Why a stump grinder is worth it it

[5030]

No. You get a tractor with hydrostatic transmission and no clutch slipping. Start on the right side of the stump, back up past it, lower the cutter so you are taking a VERY small cut and slowly ease forward. Rinse and repeat, lowering the cutter slightly and moving to the left slightly with each pass.

If it starts to bog down and the slip clutch on the unit kicks in, then you immediately back up a little. Again, hydro helps.

Don't even have clutches in my M9's, so no clutch to slip and wear out anyway. Hydraulic shuttle with a wet pack and creeper gears. Over 5000 hours on them and never adjusted the wet pack, ever.

 

[mikester]

The video of the Woodland Mills grinder is worth watching. That is a very appealing chipper. But in order to move, you have to drive the tractor very slowly so you need a real slow tractor and slipping the clutch to work it. Is that how it's done?

It looks well made but no mention if assembled in Canada or elsewhere.n It certainly looks ruggednand a good choice for a chipper.

Made in China. Chassis seems heavily build with thicker plate steel. Comes with a slip clutch PTO shaft. I picked it up directly from WM and they seem to have a lot of stock and a nice showroom. Good customer service, I'd buy from them again.

My tractor is HST. I just leave it in 1st gear LOW. After a pass I can back up, lower an inch or two, then go forward again. To move across the stump I just turn the steering wheel a bit and make a pass. Not much side to side movement required on the smaller stumps.

I was looking at a smaller 24 inch "used" Baumalite unit with side to side swing but the WM unit was cheaper and on sale. The side swing looks like it would be better for taller and wider stumps. I also like the bigger 28" diameter and heavier wheel.

 

[sixdogs]

I run mine (articulating swing grinder) with one of my M9000's but in creep gear only. A stump grinder on any tractor would work better with a hydrostat however, but the creep gears are a good substitute.

The China clone to the Landpride unit I purchased years ago is an exact copy. I suspect today the price differential is moot. My issue with most of them is they don't use the industry standard carbide teeth so you are stuck buying their teeth whereas mine mounts the industry standard teeth and they are indexable to 3 different positions before replacement and the outfit that produces the industry standard carbide teeth is 20 miles from here (Green Manufacturing) so I can drive over there and buy them direct. Greenteeth are the industry standard for stump grinders.

It sounds like you're saying my Land Pride 1525 grinder uses proprietary carbide teeth?

How long do the carbide teeth last and how much to replace?

 

[Smokeydog]

Like hearing about your successful experiences. Was looking a Miller 3pt grinders years ago and sometimes wish I pulled the trigger. Backhoe, ripper and time is what helps me. Do have some monster trees, 5’ white oak, 4’ mulberry around the old homestead. The lateral roots are as problematic as the stumps.

Do have a lot of head size or smaller red heavy quartz type rocks thats hell on rotary cutter blades. Trees seem to push them up at the base. Limestone is no where near as destructive. So the type of teeth and maintenance reviews are appreciated.

 

[5030]

It sounds like you're saying my Land Pride 1525 grinder uses proprietary carbide teeth?

How long do the carbide teeth last and how much to replace?

Sure it does and your teeth are indexable to 3 positions. Tooth life entirely depends on what you 'chew' up in the stumps and how many stones you encounter. If you are careful and don't 'grind' rocks and no metal in the stumps you grind. they should hast a pretty long time. I've run at least 30 stumps with mine and I just rotated the teeth to the second position. Like I said, Green Manufacturing has them in stock all the time and they even have the wheels the teeth mount to. I believe it's www.greenmanufacturing.com though I could be wrong.

 

[sixdogs]

Sure it does and your teeth are indexable to 3 positions. Tooth life entirely depends on what you 'chew' up in the stumps and how many stones you encounter. If you are careful and don't 'grind' rocks and no metal in the stumps you grind. they should hast a pretty long time. I've run at least 30 stumps with mine and I just rotated the teeth to the second position. Like I said, Green Manufacturing has them in stock all the time and they even have the wheels the teeth mount to. I believe it's www.greenmanufacturing.com though I could be wrong.

I'm almost all softwoods and we have so few rocks I can sell the ones I pull out of fields. I haven't hit a rock yet with the stump grinder.

 

[5030]

I'm almost all softwoods and we have so few rocks I can sell the ones I pull out of fields. I haven't hit a rock yet with the stump grinder.

I goofed. Goggle up 'Greenteeth'. That will take you to their website and they are nice folks as I deal with them in person. Was just on there and I see they don't make replacement teeth for the Woodmax grinders at all. Just Landpride, Erskine and all the commercial stump grinders. Just so happens my Chinese stumper takes the same teeth as your Landpride takes, right down to the tooth pockets. Woodmax and the others are out of luck. They sell the big wheels as well.

 

[ultrarunner]

My so far only oops moment was with a rented grinder…

All went well until loading up I noticed the side window of my truck shattered…

Stone tossed about 60 feet…

 

[5030]

I've never rented one but I have a buddy who did, a tracked machine. The rental outfit told him it was 'good to go'. It wasn't. The cutters were extremely dull and he had to fight with every stump and they were all softwood. Told me it beat the heck out of him plus it was 500 bucks for the day...

Mine has a full steel guard on both sides plus a large rubber shield on the back that hinges up. Necessary to have so you don't fling stuff. I tried grinding a stump with the back rubber flap up (secured it with a tarp strap) and it flung chips about 30 feet. One time was enough. Had chips everywhere, not good.

 

[5030]

For the quantity of stumps I have to and will grind, owning one is the only way to go. I have a huge willow stump coming up soon. Has to be 5 foot across so it will take 2 complete grinds as the one I own won't swing that wide. I get some side work up town grinding stumps once in a while.

 

[sixdogs]

For the quantity of stumps I have to and will grind, owning one is the only way to go. I have a huge willow stump coming up soon. Has to be 5 foot across so it will take 2 complete grinds as the one I own won't swing that wide. I get some side work up town grinding stumps once in a while.

That will be a memorable event. Send pics when you grind it. At least the wood is soft. Is it already cut?

 

[5030]

That will be a memorable event. Send pics when you grind it. At least the wood is soft. Is it already cut?

Had one of my arborist customers cut it down last fall actually. I kept the last section as a target backstop.

I grind commercial chipper knives on the side so I deal with tree outfits all the time.

 

[5030]

At my age (74), I don't want to be fiddling around cutting down trees. Don't mind cleaning up blow down's or cutting up trunks but it's much easier for me to call one of my arborist customers and have them do it with their High Ranger's and commercial chippers (that I grind the knives for) and because I do that for them, they always give me a deal on tree cutting. Sort of tit for tat. Why I don't need a chipper as they have them and unlike the 'homeowner' models, they all have diesel powered commercial sized chippers plus they take the chips with them. The one guy I usually call, because he's close by, has a big diesel powered Bandit with a throat large enough to gobble a tree trunk up, but I have a good friend that takes all the big wood, cuts it to campfire length, splits is and sells it to local campgrounds (we have 4 locally, 3 independent and 1 KOA). It's his extra retirement income and I have no issue with it. Usually comes by with his 1 ton pickup pulling a Gooseneck trailer and I load the logs on his trailer, he straps them down, and off he goes. Works really well for me as in no wood laying around here and well for him as in extra income. I have no desire to split wood or even saw logs up to firewood length, in his case 21" He's got a Ford diesel tractor with a grapple unloader on the front. I have helped him cut them up in the past and I have the bar on my Stihl 028 marked at 21" cut length. Sure as heck don't want to feed his splitter however. He has one of those production type splitters with a conveyor outfeed so he can split a big load pretty quick, but you still have to load the splitter, stack the splits up and then he bands the spits into packages for the campers. If I'm not mistaken, I believe he told me last summer, he sold 400 bundles of firewood. Don't know how much he charges for a bundle but I'm sure a bit as there is serious labor involved. He's younger and more spry than I am, I believe he's in his early 50's. He as the parts manager at the New Holland dealership I used to deal with for hay tools, but they sold out to one of the conglomerate's and when they did, he took an early retirement.

Interestingly, that is pretty commonplace here, independent dealers getting gobbled up by multi store owners. Lost our last independent JD dealer 2 years ago, same deal with New Holland. Why I went Kubota as my Kubota dealer is a mom-pop operation, but he sells a ton of Kubota tractors, mowers and hay and tillage tools.... and I work there part time as well (for pin money and my employee discount on parts). Of course today Kubota OEM parts are stupid expensive anyway. 14 bucks for oil filters (my cost) is insane. Least I don't pay tax on any of it. I have a Michigan farm exemption.

 

[Oaktree]

Kubota OEM parts are stupid expensive anyway. 14 bucks for oil filters (my cost) is insane. Least I don't pay tax on any of it. I have a Michigan farm exemption.

I pay that for an oil filter for my tractor at Napa, maybe a little more. Ditto for a Wix. Not even Amazon seems to have them any cheaper.

 

[ponytug]

Had one of my arborist customers cut it down last fall actually. I kept the last section as a target backstop.

I grind commercial chipper knives on the side so I deal with tree outfits all the time.

What do you use to sharpen the blades? Any tips?

All the best,

Peter

 

[sixdogs]

I always bought factory oil filters even though I know someone like Wix, Donaldson or Baldwin makes them. I wanted to give my dealer a little something so why not. OEM filters were only a dollar to two more than the others.

Now, I'm starting to wonder how close OEM and other brands are and maybe I should switch where I can.

 

[ultrarunner]

I use to sharpen blades with a Blanchard Mill with rotary stone…

Had several jugs at the shop and could do a dozen or more at a time…

Surface Grinder works too…

 

[5030]

What do you use to sharpen the blades? Any tips?

All the best,

Peter

A very large hydraulic feed surface grinder with an angle adjustable table mounted to the mag chuck. I use an angle table because different brands of chippers use different included angles on the knives. I also square the anvils (the part bolted to the end of the chipping wheel that you set to have the shearing action. Rule of thumb is about 0.010 or the thickness of a credit card between the closest to the anvil knife and the knife itself and every machine will have a bit of runout so you always check all the knives and average them to 0.010. I charge my customers a buck an inch on each knife times 2 because most of them are double edge plus I can custom grind the included angle if a customer requests it. Most of my local customers are chipping hard wood so the standare 27 degree included angle is about right but if you do mostly softwood, a 30-35 degree angle is the most efficient and requires less horsepower and makes for less plugging. Even commercial chippers can plug up with sappy softwood. Least most of them have access doors in the chute so you can unplug them easily. Had to retrofit a couple Bandits a few years back. No access doors and they are a real labor intensive chipper to unplug. The last thing any arborist wants to do is unplug a chipper while on a job. remember arborists all work on an as bid basis so downtime on a job eats their profits up.

You can put access doors on the homeowner chipper models as well and I'm surprised they don't come that way. The one I sold years ago, I cut the chute and added an access door. I ran the bags out of it and sold it for more than I paid for it on FBMP in like 2 hours. Used homeowner chipper are hard to find used, around here at least and most of the smaller commercial units are beat to death. Way. way back when I owned a CMC Chipmore drum style chipper with a 300 Ford engine. That chipper was always hungry and so was the engine for gasoline.

I always teased my wife about that is the way the union bosses got rid of Jimmy Hoffa. Ran him through a brush chipper.

Whip, chop and puree....lol

 

[5030]

I pay that for an oil filter for my tractor at Napa, maybe a little more. Ditto for a Wix. Not even Amazon seems to have them any cheaper.

I run Kubota filters o both my Kubota's, oil air and cabin filters. I don't have the stock Kubota fuel filters (beside the engines behind the injection pumps). I run a Racor 2 micron coalescing filter with a clear drainable bowl on each one as well as my Kubota diesel lawnmower.

Hydraulic filters are times 2 times 2 because both run twin hydraulic filters and each take 15 gallons of hydraulic fluid on a change as well. Lube oil is changed yearly in the spring and the hydraulic oil and front axle oil gets changes every 2 years and of course they both get the Nano Borate treatment and so dies my diesel lawnmower. Cars and trucks and even motorcycles, no one gets left out.

I believe Kubota filters are of superior quality anyway.

 

[Runner]

A very large hydraulic feed surface grinder with an angle adjustable table mounted to the mag chuck. I use an angle table because different brands of chippers use different included angles on the knives. I also square the anvils (the part bolted to the end of the chipping wheel that you set to have the shearing action. Rule of thumb is about 0.010 or the thickness of a credit card between the closest to the anvil knife and the knife itself and every machine will have a bit of runout so you always check all the knives and average them to 0.010. I charge my customers a buck an inch on each knife times 2 because most of them are double edge plus I can custom grind the included angle if a customer requests it. Most of my local customers are chipping hard wood so the standare 27 degree included angle is about right but if you do mostly softwood, a 30-35 degree angle is the most efficient and requires less horsepower and makes for less plugging. Even commercial chippers can plug up with sappy softwood. Least most of them have access doors in the chute so you can unplug them easily. Had to retrofit a couple Bandits a few years back. No access doors and they are a real labor intensive chipper to unplug. The last thing any arborist wants to do is unplug a chipper while on a job. remember arborists all work on an as bid basis so downtime on a job eats their profits up.

You can put access doors on the homeowner chipper models as well and I'm surprised they don't come that way. The one I sold years ago, I cut the chute and added an access door. I ran the bags out of it and sold it for more than I paid for it on FBMP in like 2 hours. Used homeowner chipper are hard to find used, around here at least and most of the smaller commercial units are beat to death. Way. way back when I owned a CMC Chipmore drum style chipper with a 300 Ford engine. That chipper was always hungry and so was the engine for gasoline.

I always teased my wife about that is the way the union bosses got rid of Jimmy Hoffa. Ran him through a brush chipper.

Whip, chop and puree....lol

5030,
Could you post a picture of your knife-grinding setup? Since I don't have professional grinding equipment for this, the way I do mine is place them in a home-made wooden jig (all four at once, lined up together) and clamp them to the side of my workbench. Then I use a flap disk to put a new edge on them, keeping them at roughly the same dimension. So far, this is working OK, but obviously it's hard to maintain the 45 degree angle the manufacturer specifies.

Also, no matter how hard I try, I find it hard to get a sharp corner on my anvil. I use a 90 degree table on a floor-standing disk sander, but can't seem to get a real good edge on it.

I would really like to see how a professional does it.

Thanks.