PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements

   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements #1  

BobRip

Elite Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2004
Messages
4,658
Location
Powhatan Va.
Tractor
2000 Power Trac 422
Everyone is thinking there is a way here to improve the stump grinder. Sorry I don稚 have one. I was using this at a friend痴 house today and he had a six foot diameter pine stump he wanted lower. I worked on it awhile and made little progress. I am hoping that someone has found a way to make this better. I am very happy with most PT attachments, some more than others痴, however the stump grinder is a wimp. I was thinking a mirror might help me see what I was doing. How about taking off half the teeth. Please, suggestions anyone. Let痴 find a way.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements #2  
I had one one the 422 I had and never had issues. I reversed it so the chips went forward, I sure did a bunch of large stumps. That way I could go forward on what I already cut.... jim
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements #3  
From what I have read, and what I remember Terry at PowerTrac telling people, was to start on the far side of the stump and work backwards if possible, taking an inch at a time.

6' diameter is huge! I'd be tempted to burn it out. Or at least drill a bunch of 1" holes in it and put some stump dissolver in it for a year, then grind what's left.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Yeah it is big. They had it ground down 3 years ago and then buried. It was a bump in the ground and hard to mow. I hate to reverse it a throw chips out to somewhere. Thanks for the replies. Still looking for that radical improvement, but not very hopeful.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements #5  
I built my own. Have you considered a whole new wheel? It may not be practical (yours is like a saw blade, right?) Mine is a legit stump grinder wheel using GreenTeeth.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I bought a whole new stump grinder last year. It has replaceable teeth. 22 horse power is just not enough I suspect. I think only 12 goes to the PTO.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements #7  
I went from a Vermeer unit that would love to do that six foot stump to a small Steiner unit. Yes a real downer. The constant repositioning gets old quick. But still nice to have around.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements #8  
I have a stump grinder for my PT-422. I have tried reversing the blade, and every possible way of grinding. It does not do a good job at all. I even bought another blade and got the same results.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Just to not be so negative, the stump grinder works pretty well on a 6 inch or under stump. Of course the bigger it is the slower it works.
 
   / PT422 Stump Grinder Improvements #10  
The last stump grinder i used was a "one" person walk behind. It had two wheels that were powered and star like shaped grinder at the end. The grinding wheel spun so the top of it went away, the bottom toward the operator. It was very heavy and hauled in on a trailer.

This is how i used it, jump up into the air land on to the handle bar arrangement, and in a somewhat gymnastic pummel horse move, swing your legs back, to put weight on unit, to bring the front end of the grinder off the ground. Engage the drive to get where you needed to be, engage the grinding wheel and muscle the unit from side to side. If the grinding wheel dug in too much, the grinder front would jump up and you did not want to be too close to the handle bars, as it would drive you into the ground.

I found a very specific, narrow method that the grinder was most effective at grinding the stumps. If i could get the grinder to just barely engage the stump on the top edge, it would slice/split the grain down, then cut off at the bottom. I think that worked better, because the cutting teeth didn't have to start the cut cross grain, but rather, split the wood then pull out across the grain. So what im getting at, if you have reversed the wheel so that it throws the chips away, it my have a harder time chipping. If the wheel is turning so that can engage the stump on the top, the downward, it will take less power to chip.
 
 
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