth of which you cut. You can only chop so much before the wheel of death stops spinning or bogs or breaks a pin. Also you have to drive very slow as you cut through a stump. Also this shows 12" stumps. Wish my tree stumps were that small but mine are 36" and bigger. I doubt that mine would ever fit under this tractor or this grinder setup.

So, IMO interesting idea and a really great price point. I feel it is useable but the learning curve is going to be huge (clearly the guy on the video has either a ton of experience, has a big tractor behind it, and probably had guidance on getting the right cut height). I don't think this would work well on large stumps and I feel that in a normal tractor setting monitoring and guiding this grinder with any sort of accuracy is going to be difficult and frustrating.

I've already thought of mounting a camera back there so I could see the line and depth of cut. I need to get some cameras on this thing anyway. They would come in handy in many ways including the front bucket, looking rearward etc. I've got six cameras on my truck already so it wouldn't be a hard thing for me to rig up.

 

[oldballs]

Thanks for posting about the WG24. Since it is affordable for a homeowner with a couple dozen pine stumps that are up to approx. 30 inches diameter, I may consider such a purchase. The web page suggest that my 26 HP (19 PTO) Kubota could do the job.

My Pine trees I cut at about 24-36 inches off the ground. Hum -m-m-. Ten to 20 years old, they are dirty with rot etc. Guess I'd have to get the chain saw going first..........which means some chains getting dull. But that sure would clean up the place and remove some mowing obstacles.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[topbuilder]

Just grind 'em. If they are that old they will come apart fast.

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

This is an affordable option at an reasonable price point. The lack of slip clutch would be a deal breaker for me as I can't imagine how many shear pins you'd eat up. I've not run one of the feature packed pto grinders but I hired out a 38" red oak grind last year to a guy with a 80 hp morbark tracked grinder.
It was $250 for the one stump and it took him a solid 1.25 hr to grind it 3-4" below grade. I can't think that the pto version would have been much slower.
If I had a large amount of stumps to grind it seems the pto options are pretty cost effective over hiring out at least in my area.

Matt

 

[oldballs]

Just grind 'em. If they are that old they will come apart fast.

Yes, but i don't think the WG24 will lift that high viz., 24-36 inches. ..... just wondering.

 

[Kryton619]

It looked pretty reasonable to me too. I don't know why the others swing back and forth sideways when it seems so much simpler, easier and cheaper to do it the way Woodland does. As an engineer I've always been a believer in KISS and have often held that in many cases less is more.

Their chippers don't look like such a bad deal either. I've asked for a quote on a package deal. A grinder and an 8" chipper.

Hey Dick......if you don't mind me asking, did they give you a break by buying the grinder and chipper?

 

[Btown]

This is an affordable option at an reasonable price point. The lack of slip clutch would be a deal breaker for me as I can't imagine how many shear pins you'd eat up. I've not run one of the feature packed pto grinders but I hired out a 38" red oak grind last year to a guy with a 80 hp morbark tracked grinder. It was $250 for the one stump and it took him a solid 1.25 hr to grind it 3-4" below grade. I can't think that the pto version would have been much slower. If I had a large amount of stumps to grind it seems the pto options are pretty cost effective over hiring out at least in my area. Matt

How many three point post hole diggers have only shear pins. Mine does. I have not broken one in in the last 200 posts I put in. But in the first 12 posts I put in I went through 6 shear pins. I then figured out how to use it. My brush hog also has a shear pin. Never broke any on that.

 

[JFoy]

This topic has recently become relevant to myself as well. I'm planning to have a house built and the wife wants it back in the trees - joy:banghead: Soooo... The area is full of pine trees upwards to 18inches diameter so not that bad but still, a bunch of them. But with the BX25, options are limited and the $6000 units still require hydraulic controls I don't have. This WG24 is looking mighty attractive. Either that or farm the work out to someone with a bulldozer or big excavator.