The Alpine Magnum stump grinder

NickfromWI

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Anyone ever use one? We are thinking about getting one...

Skip to 1:30 for the good stuff. Dude is tied in while grinding!
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Seems like a powerfully dreadful way of removing my average stump... and a great way to get vibration damage in your hands/wrists/arms.
 
Seems like a powerfully dreadful way of removing my average stump... and a great way to get vibration damage in your hands/wrists/arms.

Used to use one with an old mcculloch as the drive and yes the vibrations are like nothing else I have ever used, your arms are numb by the time that stump is ground out but it is very tight access.:cry:
 
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  • #6
I think we need one. I would guess that MAYBE 20%-30% of the stumps we do can be accessed with a typical drive up stump grinder. We sub all our stumps out but only one guy in town has the alpine mag and he gets most of the grinding work because he has that machine. I'm not sure if I wanna take on the maintenance and all that...but right now we have clients that are not being served as quick as I'd like. I'm thinking this might be the logical next step.

Obviously any other "normal" stump grinder could beat this thing in almost any stump grinding competition, but when access is a factor, I'm assuming nothing can come close to what this machine can do. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
 
I know nothing about the Alpine but I did have the baby US Praxis stumper for a bit it weighed 120lbs but it could fit in the trunk of a car and ground "ok".
 
A friend in Tuscan uses handle bar grinders because they're light enough to load by hand and lift into areas by hand.

I was pondering what kind of hourly rate I would want for the Alpine... I came up with $2-300/hr and a 60-75% hour (time to rest arms and hands and restore blood flow).

Liability for employee safety would appear to be extremely high.
 
As I've written here a few times I've had an AM for years. Some points:

Teeth dull easily. So, either dig as much as needed (depends on level of rockiness of soil), or use dull teeth to clear all around the stump and roots.

Teeth are about $8.50 each, and easy to change. Can be resharpened a few times with a Greenwheel.

Simple to maintain . Just change teeth, clean saw filter, and run full syn mix at 40-1 or lower ratio. Belt rarely needs adjusting.

Two different teeth... the regular tooth has a more radical cutting angle, and thus dulls more easily. Therefore, I use more rock teeth. but, if kept quite sharp, the machine grinds quickly.

The machine is hard on the body, and does cause my hands to go numb... but so do many things, like sleeping on my left arm. The right never goes numb. I need to find a good chiro, or a hot massage gal.....

I average close to $160 hr with it, which includes time digging and changing teeth. After prep work, a 12" stump with a few roots will only take 6-10 minutes to grind to 10-12" below grade.

I don't use it much, as most stumps can be reached by my sub with a Rayco 50...

I don't have the transport wheels, which would be nice. I carry it in my pickup, so don't take the time to disassemble it.

I have mine powered by a Husky 3120, which I got used for $1100....included 43" and 72 bars, which added to the 42 and 60 quiver for my other woods ported 3120.

Largest stump I've ground had a total area of close to 100 sq feet. Prolly took 4-5 hours, got $900, iirc.
 
I have Willie's old machine and love it on smaller stumps. It saves us from have to make extra trips. I think it would definitely pay for itself in your market.
 
I agree with Roger, you HAVE to clean around the stump to grind efficiently.
If no one else can get to it, charge the neck out of it.
Buy the wheel kit, you won't regret that.
Maintenance is cake, buy the grinding wheel and a cheap grinder.
Take the cap of the oil tank, that way no one can put oil in it.
Sold mine to Darin, haven't heard about it, maybe he'll sell it
 
we have one, and we use it quite often. echoing squish and willie, keep the teeth SHARP! change them often and you can get a few sharpenings out of them, if you round over the edge too much it becomes near impossible to get the edge back. ive used those thick anti vibration gloves with fair results. we usually send out two guys if the job is bigger so they can tag team and give each other breaks. pro tip: if you have the wheels, dont leave the machine standing in the shop where some dumbass can knock it over and crack the throttle handle :big-mad-no:
 
It does have it's niche. I see us eventually having one now that we are doing more trees in residential areas.. Grinding stumps in tight little planters would be a plus. If we land more commercial accounts in town, I will probably pull the trigger faster. Multilevel areas lend to planters that people plant little trees in that soon get too big. :|:
I could see where Nick would benefit by having one in the LA areas.
 
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  • #14
Is this the only micro-grinder on the market?

We tried air spading stumps out but sometimes get surprised by what we find below ground. I don't want surprises.


love
nick
 
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  • #19
Ive used that dosko. It'll do the job for sure. I will say you need a second guy to load it in a high truck. Ramps into a compact pickup would do the trick. Same applies to raised beds. Two planks that ride along with it is a must unless you have a brute on your payroll.
 
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  • #25
It's not a matter of if they are shit or not. It's a question of, is there a better way. If you gotta walk down a hundred stairs to get to the stump, I'm thinking there's nothing better than the alpine magnum. Around LA, a super high percentage of our stump are not accessible with conventional machines. I won't hesitate to charge $500 for a $150 stump that no one else can do!
 
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