Woodland Mills 3pt Stumpgrinder: review

[dirtydeed]

Mikester, I've had mine (WG24) for several years now. With more than 100 stumps ground it's been great. Just have to live with the awkward neck position to use it. I did get some replacement teeth and rotated the teeth to different positions on the flywheel to increase cutting speed. My tractor doesn't have the nuts to bury the grinder deep enough to get all the teeth cutting so the inner teeth don't get used.

Not sure what machine you intend to put it behind.

 

[bird dogger]

My experience with the WG24 is the same as @dirtydeed above. Exact same tractor as well.....B2650.
There's a little "learning curve", but after a few stumps ground, you find out what your particular tractor likes for feed rate, depth of cut depending on tree stump, etc.

I've played with mounting a rear view camera on the grinder with a display up front to help with the neck strain. It does have a few bugs to be worked out yet. But if you have more than a few stumps to grind at a time, its worth setting up.

If you're just going to hook up and grind a stump or two.....I put up with looking over my shoulder.

The machine is well built and rugged!! But I did find out that it would pay to make sure there is no buried metal or other hard objects next to the stumps prior to grinding. Buried scrap metal next to the stump takes out the carbide teeth in an instant. Have some spare teeth on hand.....just in case. On our 100+ yr old farmstead I'll now get out the metal detector first to clear the area around the stump.

 

[Donystoy]

I have only used my grinder a couple of times since I got it this summer and worked great. I am in the process of installing a camara over the winter. I go around the stump first with a pick looking for stones. Also have a metal detector. Lots of stumps to grind next year.

 

[mikester]

Mikester, I've had mine (WG24) for several years now. With more than 100 stumps ground it's been great. Just have to live with the awkward neck position to use it. I did get some replacement teeth and rotated the teeth to different positions on the flywheel to increase cutting speed. My tractor doesn't have the nuts to bury the grinder deep enough to get all the teeth cutting so the inner teeth don't get used.

Not sure what machine you intend to put it behind.

M59

 

[Sidekick]

I’ve read many reviews and have yet to find a negative one even on longevity. Mine should ship next week.

I have been thinking about one also but recently have read a post by a mechanic saying they are destroying pto parts on smaller machines. Apparently adjusting the springs on the slip coupling is the problem. Many have to over tighten the clutch to get them to work right and that big flywheel can easily damage the pto gears without being able to overrun with the constant load changes. The swing on them helps equalize the load some but cheap slip clutches are the problem. Apparently the Baumalite with gearbox that swings sideways solves the issue and is more controllable but they are expensive. It seems like most have good reviews though. I'm thinking about the Bauma if I can find a deal on one to be safe.

 

[mikester]

I've seen a 24" Baumalight for about the same price as the 28". Same style. WM uses 1" flywheel vs 3/4"

I'd prefer the 36" baumalight with side swing but a used one is 3x the price of the WM.

I'm going to risk the WM unit new on sale. I figure I can probably sell it down the road. Probably won't be much worse on my tractor than running 8" chinesium chipper with 200lbs engine brake.

 

[Pjridge]

just finished clearing about an acre + food plot and ground all the stump about 3” below grade. Only problem I had was about 4 teeth were broken from rocks. Probably 60 plus stumps. Hickory and white oak.