Stump grinder tractor

For brakes I figure it only really needs one. Just needs to stop it from rolling and keep it stopped if it jostles around.

There is a lever on the axle that actuates the brake pads to engage. Surprisingly it has disk brakes, a very crude yet effective solution was put in place.

3/4” ID gas pipe was welded to a clevis that has a built in swivel to allow rotation of the pipe. The pipe runs towards the front and a 3/4” pin slides into the end of the pipe. Another 3/4” pin was welded to the top of the pipe and a steel tab welded to the frame. The tab has a radius that allows the 3/4” pin to slide on it increasing brake tension. Easy to set and works well.


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First shake down today.


Took out 4 pine stumps with it. Needs more guards, a lot more. Some type of firewall, belly pan and lower guards that drag the ground. Glad I went with the dual element air filter because it can really kick up some dirt. It’s got some belt slip, need to sand the clutch pulley and tighten the tensioner spring up. It can take quite the bite out of a stump. Going to have a bit of a learning curve as to not take too big of a bite. First run was a big win. Very stoked with its performance, the Wisconsin has great power as well.

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My boys wanted to name it and we decided on Chomper 2. Chomper 1 was a 5ft brush hog that I cleared 34 acres of over grown forest in central Florida with. It was possibly a King Kutter, it had a blue aluminum gear box and KK style sides. My Dad and I picked it up around Lake City for $250. The stump jumper was toast so I built one because I wasn’t able to remove the hub from the shaft. Built a dog house for the gear box and added a big piece of angle iron so it would push branches upward in reverse. This made it a solid mount allowing for no movement, that meant more down pressure. It chopped tons of palmettos and 4” diameter oaks. The blade knocked off the hub probably 6 times and just kept rewelding them back on. I absolutely trashed it, it was awesome, I loved it.

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I even knocked off the dog house and ran it over.
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Chomper 1 is in the scrap pile but we have this badge or honor still. Going to clean it up and put it on the business end of Chomper 2. Don’t let the gator get ya.
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Decided the only way to work all the bugs out was to get it in the trenches and on the job site. 27 stumps in a swamp ranging from 5” to 48”. Sorry no pictures or videos, I have a flip phone (yes they still exist) so pictures and videos only happen when my wife is around. Anyways, burned 5 gallons of gas through it. Started with a loose bolt that caused the gas tank to fall off. That busted some **** in the tank loose and the float valve got stuck. Some messing around with it got it back up and running good. First belt had some prior slippage from the shakedown. It lasted about 2 hours before it fried. Quick run to the parts store and got new one. With the new belt, oh boy! This thing kicks some serious ass. Ran it after that for 4 hours straight with zero problems. It is a belt eater if you aren’t careful. If you wedge the wheel and it stops under power you have to be very quick to kick the throttle down. If you don’t it starts eating the belt instantly. Takes about a minute to change the belt. I plan on having like 10 on hand at all times. V belts-for-less has them for pretty cheap. Once you get a good rhythm going with the hydraulics it’s cuts smooth and fast. Some ergonomical tweaks here and there but besides that it came out swinging. Nothing that needs to be reworked or redone. The work I did with it today alone has payed for around 60% of the build (not including labor).
 
back woods said:
Decided the only way to work all the bugs out was to get it in the trenches and on the job site. 27 stumps in a swamp ranging from 5” to 48”. Sorry no pictures or videos, I have a flip phone (yes they still exist) so pictures and videos only happen when my wife is around. Anyways, burned 5 gallons of gas through it. Started with a loose bolt that caused the gas tank to fall off. That busted some **** in the tank loose and the float valve got stuck. Some messing around with it got it back up and running good. First belt had some prior slippage from the shakedown. It lasted about 2 hours before it fried. Quick run to the parts store and got new one. With the new belt, oh boy! This thing kicks some serious ass. Ran it after that for 4 hours straight with zero problems. It is a belt eater if you aren’t careful. If you wedge the wheel and it stops under power you have to be very quick to kick the throttle down. If you don’t it starts eating the belt instantly. Takes about a minute to change the belt. I plan on having like 10 on hand at all times. V belts-for-less has them for pretty cheap. Once you get a good rhythm going with the hydraulics it’s cuts smooth and fast. Some ergonomical tweaks here and there but besides that it came out swinging. Nothing that needs to be reworked or redone. The work I did with it today alone has payed for around 60% of the build (not including labor).
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Badass
 
Ok, got some pictures at the job site. One thing that I find a little surprising is I already have to rotate the cutter teeth. They dulled up a faster than expected, maybe 30 stumps. My 3pt grinder teeth seem to last a little longer. The weight of it masks dull teeth though. 12 hours on the job site today, good days work.
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Needs about a 6ft panel of lexan to stand behind.
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Had to bring the 850 Deere along to haul some big cedar stumps and grind a couple real big stumps.
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Been real busy stump grinding lately. Mostly with my John Deere because 80% of the jobs require the use of the grapple smoothing out mounds of dirt or hauling out debris. Got some better guards built around the cutter head that work good. Made a lever for the forward/reverse that I can reach from the side I stand on. This way I can creep forward as I am grinding, this makes things go 5x smoother and faster. Now I need to paint it and the weather is just finally getting nice enough to do so.



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back woods said:
It is a belt eater if you aren’t careful. If you wedge the wheel and it stops under power you have to be very quick to kick the throttle down. If you don’t it starts eating the belt instantly. Takes about a minute to change the belt. I plan on having like 10 on hand at all times. V belts-for-less has them for pretty cheap.
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rig up a pedal on the tensioner, like a lawn mower 'clutch' pedal
**** goes wrong; stomp on the pedal and back off
 
A few weeks ago I broke the PTO shaft because I removed the vertical limiter and the shaft slipped apart. The yoke on the gear box broke but the cardan was still good. Having a limited range handicapped its functionality. Decided to make a shaft that would allow the hydraulics to use their full range. Total game changer, now it can easily grind a 2ft tall stump.

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Have been thinking about changing the belt tensioner. Was running a spring tensioner that caused the belt to slip and it randomly cut a belt in half today. Decided it needed a solid mount tensioner. Made this out of some pieces of PTO driveshaft. Now it has some cutting force instead of relying on inertia. It can even cut a tree down and grind the stump all at once.

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Would restricting the fluid to the ram make it operate smoother for you? Otherwise it looks like it’s kicking ass.
 
Been sitting on the back burner for a while, used it at a couple jobs that my bigger tractor wouldn't fit. Decided that I want to build a mulching drum for it. It proved to have enough power to grind stumps so it should turn a small mulcher head no problem. A lot of my work is forest floor clean up, basically dead sticks, limbs, logs, stumps. Not something that calls for a skid steer style mulcher and in most cases would not fit into the types of jobs I would use one for.

I am thinking about building a chain flail but haven't looked into it much yet. A chain flail can keep a smaller diameter drum and still have enough radial swing to get good ground contact.

Looking for a little bit better off-road ability from the tractor. It needs a large counterweight to offset the grinder head, rework some of the hydraulic mounts for more axle articulation and better tires.

I would like to beable to change the mulcher head and the stump grinder in 10 minutes.
 
Working on this thing again, it’s my off season so it’s maintenance time.

First on the list, the PTO clutch is smoked, the 1” to 1-3/8” PTO adapter has a ton of slop from breaking during the season. Getting rid of the 1” 15 spline shaft and converting to 1” keyed shaft. Bought an off the shelf 1” keyed to 1-3/8” PTO shaft to replace the custom piece I made. Converting the clutch to straight drive pulleys. Engine pulley 3” diameter dual pulley (5/8” belt) and the PTO pulley is a 7”, both on 1” keyed shafts. The belts will be engaged via idler pulley tensioned by an acme screw with handle.

The throttle was never good so I got a throttle control from a china mini ex. Has a handle with a knob on the top of it to lock it. New plastic gas tank will replace the old steel one that was mounted to the motor. New will be mounted on the frame. Putting together a 160lb counterweight as well as the relocated to the back of the unit. This should get everything spinning reliably.
 
2nd gen PTO, the 1st was actually only 25mm, maybe I knew this and ignored it but the 15spline adapter on the original was 1” causing a lot of play on the shaft. Everything is 1” now, was able to find replacement bearings that are 1” as well.

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wow I like the display of just how much wear the one groove in that two groove pulley got

see it a bunch in really high hour stuff, but you only built this guy a couple years ago, really seeing some use and getting **** done, man
 
[486] said:
wow I like the display of just how much wear the one groove in that two groove pulley got

see it a bunch in really high hour stuff, but you only built this guy a couple years ago, really seeing some use and getting **** done, man
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I’d like to take credit for working that much, but the groove was turned on a lathe to fit a larger spec belt.
 
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