Husqvarna Stump grinder/new

[ShermanC]

The above post is nothing short of laughable. I imagine a stud stump such as the one the writer speaks of would take about two days to take down to an acceptable level below grade with an sg13. Unless it was equipped with tow missiles and a flamethrower.

You nailed it Ducati. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think I'd have to grind a stump that large. It was about maybe three work days that made that 13 hour job. We ground it to about 4" below soil level in rocky soil. The Bluebird teeth wore down on this job so I switched to Green #500 teeth and framed the bluebird teeth, never to be used again.
The Husqvarna could be called "a workout gym on wheels". It makes my upper body muscles real strong and heck I am past the age of 73 = 876 months, WOW= Work Out Worker!

 

[flushcut]

The above post is nothing short of laughable. I imagine a stud stump such as the one the writer speaks of would take about two days to take down to an acceptable level below grade with an sg13. Unless it was equipped with tow missiles and a flamethrower.

Well it did take him 13 hours.

 

[ShermanC]

Well it did take him 13 hours.

I logged everything about this job. Ice storm lasted more than one day as it came in January 2009. This tree was between a house and garage so I quickly strapped it with four 27' web straps to keep it together while I planned how to handle this project. Because of buildings close to tree, everything had to be rope-dropped until we got to the co-dominant central leader. Hired a truck crane to pick and load the two trunks to a flat bed. Two months of cold windy wet weather and other tree jobs waiting and customers calling meant we spent 22 days out of 62 calendar days on this beast. That's how an ant eats an elephant...one bite at a time. Inside the trunk my Stihl 066 Mag 32" bar ran into steel pipe, twisted shank nails, welded wire fence and barbed wire. Determined not to quit I bought a new MS460 28" and kept cutting. Firewood users came every evening to remove the wood and clean up for us. The stump grinder cut a metal horseshoe in half sending one half through the safety curtain and the other half out near my left steel toed boot. I have removed 15 giant trees since 1998. Since this messy one my estimate starts at $5K and works down 'cause my wallet got blistered on this estimate of $1,800 to $2,300. Never again friends. Dad always preached "don't give away the store!"

 

[Blakesmaster]

I logged everything about this job. Ice storm lasted more than one day as it came in January 2009. This tree was between a house and garage so I quickly strapped it with four 27' web straps to keep it together while I planned how to handle this project. Because of buildings close to tree, everything had to be rope-dropped until we got to the co-dominant central leader. Hired a truck crane to pick and load the two trunks to a flat bed. Two months of cold windy wet weather and other tree jobs waiting and customers calling meant we spent 22 days out of 62 calendar days on this beast. That's how an ant eats an elephant...one bite at a time. Inside the trunk my Stihl 066 Mag 32" bar ran into steel pipe, twisted shank nails, welded wire fence and barbed wire. Determined not to quit I bought a new MS460 28" and kept cutting. Firewood users came every evening to remove the wood and clean up for us. The stump grinder cut a metal horseshoe in half sending one half through the safety curtain and the other half out near my left steel toed boot. I have removed 15 giant trees since 1998. Since this messy one my estimate starts at $5K and works down 'cause my wallet got blistered on this estimate of $1,800 to $2,300. Never again friends. Dad always preached "don't give away the store!"

Wtf? Did I just read that you spent 2 months earning $2300?

 

[ducaticorse]

Chris I was thinking the same thing.. .sounded more like a 10k removal to me!

 

[treeclimber101]

I bet it really pissed you off that it took you so long to cut it down the branches you took off actually had enough time to regrow themselves , so in my head you may have cut that tree down 2xs ! And if you made a time lapse video of it that it would actually show changing seasons ! At the rate your going after 30 or so years you should have 60 or so trees under your belt @ at 80 your considered a pro at least proficient !

 

[ShermanC]

Wtf? Did I just read that you spent 2 months earning $2300?

First, I sometimes write too fast and what I write doesn't make sense to readers. Second, the 15 giant trees are a small portion of more than 4,300 felled since 1998. I'm a numbers guy who follows in the shadows of my dad. But I don't gamble...he had that addiction and two others that sure made life for our family miserable at times.

Third, we had other tree work going on while we fought this red oak project. My hourly rate on this one dropped to $4.60 an hour. My groundie (then) got his regular hourly rate and had cattle to feed and keep fenced...they wreak havoc with fences. So this job ate my lunch, made me wiser with a stronger judgement and gave me the strength to know when to walk away from an opportunity.
We seldom catch up on tree work for we have other duties and sources of income. This area population is sparse so there's a huge gap for income potential between doing it part time and making it full time.

 

[ducaticorse]

First, I sometimes write too fast and what I write doesn't make sense to readers. Second, the 15 giant trees are a small portion of more than 4,300 felled since 1998. I'm a numbers guy who follows in the shadows of my dad. But I don't gamble...he had that addiction and two others that sure made life for our family miserable at times.

Third, we had other tree work going on while we fought this red oak project. My hourly rate on this one dropped to $4.60 an hour. My groundie (then) got his regular hourly rate and had cattle to feed and keep fenced...they wreak havoc with fences. So this job ate my lunch, made me wiser with a stronger judgement and gave me the strength to know when to walk away from an opportunity.
We seldom catch up on tree work for we have other duties and sources of income. This area population is sparse so there's a huge gap for income potential between doing it part time and making it full time.

WTF?

 

[treeclimber101]

WTF?

I have a feeling there's some issues there !

 

[Teddpster]

A little background. I'm in northern california. I do residential prunes and removals. I do mostly backyard and front yard stumps. I don't climb large trees anymore nothing over 60ft. I may get 50-60 ft off the ground twice a yr. Mostly small stuff as i do most of my jobs alone. The small stumps i deal with in my area go for 50-100 apiece. With a 13h i can get through 5-10 stumps a day. Stumps 4' and up go 125 on up. Most i've charged for a stump using a 13h is 275 . But those stumps are few and far between. Anyway i'd usually set up a stump day and do nothing but stumps renting the machine which goes for 110 for 24 hrs. So now i've saved the money and i want to get my own. 50 stumps and the machine is paid for. For the past several yrs. i've rented the same machine and it's always a hastle for me to get them to have sharp teeth ready for me on the machine so i end up sharpening the dmn things myself. Point is i dn't have alot of experience with other 13 h stumpers. That's why i'd like to get your guys opinions on other machines this size. My main concerns are durability, design and being able to get the machine deep. I just dn't want to get a machine and find because poor disign of the head or someting i cn't get a good angle to go down. Also it's a bumber the husqvarna isn't a pull behind because i do all my stumps alone most of the time, so i'm not going to have help lifting it and i'd prefer not to add a small trailer to my already limited space. A pull behind will most likely meet my needs. Any input on bluebird or any other brand would be much appreciated.

Get the Husqvarna SG13. I've owned and been using that model for 7 years and let me tell you, it's very durable. With that said, however, getting replacement parts can be pricey and may take a little bit as some of the parts (alot actually) have be even discontinued, but there are plenty of aftermarket parts, for example, the cutting wheel is discontinued but there is a better replacement option that is half the price. Instead of 500 for a cutting wheel, you'll pay 250. And the replacement uses different teeth that make sharpening much much easier. That's just one example. Parts are available all over the internet so don't let that deter you.bthe husky is a great option and you won't be disappointed. As for a towing hitch. The machine weighs 235 pounds. What I have done is use a ramp which you can easily make to load and unload the grinder in your truck or even van. When I first started I used a 2004 Honda odyss to transport my grinder. Worked great. Anyway, there is other grinder models but none in the same class that is as good.the next closest would be the bluebird SG13 which is identical to the sg13'in fact I think the only difference is the cutting wheel is not as good as the husky. Otherwise yeah the SG13 will allow you to completely remove stumps (12 inches deep) and that's all you need. Buy it. You won't regret it.

 

[pdqdl]

Get the Husqvarna SG13...

I'm afraid that the original poster has probably made his decision by now. You probably didn't notice it, but you responded to a 16 year old post.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I'm afraid that the original poster has probably made his decision by now. You probably didn't notice it, but you responded to a 16 year old post.

And whowever thinks an sg 13 is a real stump grinder has never run a real one...

 

[pdqdl]

Yeah, but this kind of work is for real men, not those girlie guys that just like to push and pull levers with their delicate hands. Run this bad boy every day, and you will end up rougher and tougher than all the other guys.