Stump grinder build

[redheelerdog]

Managed to salvage the main pivot bracket that I messed up. I ended welding the off cut to the top of the Bracket which allowed me to move the pivot point down to the centre of the bracket.
Made another sketchy setup on the mill to notch a piece of heavy angle iron for the cross tube. Don't judge my welds

I won't, but I am a welding inspector, in the business the last 37 years.

 

[MELEON]

Got a little more done today


I also picked up a new toy

 

[TMGT]

Looking good, how much travel are you figuring you'll have?

 

[MELEON]

I think the travel will be close to 30” side to side, and about 10” below grade.

I’m hoping to get the horizontal cylinder mounted today, so I’ll have a better indication of swing and make sure nothing binds.

 

[MELEON]

Made the brackets and attached the horizontal cylinder today. It’s starting to look like something.
I’m considering lowering the 3pt hitch pins to get a little more ground clearance for transport. (Of course I welded those solid)




And horizontal swing is closer to 24”
Which is more than I’ll need for my trees so I guess I can live with that.

 

[TMGT]

I would agree about lowering the 3pt lower pun mounts.
Transport height is good, but my theory is that by lowering the lower pin mounting points to where the 3py arms are about or below level they will be less apt to lift under load.

24" is pretty good for the swing, the Woods is only 20" and the most I've seen is 28". Less swing also puts less stress on the driveline.

 

[redheelerdog]

Progress is looking good, I want to see this baby fire up and kill some stumps.

 

[MELEON]

Me too! I just spent 200$ on hydraulic hoses and fittings and still forgot 4 fittings.
Last night I tore apart a brand new gear box to flip the bevel geaR to the opposite side of the shaft so it would spin the cutting wheel in the right direction.
(Pro tip, make sure you know from which direction you are looking the gear box when you spec CW or CCW rotation. )


Does anyone know if a breather is required on the gear boxes?
Mine came with two plugs, no breather.

 

[TMGT]

All the gearboxes I have are vented, based on how much heat it will generate I'd suggest making it vented.
A couple of mine just have a hole in the fill plug, due to the dusty dirty nature of a stump grinder I'd get something like sintered bronze to keep the gunk out.

 

[MELEON]

Since I’m mounting this 90 degrees to how it would be used on a rotary mower would it require a different amount of oil?

Also it didn’t come with an owners manual and I’ve had no luck searching the numbers that are stamped on it.
Any recommendations on how to check the proper amount and type of oil.
If it where installed on a rotary mower both filler plugs would be on top of the gearbox. In that configuration you could fill it until the oil came out of the lower hole.
The way I’ll be mounting it, it looks like that might work if that’s enough oil.

 

[ArlyA]

You should have enough oil in so as to wet the bearings and gears.

 

[deezler]

Build is looking great so far, nice fab work.

Since your 3-pt (and everyone else's) has no down pressure, how do you keep this thing from thrashing around violently when you use it? I am having a hard time imagining how this would not just bounce around violently all the time. If you can't tell, I've never used or seen one of these tractor versions run. So the cutting action is towards the tractor, right? That could help it "dig in" so to speak, but wont using your vertical hydraulic cylinder just raise the "stand" part on your 3-pt hitch instead of force the cutter down?

 

[MELEON]

Most of the 3pt hitch mounted grinders I have seen spin away from tractor.
I think the combination of weight and speed of the fly wheel along with cutting into the side keeps it from lifting.
That said I am expecting a little violence.

 

[MELEON]

Tested out the hydraulics on the grinder tonight! It really works well. I’m pretty stoked!

Homemade Stump Grinder Articulation - YouTube

 

[redheelerdog]

Nice! That baby has some stroke distance both horizontal and vertical. :thumbsup:

When do we get to see it in action? When, when?

 

[TMGT]

Nice, gald to see your making progress.

Have you thought about an adjustable flow restrictor for the swing cylinder? Would keep you have having to regulate the cutting speed with the remote which seems like it would get tedious pretty quick.

 

[MELEON]

I gave it a quick test tonight.
It was too late and too many mosquitoes to get anyone to volunteer to take any video unfortunately.

It runs well at 540 PTO rpm. It has a small rough spot coming up to speed.

And yes, I think an orifice is in order. It’s totally doable, but as you say, it’ll get tedious quickly feathering the lever.

 

[redheelerdog]

That's great! Really good build. Looks like it did a great job on that stump. :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing!

 

[otlski]

Very awesome!
Is your flywheel disk keyed to the transmission shaft?

 

[MELEON]

Yes it is keyed. If I had it to do over again I would have looked harder for a splined shaft. But I think it will be fine.