Safety Programs-When budgets get tight

[Shaun Bowler]

Hypothetically thinking...
Lets say you have a 20 year old Pro-Mark, self propelled stump grinder.
Lets say you have had multiple injuries to personnel, multiple claims for property damage, and a Director sending a memo out to the department making this tool obselete-10 years ago.
The ProMark was supposed to be sent away to auction.
Instead it was stuck/forgotten in the back of an old shed and a much smaller Husky was purchased.
2009/2010
Major budget cuts to the department.
Hey Tree Crew, guess what I found?
We will now begin using this (ProMark) stump grinder so I do not have to pay an outside contractor to do the stumps contracted out before the budget crisis.
FYI
An outside contractor is doing @80 large stumps this fiscal year.
What do you people think

 

[pdqdl]

I think you will need to buy some new stump grinder teeth.

Safer and faster!

 

[Shaun Bowler]

More detail..
Hypothetical detail..
Hypothetically we will be using the Promark to remove stumps in an urban area, for immediate replacement with 15 gallon trees.
The 80 stumps we will will be removing are 16 inched and less.
Please consider the urban area we work in is full of Underground Utilities.
Sixteen inches is "the top" of the stump.
Not the root crown or other large roots that emerge @ concrete and lawns.
Unerground Service Alert (USA) does a great job marking the lines.
However do nothing regarding depth.
A 20 year old Pro Mark has the grinding wheel in front, @6-8 feet from the operator.
An operator has NO idea what the "wheel is doing."
I am not attempting to get out of using this apparatus.
However it has been "declared obsolete" for many valid reasons.

 

[pdqdl]

If they are what I remember, they are pretty typical of the units found in rental yards. They are not really that bad to use, just a whole lot more sweaty backbreaking work than a good commercial unit with hydraulic controls.

 

[BC WetCoast]

More detail..
Hypothetical detail..
Hypothetically we will be using the Promark to remove stumps in an urban area, for immediate replacement with 15 gallon trees.
The 80 stumps we will will be removing are 16 inched and less.
Please consider the urban area we work in is full of Underground Utilities.
Sixteen inches is "the top" of the stump.
Not the root crown or other large roots that emerge @ concrete and lawns.
Unerground Service Alert (USA) does a great job marking the lines.
However do nothing regarding depth.
A 20 year old Pro Mark has the grinding wheel in front, @6-8 feet from the operator.
An operator has NO idea what the "wheel is doing."
I am not attempting to get out of using this apparatus.
However it has been "declared obsolete" for many valid reasons.

Time to put on your big boy pants and make sure you take lots of plywood.

I can't see the wheel of either the Bandit 27hp self propelled I normally use or the Bluebird stand behind we rent when we don't have access. Practice on a couple of open stumps, you'll figure it out.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Those old Pro Marks are heavy. Has the bigger tires. Has a centrifigal clutch so chances are the cutting wheel will be turning some if idled up to load it or move. Like all of those types of grinders, you cannot see what the cutting wheel is doing, but you can see what it has done, from there it is more of a feel. Instead of using the brake while grinding, use the forward and backward lever to make it easier.
Jeff

 

[lxt]

not to be mean......well ok maybe, thats kinda an entry level grinder & personally I wouldnt even want to operate that thing.....dump gas on it & set it on fire.........let the sub have those stumps untill you get a machine thats productive!!!!!



LXT................