Vermeer SC362 - Used Stump Cutter I Purchased Last Week

[arto98607]

We are having bunch of "hazard trees" trees removed from our property by loggers and they will remove all the smaller stumps, which can be relatively easily removed by the JD excavator in these photos, but I will be left with many large Douglas Fir stumps to deal with, many of which are at least 44 inches diameter where the tree was cut down.

I also have many other stumps from previous tree removal to grind down.


In order to deal with these large stumps I decided to buy used Vermeer SC362 stump cutter, which I brought home last week and decided to start a thread here in order to describe how well this will work out.

My first step was to order set of spare replacement belts & idlers and set of Greenteeth "Performance Upgrade" kit since their price looked reasonable and members here have given pretty good reviews. Also couple of OEM tooth pockets had been damaged from previous use.

Nothing against Vermeer Yellow Jacket setup, just decided to try switching from 16 cutting teeth to 6 and see how well that works out?

I also did some regular maintenance like engine oil change, belt tightening, lube etc.


I will keep you posted!








Vanguard 35 hp

 

[5030]

I run Greenteeth Wearsharp on my stump grinder and they are resharpenable and you can index them to 3 different positions. Green Manufacturing is local for me so a quick drive and I'm at the plant.

 

[arto98607]

Update:

I did little stump cutting learning/experimenting in my back yard today with the new Greenteeth set in SC362 for the first time!

I have nothing much to compare with since the cutting set that came with the machine was worn out and would not be fair comparison at all, so let's just say that these work as I would have expected.

Lessons learned in cutting a 44 inch "extra tall" Douglas Fir stump:

• It's far more efficient to cut the stumps shorter with a chainsaw - no surprise there, I just wanted to try it out in a tall stump on purpose and also did not want to bring out my big chainsaw yet today.
• Lot of wood chips were generated and it slows down the work since they had to be cleared out several times (I used a rake - not the best choice, but better than shovel!).
• Unlike with the dull teeth - no visible steam was generated due to new sharp teeth.
• Next time I will have a tractor handy nearby in order to clear out the wood chips faster.
• SC362 does the job fine, but it takes some time - no surprise there.
• Anyone cutting 44 inch stumps for living should get the biggest Diesel powered stump cutter they can afford - no surprise there either!

Cheers

 

[Carl_NH]

Congrats on the Vermeer grinder purchase and experience grinding stumps. It is a process I have done multiple times over the years. We are in the NE, with 100' pines around the house - took down a dozen 15 years ago around the house and had a guy come in with a 100 HP 34" grinder - he did 12-14 stumps 40-50" around in 4 hours - I did the clean up on that for 3 days.

Last year we had 12 more large trees taken down 10 - 40" base pines and 3 multi prong maples with a 50" base and I rented a Toro 35HP tracked stump grinder for a week for $1000 as grinder guy wanted $5K to grind them and I still had to remove the materials.

Our trees here are growing in rock - glacial till with roots and rocks as part of the stump so a real PIA as soon as you hear rocks chipping shut the unit down and dig out the embedded rocks. The Green Teeth on the toro did a good job overall.

Lessons learned - clear out and cut the stumps low first - I spent a half day getting them prepped - meaning digging out the stones and dirt around the roots, then another half day cutting the stumps to 12":

Start on the lower down hill side, and work up, and get your "bottom" or depth you want on the first cuts - its a lot harder to go back and regrind what you have covered in chips.

 

[5030]

I learned that, cut the stump as low as possible myself. One thing about mine I like is, the back shield I can hook up completely clear of the cutter wheel so I let it fling the chips as it may. Of course mine is a 3 point mount and my tractor delivers in the excess of 90 pto so it will really get down and cut. Problem with the smaller ones is, they all lack sufficient horsepower. Was a good investment for me and the farm and people like watching it eat stumps too.

Very little rocks here, just sandy loam and after 30 or so grinds, the teeth are still just fine. Just ground a large Osage Orange and that is VERY hard wood. It ate it right up and mine grinds 12" below grade if necessary as well.

 

[arto98607]

Congrats on the Vermeer grinder purchase and experience grinding stumps. It is a process I have done multiple times over the years. We are in the NE, with 100' pines around the house - took down a dozen 15 years ago around the house and had a guy come in with a 100 HP 34" grinder - he did 12-14 stumps 40-50" around in 4 hours - I did the clean up on that for 3 days.

Last year we had 12 more large trees taken down 10 - 40" base pines and 3 multi prong maples with a 50" base and I rented a Toro 35HP tracked stump grinder for a week for $1000 as grinder guy wanted $5K to grind them and I still had to remove the materials.

Our trees here are growing in rock - glacial till with roots and rocks as part of the stump so a real PIA as soon as you hear rocks chipping shut the unit down and dig out the embedded rocks. The Green Teeth on the toro did a good job overall.

Lessons learned - clear out and cut the stumps low first - I spent a half day getting them prepped - meaning digging out the stones and dirt around the roots, then another half day cutting the stumps to 12":

Start on the lower down hill side, and work up, and get your "bottom" or depth you want on the first cuts - its a lot harder to go back and regrind what you have covered in chips.

Thank you, all good points!

Later today I will try a large backpack blower for removing the wood chips out of the way when cutting the next large stump.

Manually raking them out is not efficient use of time.

 

[5030]

No, it's not (raking), which is why I keep the back rubber shield raised all the time (or front on my 3 point grinder). The only negative aspect of that is, you have to keep observers away as the chips come flying out at warp speed. On the positive side, no pile of chips to have to move. I've reduced some really big stumps as well. Did a Mulberry with a 3 foot across stump, 12" high. That was a chore, but it was fun anyway.

 

[arto98607]

I learned that, cut the stump as low as possible myself. One thing about mine I like is, the back shield I can hook up completely clear of the cutter wheel so I let it fling the chips as it may. Of course mine is a 3 point mount and my tractor delivers in the excess of 90 pto so it will really get down and cut. Problem with the smaller ones is, they all lack sufficient horsepower. Was a good investment for me and the farm and people like watching it eat stumps too.

Very little rocks here, just sandy loam and after 30 or so grinds, the teeth are still just fine. Just ground a large Osage Orange and that is VERY hard wood. It ate it right up and mine grinds 12" below grade if necessary as well.

I hear you - bigger the better, but in my case owning a PTO stump cutter and 90 hp PTO tractor would not pencil out and this SC362 will be fine for what I need to do.
We are not running a farm or business on the property, retired recently and just living on acreage for privacy and decided to remove whole bunch hazard trees.

Some were a fire hazard and others just too big being close to buildings.

 

[5030]

I really dislike stumps in general and burning them out or using the removal methods documented on YT just takes way too long. I've tried them and the end result is never satisfactory, the only drawback to the one I have is, I had to add 2 100 pound suitcase weights (one on each side of the main frame) to keep it firmly planted on the ground when I'm grinding as it likes to move around when grinding. To that end I had to weld a steel bracket on each side to attach the weights and my Kubota dealer had them sitting around doing nothing so he gave them to me and that made it a cheap date.

I thought about adding a hydraulic top link to apply sufficient down pressure on the grinder but nixed that because the grinder I have requires 2 sets of hydraulic connections, one for the swing cylinder and one for the up and down cylinder and the M9 I use it on only has 2 sets of Pioneer outlets. I paid 5 grand for mine and it's paid for itself many times over. I looked at the Woodland Mills unit (swing unit) as well as the Woodland Mills direct mount unit but neither of my M's are hydro, they are gear drive so grinding with the Woodland Mills unit would be an exercise in frustration. As it is, on smaller stumps (under a foot in diameter, I don't have to move the grinder at all. I just 'plant' it and grind them off and usually about 6-10" below grade.

I too looked at self contained stump grinders like you purchased but all the ones I saw for sale (on Tractor House) looked to be run hard and not in good shape plus the asking prices were way high. I'd love to have purchased a Rayco self contained stump grinder even used but the cost was way over what I was willing to pay, so I bought the Land Pride 3 point grinder which does what I need to do, just fine. besides, it's painted Kubota Orange..lol.

We have a rather large woodlot and I'm forever cutting dead trees or storm damaged ones. In as much as I don't heat with wood, I give it all away and I seem to always have a huge pile of saw logs. All the smaller stuff gets roasted.

 

[arto98607]

Update:
We ended up cutting down several more very large Douglas Fir "hazard trees" together with a next door neighbor and since he was using a contractor who has big stump grinders, I decided to have the same contractor grind down my big stumps also.

The contractor brought in two Carlton Hurricane (173 hp Diesel) and one Vermeer SC 60 TX (60 hp Diesel) and the big stumps were done in just few hours.

It was nice to watch three big grinders working at the same time and each being operated with their remote controls - IE. the operators were standing back away from the vibration, flying chips & debris!

I will keep the Vermeer SC362 for future use in little smaller stumps when thinning forest.