Anyone have a MechMaxx 3-pt stump grinder?

[Windblown]

I have one of these on order and made a comment on a FB post they made about not getting an order confirmation and I having a question about the amount charged to my card. Within a couple of hours someone from Mechmax reached out to me via FB messenger and we got an error with my email address sorted and he got me my order confirmation quickly. The additional amount charged which was not considerable turned out to be sales tax for the state I'm in. The fellow I communicated with mentioned that orders are running about 3 weeks as of now and that volume had gone thru the roof in a the last month or so.

We'll see. Not gonna stress over it. It shows or it doesn't. Worse case if it doesn't ship in a reasonable time frame I'll just cancel the order and have my CC company reverse the charge.

I'd hate to be a US importer right now. Hard to know how to price stuff when the tariff rates and what is or isn't exempt seems to change faster than the weather. *shrug*

 

[Balazar]

I figure you will be fine.

The question I have is how are the tariffs figured - is it the retail you paid (I don’t think so) or the wholesale value, which is maybe around $500, a big difference in the overall cost.

It's the wholesale price from the factory. Also called the FOB (freight onboard). I've imported manufacturing machines from China. I have a pretty good grasp on how it works. For all we know the FOB is $300. Importers usually have a large margin in their retail pricing because shipping costs fluctuate wildly. If your container gets selected for a random search you have to pay a fee for that. There are so many different handling fees it will make your head spin. I'm not worried about not receiving it. I am a proponent of the tariffs. I don't want to get political in this forum though. I believe there is another form on here for those who wish to get into the weeds on the issue.

 

[Code54]

Interesting - thank you.

I never dealt with importing so I no nothing about it.

 

[5030]

It's the wholesale price from the factory. Also called the FOB (freight onboard). I've imported manufacturing machines from China. I have a pretty good grasp on how it works. For all we know the FOB is $300. Importers usually have a large margin in their retail pricing because shipping costs fluctuate wildly. If your container gets selected for a random search you have to pay a fee for that. There are so many different handling fees it will make your head spin. I'm not worried about not receiving it. I am a proponent of the teriffs. I don't want to get political in this forum though. I believe there is another form on here for those who wish to get into the weeds on the issue.

It's TARIFFS btw.

 

[Balazar]

I just received a message to schedule delivery from the shipper. It was actually picked up from the warehouse two days ago. I didn't receive a notification when that happened. Nothing from Mechmaxx. Strange that it would be shipped without an email or anything.

 

[deezler]

Well I guess I should feel lucky that I scored the $1400 price and that mine arrived within a week!

This thing kicks butt. Finally got rid of a 10-year old oak stump in my garage yard that was still hard as heck.

I realized after that I forgot to take the pins out on the top that allow it to swing/rock. Didn't seem to be a problem but I'll try to remember to let it move around next time.

 

[5030]

I own one as well, Bought it 2 years ago but I purchased the swing model similar to popular Land Pride model. My big issue with the smaller units was the carbide cutting teeth. The swing model I have uses the industry standard indexable cutting teeth which are readily available domestically and easily replaceable as well as indexable, plus the swing model cuts stumps up to 9" below grade which is an important consideration at least for me.

 

[deezler]

I was cutting my oak stump to at least 5" below grade and I could still drop my 3-pt further, doesn't seem like a limitation that will bother me.

Oh and by the way, the extra carbide teeth I bought for my mechmaxx were inside the box with the unit. I have a feeling they will sit on my shelf forever and I may not even need them. We'll see...

 

[deezler]

Oh and per earlier comments, I also had some difficulty getting the PTO shaft on. On the grinder side, I had to pry open the coupler a bit. On the tractor side, I had to file some burrs out of the shaft coupler before it would go onto my tractor. No big deal but worth knowing about before anyone wastes time trying to brute force it.

I tried to measure the slip clutch spring heights, but it's too fine a range to be confident in. Seemed to be set around the middle of the HP range. Anyone see risk in just running it as-is?

 

[5030]

I was cutting my oak stump to at least 5" below grade and I could still drop my 3-pt further, doesn't seem like a limitation that will bother me.

Oh and by the way, the extra carbide teeth I bought for my mechmaxx were inside the box with the unit. I have a feeling they will sit on my shelf forever and I may not even need them. We'll see...

Dulling the cutting teeth will all depend on how much foreign material like steel and stones are in or under the stump. The do loose their cutting edge anyway over time. One thing you never want to do is attempt to hand sharpen them as the Tungsten Carbide swarf produced from grinding them is very hazardous to your lungs. Companies that regrind them have grinding machines that operate in a negative enviroment where the swarf is captured and removed and collected in a remote collection system.