# small walk behind stump grinders



## Swamp Man (Jun 1, 2012)

You all may have seen those small walk behind stump grinders at your local rental shop usually around 14 hp, well..... my current stump grinder is a carlton sp7015 and it is to wide to fit through a standard 3 foot wide gate so i was considering buying a second grinder like maybe the carlton 900h or sp2000. have any of you ever used these or similar grinders?? how well do they work on hardwoods and larger diameter stumps???


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## tree md (Jun 2, 2012)

Mine is a smaller, self propelled, walk behind. It's a Rayco with a 20 horse Kohler. I think it's like 30-32" wide. I can get it pretty much anywhere.

It works fine on small to medium large stumps. I sub out large stump jobs as I am not particularly trying to be in the stump business. I just like to be able to do the stumps on my own jobs. I do them up to around 3' but any larger I will sub them out. I did one that was over 5' a couple of months back and it was a long day. It wouldn't be cost effective as a stand alone machine for anyone that does a large number of stumps. It is great for someone like me who likes to be able to offer a complete service and do their own stumps. Plus it is great for getting into hard to access areas.


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## imagineero (Jun 2, 2012)

I'm similar to the above.

I've got a 20hp 'stump humper' made by rhyscorp, an aussie company. It's about the best in its class in australia. Self propelled, centre pivot and come with a few engine options. I got the 20hp kohler, sometimes find myself wishing I'd gone with the 27hp. It's 29" wide. Goes most places and chews through stumps up to about 3' reasonably quick (20min-half an hour). I price it out at $200/hour, bigger stumps I sub out. Someone with an RG90 (access permitting) can smash out a big stump in 15 minutes that would take my stump humper 6 or 8 hours to do. If there's no access, then it's going to be a long day and a big pay check. But still not big enough.

Look for self propelled, narrow, at least 20hp, and centre pivot. Also look for a reputable engine with support. If you really need a tight access grinder, go for the alpine magnum (aka back breaker). Also worth looking into teeth systems that make the most of small hp engines like the multi tip system. I'm still up in the air over that one... the high buy in cost has been holding me back.

Shaun


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## superjunior (Jun 2, 2012)

Swamp Man said:


> You all may have seen those small walk behind stump grinders at your local rental shop usually around 14 hp, well..... my current stump grinder is a carlton sp7015 and it is to wide to fit through a standard 3 foot wide gate so i was considering buying a second grinder like maybe the carlton 900h or sp2000. have any of you ever used these or similar grinders?? how well do they work on hardwoods and larger diameter stumps???



Welcome swamp.

I run a tow behind and a small self propelled. It's nice having a high hp machine to back right up to those big stumps but I find that I use my self propelled a lot more. Dollar for dollar it seams to make more sense (for me anyway) having the 2 machines vs one 50k$ self propelled high hp machine. Plus on big jobs with multi stumps I'm running 2 grinders at the same time. Just sold my 1625 and bought a new 1635 and what a difference.


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## Saw Dust Smoken (Jun 4, 2012)

I run a self propelled, 20hp koler, two whelled unit. Ram is the units manufacture. Before Carlton bought them. Changed from the original straight style tooth to the green teeth. No comparison. Went through a 2.5 ft locust stump in 25min. 6-8in below ground. Went a year on the original teeth. That was a mistake in wasted time and wear on machine\operator. Switch to better teeth and the smaller unit becomes more productive...
The grinder loads up on the 1-ton beside the mini. I'll find a pic somewhere.


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## Saw Dust Smoken (Jun 4, 2012)

pic


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