What kind of Grinder

[hoping and praying]

I have had an interest in cutting and trimming trees for quite some time which during that time acquired a collection of 5 powersaws being a Stilh 441, 2 290's, a smaller Stilh with a 14" bar. along with a Craftsman with an 18" bar. I recently decided to go into the stump grinding business and have been looking at a Rayco 1625 JR with less than a thousand hours on it and a Verneer 252 with 1100 hours on it. Both appear clean although I intend to inspect them prior.. But with ya'll's experience, which is the best grinder to start out with? Upon inspecting, what should I look for and pay extra and keen attention to? What is the life expectancy of a machine as far as hours and proper PMCS considering all factors are constant and the machine is properly maintained and serviced? Any and all help will be much appreciated..

 

[no tree to big]

If I recall life expectancy of a 25hp kohler is about 1000 to 1500 hrs.... jus a heads up (common motor on those units)

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[dontbthatguy]

I started with a rayco 1625 an made a decent part time living with it for 3 years. I had some bad luck and basically blew through 2 motors but they are relatively cheap to replace. I opted to reblock both time at a cost of 1500-1800 bucks. Both units will probably have that same kohler ch25.

I always liked my rayco. As long as I could cut the stump flush to the ground I could pretty much handle any stump thrown my way. I rented a diesel a few times to tackle the monster stumps I would come across and at the end of the day, the 35hp diesel wasn't quick enough to justify the huge expense of buying one.

I did recently upgrade to a 44hp diesel and the difference is night and day. I would absolutely recommend that, but now your looking at spending 15,000- 20,000 more than you probably want to spend.

I will say however I would recommend upgrading to the Greenwheel by green teeth. I used a regular green teeth setup for a year and a half and then upgraded to the greenwheel. Once I adjusted to the grinding style change, I cut my grind time by 25% easily and also the greenwheel allows for less maintenance and tooth cost.

Any specific rayco questions let me know!

 

[MSgtBob66]

I rented a 252 before I bought my 1625. No comparison, but they both have their quirks. New motor about $2000, check the forum for re-power. Look for loose bushings and bearings.You better like turning a wrench or you'll be sorry. Greenteeth are the way to go with these smaller machines.

Bob

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

If I recall life expectancy of a 25hp kohler is about 1000 to 1500 hrs.... jus a heads up (common motor on those units)

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That's a pretty good ballpark for most any of the "lawn tractor" type engines. Was one reason I went with a diesel on my firewood processor. Plus a gas engine in that size sucks down fuel. I've never gotten better than about 2 gals an hour out of them.

 

[066blaster]

i have a sc 252 , 25 horse kohler, it has greenteeth on it. it works good, but on bigger stumps (20 inch or bigger) i wish i had more power. if i wasnt so greedy i wouldnt even grind stumps over 25 inches with it.

 

[Oldmaple]

What size stumps will you generally grinding? Takes a while for the smaller machines to grind a larger stump, but it can be done. Sharp teeth on the smaller (lower horsepower) machines are a must. Greenteeth are good as they are cheaper, quick and easy to change to a sharp edge. My choice between vermeer and rayco would hinge on parts supply. If you have a dealer local, many parts are available and a broken machine can be back in business today.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I have first hand experience with 3 Kohler CH740 25hp engines mounted to Buffalo turbine blowers. I'm no fan of them but they lasted well over 3000 hrs running 4-6 hrs everyday for over 2 years. But.....they burned oil at a rate of 2oz per hour. That is a quart every 8 hrs. The reservoir only holds two quarts. The best part is this. That rate of oil consumption is within factory specs!!!
The equipment these engines were on were leased for 5 years so I got to short block all three at a cost of 1200 dollars per short block. If you had to have the work done to do the short block it would end up costing only slightly less than installing a brand new engine yourself. Keep the plugs changed because with that kind of oil consumption the plugs only go for around 2-300 hours. If you run the next hotter plug you can slightly waylay the carbon build up that comes from this kind of oil consumption.

All of the demises of these engines were directly related to the oil consumption. One got such bad carbonization on the head and piston that some of finally started getting into the valve seats. It ended up cracking the exhaust valve. Another one was similar. The carbon build up in the combustion chamber led to pre ignition that eventually wore a hole straight through the piston. The other was also similar. The carbon build up caused a hot spot that could not be adequately cooled. (Air cooled engine). This caused drastically high temps in the combustion chamber and caused the rings to stick which furthered oil burning and then the piston melted from the high temps.

All these problems happened after I had disassembled and decarbonized the Pistons and combustion chambers and replaced the head gaskets a year earlier. So those engines actually lasted those two years with a pretty major service done in the middle.

I've had two of these engines get a bad coil. This is not such a big deal. The funny and messed up thing about it is this though. This particular engine had a variable ignition timing system on it. The system was lousy. Basically there was so little variation on it it was worthless as a system but the engine still made spark fine. Well, when the ignition module went out on one of them I went to order the part and found there was an updated part number for. Turns out the updated part number was not for one ignition module but and entire changeover kit. Thankfully you could use the existing flywheel. It was 2 new modules that were the "older style" magneto reverse induction (or whatever it is called). You bypassed the variable timing computer module by cutting some wires and just set it up like a basic small engine. Genius.

Nonetheless it is a commercial series engine that fared well enough and long enough running at max RPMs for most of an average workday. When asked to give an overall assessment of these engines I can say they are basically a good engine but they burn oil like a son of a gun.