Grind with the grain???

[Shadow]

"As I stated in another post I ground 77 Eucs, ranging from 12"s to 50" in 5 hours the other day and that included lunch."

Just re-read this part, missed it before but decided to do the math on it.

77 stumps in 5 hours is over 15 stumps per hour. 15 stumps per hour works out to be 4 minutes per stump.

Sizes from 12''-50'' would be an average of 30'' stumps.

So now were dealing with 4 minutes to do a 30 inch stump.

If we take out any time for lunch we could be down to 3 minutes per stump.

Sorry Plyscamp I gotta call you on this one!

 

[Mowingman]

I do not see any problem with the rate of stumps/hour that Plyscamp quoted. In fact, just last Monday, I knocked out 86 stumps, in two hours and 10 minutes from start to finish. They were mostly 4"-6" stumps, but there were 6 or 8, of about 20" in size.
I recently ground out a 30" stump in 11 minutes.
It is all about having the right equipment, plenty of HP, and an effecient plan of attack on each stump.
Jeff

 

[Plyscamp]

Shadow obviously you have never used a big grinder. I own seven stump grinders not just one Alpine. Those stumps were ground with a Vermeer SC505, So call all you want it happened.

 

[Shadow]

Wow, thats even more impressive! 1.5 minutes per stump.

Over the last couple of winters I've spent hours watching a variety of stump grinders on You tube. Trying to research a good stump grinder to perhaps invest in. There is not one that even comes close to the times you guys are quoting.

Please show me a link to one of these super machines so I can see it in action.

I'm not being sarcastic here, I'm truly interested in researching a better stump grinder.So please keep the personal attacks to a min.

 

[gr8scott72]

I did an even 100 stumps on Saturday. Hour meter showed 4.4 hours including some time letting the machine idle down while I got water, etc. They were almost all pine and anywhere from 10" to 25".

That's over 22 per hour or 2.7 minutes per stump including travel time to next stump.

 

[Mowingman]

I am using a Carlton 7015 track machine. Scott is using the same machine also. These are amazing grinding units with very high production rates.
Jeff

 

[arbor pro]

I am using a Carlton 7015 track machine. Scott is using the same machine also. These are amazing grinding units with very high production rates.
Jeff

Murphy's law: You sell your 65hp diesel grinder because you haven't been using it much and then get a job grinding out an 80" wide x 24" tall cottonwood stump using a 25hp gas grinder which takes 4 times longer! grrrrr!

Spent 3-4 hrs grinding with my sc252 on saturday where my diesel grinder would have had it out within 1 hr. Oh well...

Direction of the grain would NOT have mattered with the diesel. With the 252, the machine kept wanting to 'run' up the runner roots when I'd grind with the grain vs across it. Didn't matter once I got into the stump itself - only when grinding the runner roots.

 

[Curbside]

Shadow

I run a vermeer sc60 with a sandvic disk. It will cut a 15" elm stump to a depth of 14" in 30 - 40 se0onds. So there is no exageration in cutting claims. We that machine you can do 10 foot diameter stump in 20 minutes if you have a bobcat to move the chips out of the way.

 

[coolbrze]

We that machine you can do 10 foot diameter stump in 20 minutes if you have a bobcat to move the chips out of the way.

That's bad*ss! We did a 7' diameter (inc. roots at ground level) Maple w/ our 2500-4 and it took just over 2 1/2 hrs. I was hating EVERY second of it!

 

[BC WetCoast]

Of course I grind in the dirt! You cant help it. But I sure dont start out in the dirt and grind forward through a foot of dirt before I start grinding stump!

If I have 4 stumps in a back yard, I will go around and grind all 4 down to the dirt, without touching very little dirt.

Then I'll go back and grind therm down 6-8 inches below ground level. But if I'm in an area where no rocks are present I'll often just complete the stump and move on.

Before I start I take my trenching spade and jab it down close to the stump all the way around, if no rocks or chains or old clotheslines or ?, then I proceed.

I NEVER check to see which way the grain is running, I set up whichever side is convieniant for me to work and never move around the stump unless something inhibits me from finishing grinding.

If there are roots running above ground or just below, I'll go along and cut across the root about every foot and go along after and lift out the pieces by hand. I sure as hell dont grind lenght ways along a root going 3 feet out.So I think common sense dictates not to go with the grain in that situation.

I used rock teeth the first year or so because I thought you needed to, Now I havent used them in over 2 years. I can make a set of teeth last a long time and I have mastered sharpening them so they cut like brand new.!

And as for how long it takes me to grind a stump,with all due respect I'd be half done before some of you guys figured out which way the grain was running!

There isn't a rock in all of Saskatchewan.

 

[Oly's Stump]

2 days ago I hit a stainless steel pipe that was in the middle of a fairly small stump. Sheared 7 super rayco teeth. Lost money on that job!

 

[arbor pro]

2 days ago I hit a stainless steel pipe that was in the middle of a fairly small stump. Sheared 7 super rayco teeth. Lost money on that job!

I hit a 1 1/4" rebar on one occasion and broke 2 greenteeth while dulling several others.

Hit a piece of 1/2" x 8" wide plate steel on another job. Had to stop and replace 16 of the 32 teeth on my large grinder. Customer was nice and paid me an extra $100 bucks to help cover the damage.

 

[Curbside]

I hate it when you hit stuff. I was stumpin for one of the cities close by and working in a back lane. Hit a 16 foot piece of chain that was buried just below the ground. Stopped the machine instantly and the chain was wrapped around the wheel so tight we had to cut it loose. Bent the drive axle, and drive shaft and ripped out the clutch that was not a cheap fix.

 

[Mowingman]

OUCH!!!!!

I hate it when you hit stuff. I was stumpin for one of the cities close by and working in a back lane. Hit a 16 foot piece of chain that was buried just below the ground. Stopped the machine instantly and the chain was wrapped around the wheel so tight we had to cut it loose. Bent the drive axle, and drive shaft and ripped out the clutch that was not a cheap fix.

 

[Curbside]

It was painful. At least that city had a ton of work for me after that. Softened the blow a bit.

 

[Oly's Stump]

Earlier this year I was stumping a lot clearing job where there use to be a junk yard. Unknown to me just under the ground along side of a stump was a fire truck fire hose. I was using my 8018 TRX and when it grabbed the hose it pulled it into the wheel and jammed it bad killing the motor. It took an hour to cut it out and I had to have the clutch re-adjusted.
Years ago I was grinding a stump next to a cyclone fence using my RG50. I got to close and it grabbed the fence and pulled it into the machine destroying the fence. It took a couple hours to cut the fence out of my machine and took 5 hours to fix the fence. I learned my lesson there about cyclone fences.

 

[Curbside]

I did that once with a chain link fence. Learned my lesson that day that's for sure. The machine ripped down about 40 feet of chain link and and swallowed about 15 feet. What a mess trying to cut that out of the grinder. That job cost me a few dollars. What really sucks was I had already done the stumps but I thought to myself I should do one more pass just to make sure all the roots were low enough. Of course as your doing it your thinking you know everything went good and you should shut it down before something bad happen/////Oh sh too late

 

[Oly's Stump]

I know what you mean Curbside...been there done that!

 

[dtm165]

pipe

After over a year in the stump grinding business, I have hit a fence, but luckily I got that untangled in the machine with help, and an old pipe, but luckily got that out of the boom also.

 

[Mowingman]

I caught the edge of a big rolled up wad of barbed wire last year. Was grinding a stump right next to a pile of junk and some of the wire was buried in the ground by the stump. It yanked the whole big wad right into the wheel. I spent nearly 2 hours cutting it out with wire cutters. Boy was I ticked.
Jeff