# Cleaning up Stump Grindnings(Billy Goat)



## vandiesel99 (Feb 3, 2010)

Was curious if anyone ever used a Billy Goat vacuum to clean up stump grindings. They are powerful enough to vacuum up beer bottles(according to youtube) so if would be awesome to suck up a stump real quick. Thoughts?


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## Scottscape (Feb 3, 2010)

A couple thirty gallon trash cans a pitch fork, good leaf rake and scoop shovel I think would be much more productive. I've had a hard time with them things sucking up wet leaves.


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## pdqdl (Feb 3, 2010)

Truck mount or roll-on-the-ground machine?

I had a push-type unit many years ago, they are good for vacuuming flat surfaces, but not so good for lawns. Any sort of twig or pile of leaves will plug them up.

Tthey might work well for stump grindings , but only after other tools picked up the large volume. You would spend too much time emptying the bag on a large stump.

They are great for cigarette butts on the sidewalks outside office buildings.


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## JCONN (Feb 3, 2010)

I used to have a vac, bought from the town auction you might be able to do it with something like that but you also have to get a dump truck and the vac close enough. Also the box has to be completly sealed with a screen top those things push so much air it would just blow into the truck and then right back out. Mine was a 4cylinder gas motor with a 16 or 18 inch intake tube (nasty) I would never use one of those smaller billygoat models again only good for nice dry leaves.


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## Curbside (Feb 3, 2010)

Tried it with a 20hp billygoat vac. Works if you can get the vac hose close enough to the stump and the chips and dirt are dry. If anything is wet the material starts to sag in the hose. The next thing that happens is the impeller housing starts to build up with mud to the point it looses all air flow making it useless. Then you have to take the housing off and scrape the mud out of the housing. This mud can be tough to clean as it is packed in there tight. Easier to use wheel barrel and shovel or a bobcat or something similar.


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## vandiesel99 (Feb 3, 2010)

*Wheel barrow and trash can sucks*

We must grind bigger stumps then you guys. I've had stumps that take two men shoveling straight into a dump truck an hour to cleanup. After that there is the chips you can't shovel up, that you have to rake and blow. After that is the chips down in the stump hole. If we have to cleanup a stump we drive the grinder up on some plywood and grind the stump onto the plywood so that it is very easy to slide the shovel on the wood. Its still hard!

There are strong 20-25 hp billy goats that are truck loaders. You can mount it on a dump truck, vacuum the grindings immediately after grinding the stump while they are somewhat dry, and get all the wood out of the hole with it. Thats IF it will suck it all up. I don't have a bobcat, but if I did I wouldn't always want to bring it to a stump grinding job along with something to load it in. Thats why I was curious about whether or not this bad boy will suck up the grindings.

Thoughts?


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## vandiesel99 (Feb 3, 2010)

*Billy Goat Truck Loader in Action*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0fGoiPt66c&feature=related


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## ozzy42 (Feb 3, 2010)

I've always found a 5-tine pitchfork to work better than a shovel.



























But then again ........I refuse to carry a shovel on my truck.
People will get the wrong idea ,and think I'm willing to dig or something.


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## treeman82 (Feb 3, 2010)

If I was looking for a machine to use with a stump grinder, I'd probably want a mini skid loader... you can put it right onto a trailer with the stump grinder, and use it to load grindings, or move topsoil.


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## pdqdl (Feb 3, 2010)

I think that video does not show it loading a truck, and the leaves it picks up are loose and fluffy. Not even practical to consider sucking up telephone books.

It'll pick up sawdust just fine if you can get close enough, and much faster than two guys with shovels. You had better have a lot of front yard stump grinding to pay for that setup.


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## vandiesel99 (Feb 3, 2010)

*...*

I don't see really why it having a video of it loading a truck really matters or not, its pretty obvious how it works. The pitch fork idea I have tried with 0 success. The stump grinder I have is a pull behind and not on a trailer, and a mini skid loader is a considerable investment. I have a 4x4 drive 1ton dump, so it doesn't matter where the stump is. The hose on the vacuum is fairly long as well. Most stumps ground around here are done by strictly stump grinding contractors, who almost 100% of the time simply leave the grindings. This service could actually be a stand alone service if it was effective and could actually be pretty profitable.


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## Koa Man (Feb 3, 2010)

The best clean up tool I have found for cleaning stump grindings off a lawn is a power broom. I use the Shindaiwa. It is a ribbed rubber roller. Usually one pass will get 90% of the grindings. Even if you used a blower 10 times over the area you would not get it as clean. It is also great for wet leaves that a blower cannot move.


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## Toddppm (Feb 4, 2010)

Listen to the guy up there about it clogging up the hose and impeller, mine is sitting in the shop waiting for me to washed it out and reweld the housing where the debris built up and actually punched holes in the steel.

The only way is shovels and a loader to make it quick. Those vacuums aren't cheap, by the time you buy one you could have made a good downpayment or even bought a used a loader.

A bigger grinder would help make it go a little faster too....


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## arbor pro (Feb 4, 2010)

36" wide mini skid with a bucket/grapple works great. Transport the mini along with your self-propelled grinder on a trailer pulled by a dump truck. Grind the stump, unload the mini and clean up the stump. Takes minutes and without back-breaking shoveling into a wheelbarrow or garbage can. I've don't hundreds of stumps this way and it works wonderfully. Th 36" wide bucket/grapple works very well because it actually gets down into the stump hole unlike a 5' skidsteer bucket which typically rides over the top leaving you to scoop out the rest of the hole.


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## ronnyb (Feb 5, 2010)

We used to use a larger vac unit for grindings but even those tend to plug, especially when you suck up a larger chunk and it wedges half way up the hose. The dirt also wears out the fan housing in a couple of years.


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## sgreanbeans (Feb 5, 2010)

Arbor Pro,

How does that mini skid do with logs?


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## Marquis (Feb 7, 2010)

my stump grinder is mounted to my 3 point hitch on my tractor, when done grinding, turn it around, scoop up what I can with the front end loader, then use an old potato pitch fork to clean up.


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## prentice110 (Feb 12, 2010)

There was a guy around here back when dutch elm was still big that had a home made conveyer dealy that dang near all the grindings were loaded into the truck before the stump was done. All that was left was a little raking.


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## Lumberjacked (Feb 14, 2010)

I use one to clean up debris that shoots out past the "main" grinding area. I would definitely not recommend using one to do the whole pile, you would be there fooooorever! Heavy duty garbage can, log cart to wheel around the loaded can and then use the Billygoat to finish and get one of those $80 manure pitch forks that has like ~15 tongs on it.


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## ropensaddle (Feb 14, 2010)

Skid steer the only way to fly.


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## treesquirrel (Feb 14, 2010)

I will use my loader or bobcat and a fork to load the grindings into the dumper. Normally I do not remove them unless the customer requests and PAYS extra for it.


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## stumpbegone (Apr 14, 2017)

Exhausted! Spent a hour shovelling stump grindings (from a relatively small stump) into a wheel barrow then up ramps to the back of my pickup truck. Going to avoid doing that again if I can. My usual big stumps would take forever to clean up. I charge customers a lot for clean up in the hopes that they won't want that optional service. When they do want it, I get paid well, but it really is exhausting. Reading through all of this it seems like mini-skid steer is the way to go. Since I am a one-man operation I will have to grind the stump with my truck and pull behind grinder, then leave and come back with a truck and trailer. Unload the mini-skid steer put the grindings in the trailer and truck, then load the skid steer into the trailer on top of the grindings. That or I invest in a dump truck. I'm going to try contracting out the clean-up work first but that's my plan if I have to start doing it myself.

What are everyone's thoughts on the best mini-skid steer on the market today? Is it the Bobcat MT55? Something else.

What's the best websites to find good reliable used mini-skid steers?

Thanks!


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## derwoodii (Apr 14, 2017)

yeah my $$ saving dream is a conveyor vacuum auger screw to lift grinding into tipper as we make them but alas no one tried tested perfected the idea we often find the grinding removal more cost in labor than the stump.. I'd like the stump machine to least have a small bucket lift at the other end turn it around and scoop it up..


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## BC WetCoast (Apr 14, 2017)

We charge the same for hauling mulch as we do for the stump. I've filled an f550 Southco box, while someone else ground. Good workout for an old guy.


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## BuckmasterStumpGrinding (Apr 15, 2017)

I use rakes, blowers and wheelbarrows. Would love to have a mini.


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## BuckmasterStumpGrinding (Apr 15, 2017)

What is the most you have charged for a single stump? I have charged $500 for single large stumps several times.


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## flushcut (Apr 16, 2017)

BMG scoop .


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## climbhightree (Apr 16, 2017)

bmg scoops and backpack blower. 2.75 hours and 1.5 loads of grindings in a 7'x11' trailer. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk


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## flushcut (Apr 16, 2017)

prentice110 said:


> There was a guy around here back when dutch elm was still big that had a home made conveyer dealy that dang near all the grindings were loaded into the truck before the stump was done. All that was left was a little raking.


It made me smile reading this and remembering the crazy SOB.


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