Re-bar takes its toll on stump grinder

[troytreeclimber]

We are in the final phase of this years street tree replacement program. I was digging a hole in a curb lawn with our Rayco stump grinder. I was getting into a lot of rocks so I slowed the machine down to avoid throwing them too far. I heard a loud noise and thought I was hitting a large rock. All of a sudden the engine stalled. When I looked around I couldn't believe what I saw. A piece of rebar was sticking about 4' out of the ground. The grinder wheel wrapped the rebar 8 complete turns around the shaft and broke the shaft bearing carrier.:jawdrop: It took two of us using a spud bar and a cut off saw to free the rebar from the wheel and shaft. Apparently the rebar was supposed to be in the new curb but was buried in the ground as we found two other complete pieces burried as well.

 

[Dadatwins]

Welcome, sorry to hear about your machine. Lucky/smart for you that you were running slow when you hit the rebar, I have seen it fly out like missile. Street tree stumps are usually the worst, my worst day grinding was hitting some old cast iron tree grates that were buried in a stump. Running a Carlton 7500 series at full rev I hit the grate and knocked out the whole outer ring of the wheel, bolts all sheered, teeth/sparks flying everywhere. Some shrapnel took out the back window of the truck and left a nice dent in the other truck parked close by. No one hurt is the main thing. Be careful.

 

[undercut]

sucks

i got some barbed wire fence wrapped up in my wheel once. i used a hand metal grinder since i always carry one. if it was thick like the rebar i would have grabbed a torch an extremely usefull tool for stump grinding. this kind of thing can be very dangerous. better luck next time.