# Had to grind a big'un today.



## Topbuilder (Jul 20, 2014)

In three years this one is in the top 5 largest I have had to grind. I know this is average to our Aussie friends and other parts of this country but pretty big for this part of Texas. About 6' x 8' Sweetgum. I'm sure the drought was too much for it. Was not dead but starting to drop big limbs. It took 4 hours trailer to trailer. The shavings would not fit in a 8' pickup bed. All moved by hand. Not enough room to use my push blade. Not a job I like to start Friday afternoon at 3:30...


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## Topbuilder (Jul 21, 2014)

Good day to be on the golf course.


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## olyman (Jul 27, 2014)

how close was the power supply to the tree???


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## Topbuilder (Aug 10, 2014)

olyman said:


> how close was the power supply to the tree???


 The power was supplied by a meter pole about 35" away. The timer/junction box you see was aprox 3' from my finish grinding pass.


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## olyman (Aug 11, 2014)

Topbuilder said:


> The power was supplied by a meter pole about 35" away. The timer/junction box you see was aprox 3' from my finish grinding pass.


 was wondering how close the UNDERGROUND supply to the box was to the tree


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## jwade (Aug 11, 2014)

olyman said:


> was wondering how close the UNDERGROUND supply to the box was to the tree


haa me too that woulda made me stop and scratch my head


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## Topbuilder (Aug 11, 2014)

olyman said:


> was wondering how close the UNDERGROUND supply to the box was to the tree


 
Three feet... Just like the picture.
I must have nerves of steel. But, I do play the game "Operation" on the week end to stay in shape for these "life or death" stump grinding jobs. I have been known to live on the edge. I once tore off the "do not remove" tag from a mattress...


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## KenJax Tree (Aug 11, 2014)

I bet you go IN the OUT door too


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## Topbuilder (Aug 11, 2014)

KenJax Tree said:


> I bet you go IN the OUT door too


 
Don't know if I can go that far. I have to reign it in a little bit, the other day I got pulled over for "failure to signal" while in a designated turn lane.


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## olyman (Aug 11, 2014)

Topbuilder said:


> Three feet... Just like the picture.
> I must have nerves of steel. But, I do play the game "Operation" on the week end to stay in shape for these "life or death" stump grinding jobs. I have been known to live on the edge. I once tore off the "do not remove" tag from a mattress...


 you know the reason I asked, right??


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## Topbuilder (Aug 11, 2014)

olyman said:


> you know the reason I asked, right??


 Enlighten me.


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## Topbuilder (Jan 15, 2016)

A man calls me to grind some stumps. Did not tell me there was still a little bit of a stump still attached to all of them...
This one is a Red Oak, a touch over 4' across. Not my normal thing, but when you're slow...

I took a little off the sides with the grinder. A 24" bar and a 562 took care of it from there. No doubt the largest I have ever had to drop.
The pic does not show the heavy lean away from the machine. I just had to get it on the ground. Fortunately it fell just far enough away from the stump I was able to grind it.
The rest were easy once this one was out of the way. The biggest was about 24" DBH.
This was a 150 acre Ranch. I'll be back. I saw some close to 50 trees that won't make it 2 years. Looked like bad dozer work. Major roots cut at the base. Gouges in the trunks. That and the past drought are all taking their toll.


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## Creeker (Jan 15, 2016)

Topbuilder said:


> Three feet... Just like the picture.
> I must have nerves of steel. But, I do play the game "Operation" on the week end to stay in shape for these "life or death" stump grinding jobs. I have been known to live on the edge. I once tore off the "do not remove" tag from a mattress...



That stumps biggern' Texas tb, must have had a STIHL saw to cut that off !

Yeah, your right about it, we do them'ns on an average day in Aus. , save the hard ones for Sunday mornings, just to warm up for the week ahead !


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## Topbuilder (Jan 16, 2016)

"made me realize how many gynecologists there are on the road" You kill me. 
Yeah, the buddy I called to work with me runs a small tree service. He's a die hard STIHL man. (pretty sure he does not have a Stihl pocket knife! though...) He brought a 60 somethin' cc with a 25" bar to the party. Funny how he was always more than happy to let me have at it on the rough stuff with my saw. But then it occurred to me , he's probably never seen a saw run that good.


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## Creeker (Jan 17, 2016)

All I can take out of that, on a positive note, is that you associate with persons of good repute


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## Topbuilder (Feb 18, 2016)

Of all the things I have "found" while grinding... this one was a little scary.


3/4" rebar, 20' long buried under dirt and grass. Wrapped all the way around the wheel before I could get it shut down. Could have been much worse. I sheared some pocket bolts, trashed a bunch of teeth, lost 1/2 a day. I could not load it so that meant a empty run to the shop to grab the liquid wrench. (Victor) Once the rebar was removed I took the machine back home, replaced all 24 teeth and damaged pockets. Went back to the job, and hit another rebar in the first 2 minutes. Another half a dozen teeth broken. Not one of my best days...


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## Topbuilder (Feb 18, 2016)

This was a big 'un!


One of those jobs where the customer forgot to mention the stumps were just a little ways out of the ground. He was not surprised when I had to raise my price... There were 5 total. Fortunately they were a very soft wood. China berry? I don't think I have ever ground one before. Must be fast growers, the owner said they were 30 years old. Nice people who are living on a ranch that has been in the family since 1919. They have a live oak by the main house that was planted by Sam Houston! Aprox 1860, the trunk is probably 48" across.


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## Creeker (Feb 18, 2016)

tb, bet that bar had the belts squealing big time ?

Worse than anything I've experienced, to do it a second time, that'd bring an expletive 
or two from me I'm afraid....for about 1/2 an hour !!! 

At one stage I was finding so much steel I seriously thought of getting a metal detector
to check ground over.

ps..have you considered a remote op. grinder, you can press the kill button running backwards 
as the steel smacks the cutters and wheel into submission and belts start to smoke


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## Topbuilder (Feb 18, 2016)

Creeker said:


> tb, bet that bar had the belts squealing big time ?
> 
> Worse than anything I've experienced, to do it a second time, that'd bring an expletive
> or two from me I'm afraid....for about 1/2 an hour !!!
> ...



There is no squeal on my belt. This machine has the poly-belt with teeth/cogs on it. I took the cover off fearing I damaged the belt. They are close to $400. I could not see any damage. I was so lucky that once the pretzel action was over, the teeth/wheel was no longer in contact with the wheel. If it had locked it up, something would have to give. I was running balls to the walls... I had 15' of rebar sticking straight out from the cutter wheel when it was all over. Could have been really nasty. 
Yeah, still dreaming of moving up to a remote grinder. 7015 Carlton... If every week was like the last few weeks I would already have it.
Been busier than a one handed paper hanger.


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## Creeker (Feb 18, 2016)

What set up does Rayco have from engine to wheel tb, don't know a thing about
Rayco, but only one belt ?


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## Topbuilder (Feb 18, 2016)

66 HP Deutz diesel bolted directly to a large hydraulic pump. That pump drives several different motors/rotors. You can see it in the pic above the cutter wheel. The motor has a splined gear that drives the poly belt. The teeth/cogs on the belt are at right angle to the direction of rotation. The cutter wheel end is a shaft/pillow block bearings with another splined gear. The smaller wheel end is supposed to wear faster than the drive end. It goes around more times but, I'm 6-700 hours on a gear set and it looks like the drive gear is 50% worn and more like 10% on the other one. I try to buy the parts peak season so I have them on hand when I need them. 
This set up is frowned upon because of the higher rate of parasitic loss compared to the 2 belt setup. I have read the loss is somewhere around 25%. Knocking my 66 HP down to 49.5 HP at the cutter wheel. The advantages? Less belt maintenance/replacement? Not sure, the only two belt unit I've run is my tow-behind. I have not used it enough to justify owning it.


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## Creeker (Feb 19, 2016)

Thanks tb, good explanation. 
Belts certainly cost $$'s as do bearings, loss of power might be well offset by savings
in running with that Rayco setup.

Better luck next week with the grinding


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## Topbuilder (Mar 8, 2016)

This is not all that big, but a first! The customer told me he had a Eucalyptus for me to grind? I thought, OK, it will be a Magnolia or Bodark ( “bois d’arc) ... Sure enough, it was a Eucalyptus. I did not even know they grew in Texas. I did not see it before it was dropped. It had low branches that were supported by 4 x 6's coming out of the ground. Some of the chips were buried in the hole. I wonder if our termites will even touch them?


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## Creeker (Mar 9, 2016)

Good work Tb, I'm guessing 15 minutes with that machine ? and yes, termites love the
Euc's to the extent that I dislike them them within cooee of a house.

Sometimes get the Euc's here with more work chasing out the above ground roots than
the central stump mass.


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## Topbuilder (Mar 9, 2016)

Creeker said:


> Good work Tb, I'm guessing 15 minutes with that machine ? and yes, termites love the
> Euc's to the extent that I dislike them them within cooee of a house.
> 
> Sometimes get the Euc's here with more work chasing out the above ground roots than
> the central stump mass.



No such luck. There was a curved "L" shaped, concrete border around 24" long under this stump. I had to grind down to it, then break it up with a hammer and work the pieces out of the void. It screwed up what should have been an easy job. My customer suggested I use a metal probe to find these objects before I start grinding...


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## Creeker (Mar 9, 2016)

We have all the fun Tb


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## Topbuilder (Mar 26, 2016)

Nice way to start a Saturday morning.


I would have thought this would be over a hundred fifty years old. I uncovered seemingly modern nail at almost the dead center. Lots of little popped up roots like the one at the bottom of the picture spread out in the yard. I put freshly sharpened teeth in the 1st and second position before starting. I bid it pretty tight, I figured it would be worth my time. (Thanks 'Jeff's Sharpening'!) The customer told me it was "Big" but I did not ask a lot of questions. I had been to his place before. He pretty much knew how my program. 

2 hours trailer to trailer. Luckily there was a pretty large area that was dead. That part cut more like a sweet gum than a red oak. Also, the center section had almost zero stump below grade. I cut all the way to dirt in two passes. Of course there was a thousand pounds of shavings to deal with . I don't remove shavings, so what I do on these is cut below grade up to the front of stump, then fill it back in to finished grade. Dirt only. Then cut the stump and keep pulling the shavings back under the machine so when I'm done, all the shavings are in on huge pile under the machine, the dirt is already at finished grade and I did not have to move shavings very far. Good thing, I had a fence on one side and the house on the other.


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## Topbuilder (May 20, 2016)

Big blow over oak. The top of the tree trashed a tree in the neighbors yard after crushing a van and taking out part of the roof on the garage. They counted 100 rings. The top of the stump was higher than my machine cuts. I used the shavings to build up the ground to get where I needed to be.

Every one of these is different. Different things that can go wrong. Roots go flying or want to get caught up underneath. At some point they all get loose in the ground and start moving. That's never good. They are hard to bid. I usually add an hour to what ever I think it will take. This one went quick. A storm rolled in, the last 10 minutes was done in a pretty good down pour. 30 miles one way... had to get 'er done.


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## Creeker (May 20, 2016)

Well done again tb, 2 hrs on that biggen' 27/3 was a good effort !


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## Topbuilder (May 20, 2016)

Creeker said:


> Well done again tb, 2 hrs on that biggen' 27/3 was a good effort !



Thanks Creeker!
How's the golden years going? Where's the fish stories and pics?


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## Creeker (May 20, 2016)

G'day tb, it's 6.30am here, just saw yr post of 7 minutes ago, the fish stories might be like my stump stories, grow bigger in the
telling..lol.

Seem to have got tied into shifting house for family members, doing Garage Sales etc but got in some mountain bike riding on a new 29er, did you
know they have hydraulic disc brakes ? and generally bludging of course  No fishing yet.

That big stump with the saw(?) on it for decoration, my Stihl would have whittled a foot off the top of that, I'll mail it over one day soon, help ya' out


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## Topbuilder (May 21, 2016)

Yep, my kinsman call that FLFF. Family labor for free! A lot of that free labor will get you down. You just get over it faster when it's family.


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## Topbuilder (Jul 14, 2016)

Another blow over, and another blow over that stood back up into its original hole when relieved of the trunk! This oak fell in between the house and garage. Never touched the house. Creamed the breezeway and garage. The root ball stood 12-15' before flopping back in the original hole. The grind area was about 20'. 

I saw that fan sitting in the garage and put it to use. The air was nice but all the dust blew right back in my face. 
Still dreaming of remote controls one day...


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## Topbuilder (Oct 11, 2019)

This is one of the biggest I have had to do this year. It was taken down as a perfectly healthy tree. Quite amazing it survived the drought several years ago. 




I did not see it before it was cut. A power line and fence had to be removed before the take-down.


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