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A new (to me) 3 point hitch stumpgrinder (?? on teeth??)

Started by Piston, July 02, 2012, 06:57:33 AM

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Piston

I recently purchased a used 3 pt hitch stumpgrinder to use with my tractor.  8)
It attaches to the 3 point hitch and uses the PTO to turn the stump grinding "wheel".  It has 25 teeth on it and of those 25, 8 of them are either chipped or broken and need to be replaced.  I called the manufacturer and the cost of the teeth are $55 per tooth!  :-\

I have read on some other websites that I can find teeth from other manufacturers for as low as $10 per tooth, but they may be different types.

The teeth on my stumpgrinder are all square cut with a carbide tip (the tip being square), but I'm told I can use "rounded" teeth and they will fit just fine.
Does anyone know if the rounded teeth are much different in cutting ability?  Do they cut faster/slower, easier/harder and last any more/less longer? 

Does anyone have a source for stumpgrinding teeth that won't cost an arm and a leg?  If I have to bite the bullet and buy the $55 ones I will, but I'd really rather find something closer to the $10 mark  ;D

The stumpgrinder is a Shaver SC50 and is rated for 35-100hp PTO.  It is identical to the Woods SG100 model that Shaver makes for Woods. 

I believe there is a place in Hudson MA but I can't think of the name of it! 

Does anyone have one of these units and if so, how do you like it?  So far, I'm extremely impressed with mine!  I can't imagine how good it will cut with new teeth! 
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

Al_Smith

This place is 24 bucks a tooth http://www.wikco.com/stump.html

I'd about bet though if you contacted some of these on line suppliers you might find that ten dollar a pop teeth .

Piston

Thanks Al, I'll look into them. 
Here are some pics of the stumpgrinder, first when I picked it up, and then finally on the back of the tractor.  I had some trouble hooking it up as the fittings weren't compatible with what I had on my tractor, and after a couple trips to the hydraulics shop I finally got it working! 



  

  

  

  

  

  

 

As you can probably tell, my tractor is about the smallest you can get away with for this size stumpgrinder, however, it does work surprisingly well, I just can't use it to it's full potential. 

 

 

.....and here are a couple pics of what the teeth look like...

 

 

-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

gspren

  That looks nice, can I borrow it or even better can you bring it to PA and do some demonstrations  ;D
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

sandhills

I'm all for demonstrations too  ;D.  Of course now you know this just leads to a bigger tractor, you have to use every toy uhhhhh, meant to say tool, to it's peak performance you know  :).

clww

Bailey's has a number of different types in their catalog.
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

Piston

I was able to find another site with the teeth I need for just under $15  8)  That should be good enough! 

As for a demonstration, I'd be happy to....if you didn't live in PA  :D

Sandhills,
As far as this leading to a bigger tractor, it's too late, I already had that set it my mind before buying this  :D

I probably wouldn't have purchased it if I wasn't planning on upgrading, only because it really is maxing out my tractor, and I can't use it to anywhere close to it's limit, it will easily stall the tractor of I try to take too big of a bite, in fact, I even need to give it a good amount of power just to get the flywheel spinning  :o

I tried posting a video that I made of the first stump I ground down.  I wasn't able to upload it to my web sharing site because my internet is slow. 

I'll try to do a little update once I get some new teeth on this bad boy and see if I can get a video posted.   ;D

Here are a few more pics...


This is the first stump I tried it out on.  It actually took me quite a long time (about 12 minutes) since I was getting used to the machine and how to use it.  It only cuts in one direction, so you take a pass from right to left, then bring it back to the left, lower it, and take another pass. 


 

....and here it isn't.... :D


 

Here is an example of how it starts out, you start with a pass, lower it, take another pass, and keep doing that until there is no more stump, pretty easy really.   ;)


 
This stump was much bigger, I didn't measure it, but it was larger and flared out quite a bit on the bottom.  I didn't finish this one, the reason was because as I started grinding into it, I thought it made a cool little seat to rest on  :D  I'll probably take it down sometime, I was mostly playing at this point. 

One thing I read on the link that Al provided (great link by the way) was that it's harder to grind pine's than it is hardwoods, and that the teeth won't last as long on pine.  I would have thought it was the other way around?  Does anyone know why?  I'd think it would grind soft wood a lot easier???  ???
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

clww

That is odd! I, too, would think a soft-wood tree would go faster.
12 minutes to grind that stump is fast enough, I think. 8)
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

s grinder

Piston,To grind a 17" stump in 12 minutes isn't bad.Did you take it below surface did you grind out the flairs?When i grind i take my MS660 and cut ground level,then take a pick ax/grub hoe and go around the stump and flairs,rocks are every where in New England.OAK and Maple stumps sometimes have rocks grown right inside them.When grinding if you hear something different, back off your hitting something, keep on lookers at a distance these things will throw rocks and debris all  directions.Finally the softer the wood the harder they grind,i say it's the shear factor,the hard wood seams to shear,the soft wood seams to claw as far as teeth go, rocks are the stump grinders enemy

thecfarm

I'm claiming back grown up pastures and I know white maple stumps will fall apart in about 5 years. Those white pine are still there and are hard. I dig those out in about 5 years and they are just as solid in 5 years as they were when I cut the tree. Too many rocks to try to get the stumps out here. Can't bury them. one buried stump would produce big 4 rocks and more and too many small ones to count.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

DanG

Those teeth don't look bad to me, Piston.  I used to have a Stumpster tractor mounted grinder and I used the teeth until they were completely rounded over.  Frankly, I couldn't tell that much difference with new ones.

A pine stump that is 3 or 4 months old is the worst thing you can find, short of solid granite.  The problem is that the early wood is soft and the late wood is stringy.  The whole thing will end up looking like a broom sticking out of the ground! :D :D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Piston

Once I get more experience with the stumpgrinder I'll have a better idea of what to expect as far as time goes. 

I should have clarified in my above pic of the tooth, but that is an example of the 'good' tooth, just posting it to show what I need.  The ones that need replacing are either really badly chipped, or the carbide tip is missing completely.  I think the former owner found quite a few rocks with it in a short amount of time! 

The place near me that sells the teeth in Hudson MA is www.sharptool.com However, they only sell a 'rounded' tip tooth.  Not sure how much different the performance would be, they explained it as 'thumbnail shaped'.  They will retip the teeth for only $4 if I mail them the bad ones, just not sure about the different shape, I think I'll stick to the ones that the manufacturer recommends. 

-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

bill m

Most times the ones the manufacture recommends are the ones they sell and are more money. A rounded tooth profile will be better in rocky soil but will grind a little slower. Four dollars to retip a tooth is a good price.
NH tc55da Metavic 4x4 trailer Stihl and Husky saws

Jim H

2008 LT40HDG28, autoclutch, debarker, stihl 026, 046, ms460 bow, 066, JD 2350 4wd w/245 loader, sawing since '94 fulltime since '98

pineywoods

Looks a whole lot like my home-made stump grinder. Gearbox off a bush hog, blade is a 20 inch carbide tipped sawblade. Runs on a 50 hp M series kubota..



 



 
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Piston

Pineywoods,
That is impressive  8)

How do you like it?  I'd really love to see how my stumpgrinder perferomed behind a higher hp tractor, something like a 70hp or so.  I think it would demolish stumps! 

Did you make that yourself?  If so, that is one AWESOME project!  I give you credit for coming up with something like that, that there is genious!  Probably a whole lot cheaper than the one I have as well!  :D
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

pineywoods

Yeah, it's all home-made in my shop. Only has 1 hydraulic cylinder, used for left-right swing. didn't need the up-down cylinder, my tractor has a hydraulic top link which does the same thing. Some hard-earned advice.... If it doesn't have one, put a shear bolt in the drive train. You also should have a protective screen of some sort between you and the head, expanded metal attached to the back of the rops or something similar.
Mine has an unusual feature.  the head will rotate 90 deg, putting the cutting blade flat on the ground. Handy for taking out brush and small trees.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Piston

Having the unit tilt 90° would be incredibly helpful for me.  That was a heck of a good idea to incorporate that into it.  I had to switch around some of the bad teeth for some of the good teeth an in order to do that, I have to put the unit on the ground, on the 'parking' stand so that the wheel is only about 2" off the ground (there was no way I was going to just tilt it up and stand under it to get the teeth off)
This was a big pain to get those teeth off, I can see how if it tilted 90° it would have been a whole lot easier than crawling underneath it on the ground! 

I think my grinder must spin the opposite direction as yours.  When it chews up the stump, it throws all the material back, away from the tractor, so the bottom of the wheel is spinning away from the tractor.  I like this because nothing comes towards me when I'm sitting in the seat.  There is a big, thick rubber guard on the back that stops most material, but not all.  Occasionally some chips will go flying out back. 

The hydraulic top link is a godsend  ;D  I don't use it when using the stump grinder but I'm thinking I may if on a hill or slope of some sort to keep the grinder level.  I also see how the side link may come in handy if I need to adjust the angle due to being on a side hill or something? 

It doesn't have a shear bolt but did come with a slip clutch.  I loosened up the slip clutch before I used it for the first time to make sure it was free, then tightened it back up to specs.  I also changed out the gear oil since I had no idea how old or how dirty the stuff that was in there was, turns out it was a waste because the gear oil I took out was still clean as new, but better safe than sorry. 

Do you ever use yours for cutting logs to length?  It looks like with that blade on there you could back up to a log and cut it into firewood lengths pretty quickly   ;D
-Matt
"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

muddstopper

Dont throw those old teeth away. You can buy the carbide and replace just that part of the tooth a lot cheaper than buying all new teeth. Carbide does come in different grades and hardness, so dont just buy the cheapest carbide or carbided tipped tooth you can find.

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