Stump grinders

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  • #31
Anybody here have a mini articulator? They look like they'd do less lawn damage.
 
I do not. I am running an s800tx Vermeer and work in some very soft yards so I went with the flotation of tracks over wheels. Believe me if an articulated loader had the floatation of a track loader I would have gone that route.
Carl should be checking in a bit I would think.
 
I think the mini articulating loader would be the way to go over a tracked mini. We have a had a tracked mini for 10 years now and will be switching to an articulated mini as soon as it comes in here this spring. After seeing how well our bigger wheel loader does, I am convinced that wheel loaders are the way to go.

I agree with everyone that says to buy a machine to forward material before investing in a stump grinder. I remember how big of a game changer it was at the time when we first purchased ours.
 
Carl had a video of a small articulated loader with a telescopic boom, IIRC. Maybe with a power rotator. From what I recall, that looked like the real deal. Can't recall the manufacturer. It would be a big step up from my mini.

Have I mentioned how much I love having a material handler that doesn't get tired, hungry, sick, hungover, tardy, and does exactly what I ask it to do? A hurt machine is a way easier fix, sometimes within hours.
 
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  • #36
How do the wheel loaders do on uneven ground or steep grades? I'm not in the mountains by any means but it's pretty hilly here. The last guy I worked for had a pretty sweet tractor but that thing always felt so damn tipsy.
 
Better to grind slowly, pulling levers, than bust your back. Its not the years, its the miles.
 
I rented a "31HP" Barreto, it is way better than the Vermeer sc30tx (25hp) for 3 reasons: more HP, green teeth instead of Vermeer yellow jacket teeth, and a much wider sweep (134degrees, might as well be 180 if 180 wasn't useless). The separate lever for up/down control is nice, but the hour/tach can't be seen during use. 1 hand operated clutch button on the sweep lever, and just release the trigger before the engine stalls if need be. The green teeth and few extra HP made a big difference, but it still needs a bit more power. Luckily they have an identical 37HP version with thicker wheel. The sc30tx wasn't so bad running around 30-35hp when the governor got stuck open, so the 37HP Barreto should be great.
 
Using the tach to monitor engine load?

I bought a Rayco RG80 a couple years ago, been pretty happy with it.

~36klb of material removed from those two pine stumps
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Yeah. It doesn't matter so much with more HP, but I was watching it a lot with the sc30tx because there's a peak power rpm to aim for, and an rpm where the torque sharply drops off, which is helpful to know when I'm pushing it to the edge of its miserably few HP.

I didn't check, but I don't think the Barreto can get dirt compackted in it in such a way that prevents the wheel from lowering, while the sc30tx does have that problem. I had to rent the Barreto because the Vermeer only got the stumps to just below ground level before it really struggled to both grind more and go lower. I found out as I was cleaning it to take it back that compacted dirt may have prevented it from going deeper. I never maxed out the depth on the Barreto.
 
That RG85 has something like autofeed that's adjustable from the remote.... but you can still stall it. I think I remember watching the tach on my Bandit ZT1844 that had the 38hp Kohler. I can certainly say I don't miss it.


Grinding deep is fun if you're getting paid for it and have the equipment to get the crap out of the way. We checked depth with a laser to make sure we were deep enough for the construction plans/requirements.

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