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Is there any money in tree stump grinding?

back woods said:
Got the flail mower, put it together and started mowing some stuff. Was going great until I got into some brush maybe 1.5” or so. All of a sudden it starts hammering the shit out of the deck with the blades. Wtf, stop and look at it and half the blades are touching or within 1/8” or less from making contact. Design flaw by the looks of things.
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Got my replacement mower, they made everything right in a big way. Upgraded my mower to a fully enclosed deck (+$200), sent a set of forged hammers (+$360) and an extra set of belts (+$40). Very pleased with their customer service and how they handled things. Now I have 2 sets of hammers and belts, should last me for quite a while.
 
Factory belts were garbage so I got a set of Kevlar replacements. Got to give it a pretty good workout today. It can take down a pretty good size tree and turn it to mulch with ease. I used to think my 5ft brush hog could really tear the brush up, no comparison. Here is a video.

 
Mowed down, ready for some stump grinding.

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We did a few brushing jobs that were similar. Always neat to see the transformation :smokin:
 
Can anyone identify what model this Levco stump grinder is? My Google-fu has failed me. Seller say's it's got a Moline engine, so I'd guess it's '60s era.

"Ran when parked years ago and everything spins free." Asking $1K. I'm not afraid to put a little sweat equity into it, but I need a stump grinder more than a project.

Levco Moline Stump Grinder.jpg
 
The real money is taking the tree down. The tree guys I know don’t want anything to do with the stump, they’ll leave it for somebody else.
 
Gdogg said:
The real money is taking the tree down. The tree guys I know don’t want anything to do with the stump, they’ll leave it for somebody else.
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Thus driving up the stumping market. Next week I have a 2-3 acre stumping job for a customer after he had the pine trees cut off his property. 25 ton excavator and beer I should have it knocked out on a few days.
 
Gdogg said:
The real money is taking the tree down. The tree guys I know don’t want anything to do with the stump, they’ll leave it for somebody else.
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We do it all from chemical treatments to keep them healthy to grinding the stumps. The real money is being a 1 stop shop.
 
I prefer to dig around them a bit and push them over, stump and all.
 
1oddtech said:
Thus driving up the stumping market. Next week I have a 2-3 acre stumping job for a customer after he had the pine trees cut off his property. 25 ton excavator and beer I should have it knocked out on a few days.
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A few days for 2-3 acres? :eek:

An afternoon maybe. :lmao::flipoff2:
 
2-3 acres of densely packed pine stumps a mile or so back in the woods? If so damn I'm going to make bank on this job. This is going from just cut a couple weeks ago to ready to plant food plots.
 
Gdogg said:
The real money is taking the tree down. The tree guys I know don’t want anything to do with the stump, they’ll leave it for somebody else.
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Alot more overhead, employees and insurance to drop a tree that's why it costs more. What I like about stump grinding is the shorter duration of the jobs. Typically each job is 1-2 hours long, sometimes 3 for a big one. If you are grinding for 3hr+ $$$$$

A tank of fuel in my grinding tractor lasts about a week+. A lot of the times I quote a job and then they find something else for me to take care of when I'm there. I almost never go to a job to quote it without grinding it, id say 75% are show up and grind. Tell me what you have, send me a picture if you can. I'll quote it within $50 and come grind it. My truck burns to much diesel to always be driving to quotes. Most homeowners can't get anyone on the phone so they are glad when I show up.
 
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1oddtech said:
2-3 acres of densely packed pine stumps a mile or so back in the woods? If so damn I'm going to make bank on this job. This is going from just cut a couple weeks ago to ready to plant food plots.
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There's no point in trying to explain to desert methheads how densely the trees can spring up when you have abundant water.
 
arse_sidewards said:
So fucking act like it.
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I am an do. You're supposedly an adult. Act like it.


I'm fucking serious about clearing a couple acres fast. 50k lb machine will work fast. It's just stumps. 2-3 days the fucking place could have footings dug and steel being tied. :lmao:


But, you're the expert.
 
bgaidan said:
With a 25 ton machine? :laughing:
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Need another 10-15 tons if ground has a lot of rocks or if trees are bigger than 2 feet in diameter.

It’s usually a lot easier to push the trees over than to stump them, if you can.
 
Captain Call said:
I am an do. You're supposedly an adult. Act like it.


I'm fucking serious about clearing a couple acres fast. 50k lb machine will work fast. It's just stumps. 2-3 days the fucking place could have footings dug and steel being tied. :lmao:


But, you're the expert.
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A white pine plantation has 700 trees an acres. You’re not gonna get 2-3 acres stumped in a half day with a baby 25t hoe. :lmao::flipoff2:
 
back woods said:
Alot more overhead, employees and insurance to drop a tree that's why it costs more. What I like about stump grinding is the shorter duration of the jobs. Typically each job is 1-2 hours long, sometimes 3 for a big one. If you are grinding for 3hr+ $$$$$

A tank of fuel in my grinding tractor lasts about a week+. A lot of the times I quote a job and then they find something else for me to take care of when I'm there. I almost never go to a job to quote it without grinding it, id say 75% are show up and grind. Tell me what you have, send me a picture if you can. I'll quote it within $50 and come grind it. My truck burns to much diesel to always be driving to quotes. Most homeowners can't get anyone on the phone so they are glad when I show up.
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Raise your prices
 
Lee said:
Can anyone identify what model this Levco stump grinder is? My Google-fu has failed me. Seller say's it's got a Moline engine, so I'd guess it's '60s era.

"Ran when parked years ago and everything spins free." Asking $1K. I'm not afraid to put a little sweat equity into it, but I need a stump grinder more than a project.

Levco Moline Stump Grinder.jpg
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Don’t know shit about fuck when it comes to grinders but that grinding drum doesn’t look standard. If it doesn’t take standard teeth that will be a lot of work to adapt it.
 
Captain Call said:
I didn't see where he said a plantation. I was referring to 2-3 acres of dense natural trees.
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Your area dense and up here are way different deals. :lmao: A young forest less than 40 years from the last harvest probably has close to 500 trees an acre naturally. A more mature forest will have way less but they will be huge stumps.

There is a guy up here that can stump 4-5 acres in a half day in a plantation. He uses a stump plucker. It’s insane what that thing can do.

 
Captain Call said:
I didn't see where he said a plantation. I was referring to 2-3 acres of dense natural trees.
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Sorry yes 2-3 acres of PLANTED 20"+ pine cut flush to the ground with a harvester so no leverage available to get the stumps out

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Luckily just 2-3 acres in this tract.

It's taken the loggers about 2 months to cut 50 acres
 
Pocahontas said:
Don’t know shit about fuck when it comes to grinders but that grinding drum doesn’t look standard. If it doesn’t take standard teeth that will be a lot of work to adapt it.
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The seller claims that teeth are still available from Levco. Every drum grinder like that I've found is a PTO powered 3 point attachment. I'm wondering if someone added a pintle hitch and a Minneapolis Moline power unit to a 3 point hitch grinder.

I guess I need to quit avoiding talking to strangers (y'all don't count as strangers) and just ask the seller some questions.
 
Lee said:
The seller claims that teeth are still available from Levco. Every drum grinder like that I've found is a PTO powered 3 point attachment. I'm wondering if someone added a pintle hitch and a Minneapolis Moline power unit to a 3 point hitch grinder.

I guess I need to quit avoiding talking to strangers (y'all don't count as strangers) and just ask the seller some questions.
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Not sure what your budget is but it’s a lot easier to fix things when you have a parts manual then when you’re trying to cobble something back together someone before you redneck engineered. As I’m sure you know.

You usually see those 3-4 wheel Vermeer smaller grinders go for 2-4 in running condition here. I’d hold out for one of those or a nonop version, seems like that would have more utility and better resale if you needed to unload it.
 
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