# stump grinder kickback takes leg off



## murphy4trees (Dec 3, 2003)

Williamsburg, Va. 12/1/03
Heard two seperate reports of the same incidence. A man was grinding a stump and apparantly the machine kicked back, taking his leg off just below the knee. Haven't checked the local paper for details yet. May get more details from a friend of the operators later....


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## Abbershay (Dec 19, 2003)

I really dont know how these rental companies can rent the dangerous equipment and stay in business.


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## Lumberjack (Dec 19, 2003)

My father was working on with our RG 85, and the stump he was grinding had been partially cut through. He didn't know that it was almost cut through, and when he started grinding it it broke loose, picked the machine off the ground, and knocked the machines control panel into him which knocked him to the front (not the cutterwheel side) of the machine. 

It torqued his wrist, and he was sore for a coupla days, but no lasting effect.

Carl


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## MasterBlaster (Dec 19, 2003)

I stuck a pitchfork accidently into the spinning wheel once.


Ain't never gonna do that again!


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## Lumberjack (Dec 19, 2003)

When I was younger, I got my shirt cought on our RG 50's wheel. It was spinning slowly too cool off the motor, I had to go between 2 trees and next thing I know I am on the ground fighting with the wheel. I managed to stop it with the next tooth aiming to take off my jaw. So I yelled at my dad, and since he couldn't see me, he casually walked over to where I was taking his time. He shut the machine off and all was well. Definatey a butt puckering experiance.


Carl


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## Menchhofer (Dec 19, 2003)

Friend of mine who is about 82 years old now started grinding stumps years ago with 630B I believe. He has ground thousands of stumps.

One day after disengaging the cutter wheel (wheel just spinning from centrifugal force) for some reason or another he stepped into the wheel with his foot. He has half a foot for many years. He can walk alright, but only for short periods of time and he has alot of pain, especially in cold/changing weather.

While this is a serious injury, it could have been worse...


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## ORclimber (Dec 20, 2003)

Ya, those tools get snatched in a blink. lost a shovel moving chips. It bent the metal and snapped the handle.

Have rolled my 1620 several times taking it where it shouldn't be or not managing the chips. Usually it jerks forward and a wheel will slip into the hole and over it goes. So far it hasn't ended up on top of me. It went off a retaining wall once and broke all the hydraulic controls off, that was a mess($200 fix). A couple weeks ago it jerked forward and rolled towards me, the next thing I know I'm lying on my back and the machine is on its side still running. The engine cover was bent which broke the fan($50 fix). Luckily there were 2 groundmen right there and the three of us got it upright before too much hydraulic/engine oil leaked out.


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## treesurgeon (Dec 24, 2003)

*bye bye rake*

Once a grounds guy was raking chips away from the wheels of my sc252 and the wheel took ahold of the rake and sent it away. It went threw a fence so fast that we did not even know where it went. All that was left was the twisted up metal end. It took a few minutes to find the rest of it.


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## murphy4trees (Dec 24, 2003)

I had an RG 50 kick pretty good a few weeks ago. As I recall it grabbed a sudden bite of stump and lurched foward away from me, not back into me, so I Am wondering what happenned with the RG-85 to make it go the other way???


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## BigSawMan (Jul 2, 2004)

I had no idea that those machines could be so dangerous/ do so much damage.


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## a_lopa (Jul 2, 2004)

i know a guy who walked in front of rg50 misjudged distances and wound up minus his left calf muscle,he now has a thin left leg


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## NeTree (Jul 2, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Abbershay _
> *I really dont know how these rental companies can rent the dangerous equipment and stay in business. *



Who says it was a rental?


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## MasterBlaster (Jul 2, 2004)

I put a pitchfork in a grinder once. Once was enough for me.


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## Dadatwins (Jul 2, 2004)

Hit an old water valve once that shot out and put a good wrinkle in the back of my tailgate. Stuck the rake in the wheel of my old machine by accident once made a pretzel out of it quick. That what is nice about my new Rayco, it has an electric clutch that stops the wheel in a few seconds with the flick of a switch and then I can go rake around with out worrying about the wheel spinning. Not completely idiot proof, but close enough for me.


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## Stumper (Jul 3, 2004)

For longterm entertainment nothing beats sucking up a chainlink fence with your stump grinder.


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## Dadatwins (Jul 3, 2004)

Buried garden soaker hoses "oh I forgot to tell you that was there" and cable TV line is always fun too.


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## MasterBlaster (Jul 3, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Stumper _
> *For longterm entertainment nothing beats sucking up a chainlink fence with your stump grinder. *



I bet. I've heard some bad stories about chainlink fences and grinders.


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## wiley_p (Jul 4, 2004)

i saw a rock the size of a grapefruit bounce off my shin a split second before I felt a horrible pain i my leg, I was certain that my lower leg was laying behind me somewhere. It was'nt fortunately, so after taking a day off, I went and bought some of those shin/knee protectors that dirt bike riders wear. They are always on when I am grinding now.


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## OutOnaLimb (Jul 5, 2004)

Never done the chain link fence thing, but I sucked up a 50ft garden hose in about 1.2 seconds LOL

Kenn


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## ROLLACOSTA (Jul 5, 2004)

> _Originally posted by aussie_lopa _
> *i know a guy who walked in front of rg50 misjudged distances and wound up minus his left calf muscle,he now has a thin left leg *




the exact same thing happend to a guy overhere last summer,he was using a vermer 252 ..trouble was he had the same first name and a simaler sounding surname to me and a lot of my regular customers thought it was me


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## Ax-man (Jul 5, 2004)

I was grinding some stumps near a creek once with our 630. Sucked a cable up into it only this was thick enough to hold a barge in place on a river. As I was hacksawing and cable cutting this tangled mess along with some choice words, I couldn't help but wonder why something this big would be down by a creek, somebody probaly kept a canoe or boat tied to and wanted to make sure it was there after some high water.

Larry


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