Would you pay $1,500 for 14% more HP?

[5030]

Softwood stumps? Conifers don’t resprout from stumps.

Keep in mind that you live in an entirely different geographical area than we do. Cottonwood's and willows like to resprout after grinding. Evergreens never resprout.

 

[jyoutz]

Keep in mind that you live in an entirely different geographical area than we do. Cottonwood's and willows like to resprout after grinding. Evergreens never resprout.

I understand cottonwoods and willows. We have them too. Technically, softwoods are only conifers and hardwoods are only deciduous trees (with leaves). But yes I understand that the wood on cottonwoods and willows is soft even though they are categorized as hardwoods. Was just being a forester and a language cop. My apologies.

 

[halfBaked2024]

Hard as a brick or punky as a sponge don't matter to my stump grinder other than it takes a but longer to grind a brick like stump. The solid and indexable tungsten carbide teeth can care less. I don't get concerned about them every sprouting again anyway as a quick blast of Roundup Ultra takes care of that issue if it arises and it rarely does, except with softwood stumps.

Curious… what PTO stump grinder make and model do you use? I hadn’t even looked for brands using or not using a slip clutch; I figured that would be standard equipment!

 

[rumwrks]

I hadn’t even looked for brands using or not using a slip clutch; I figured that would be standard equipment!

You can get a cheap slip clutch for about $50, or an expensive one for about $80. So given the cost of the whole setup I guess I wouldn't let that be a deciding factor. One bonus is that these tractors have a "live" pto that free wheels when you turn it off so while you do want to ease it on with a heavy load like this (back to idle, engage pto, then rev up not too fast) but disengaging is relatively safe. Some of the old tractors if you disengaged it locked the pto up up on the tractor so if the implement had a lot of momentum **** went to hell in a hurry (yeah yeah clutch blah blah.. but you still had to pay attention more). The live pto is also vastly easier to hookup as well cause you can rotate it a bit to get it to seat (especially with like a tiller where turning the implement side is.. more challenging...). I would still idle down before disengaging and make sure the load is off because that puts less strain on the coupling / decoupling system but it IS safer...

Another thing to know with slip clutches is that you really ought to check them at least yearly by loosening them up and re-adjusting, maybe twice or more if you don't use the rig very often especially if it's in a wetter area. They usually come with instructions, but here's the ironcraft version which is fairly universal How to Properly Adjust & Maintain Your PTO Slip Clutch | IronCraft | Tractor & Skid Steer Attachments. Otherwise they can be seized and things can go poorly.

Evergreens never resprout.

Except Cyprus and Redwoods Although we might be splitting hairs there, I just think they're kind of cool

 

[halfBaked2024]

Keep in mind that you live in an entirely different geographical area than we do. Cottonwood's and willows like to resprout after grinding. Evergreens never resprout.

And those darn elms… they’re very pesky resprouters.