Woodland Mills WG24 Stump Grinder

[NCL4701]

About to order one of these. Have rented in the past and it’s just getting to be too much too often for renting forever. However, not planning to go into the stump grinding business. My L4701 is HST and has 3 rear remotes.

So basically renting is not ideal and although I can’t exactly stop anyone from advocating renting, with all respect, I’m not paying any mind to any such arguments or responding to them. Something like a Baumalight 3P24 looks swell but the price tag is a bit much for something I’m not making money with. I suppose a Vermeer SC-382 would work too if they were all the same price. But they’re not.

As my profile shows, I have a Woodland Mills WC-68 and have been quite pleased with the quality and performance. At first, I was concerned about the quality and effectiveness of the WG24 considering it’s quite low cost compared to alternatives for similar sized PTO grinders. Maybe I still am concerned a little bit.

Based on the parts diagram on Woodland Mills’ website, the relatively low price appears to be primarily explained by an incredibly simple design of a big wheel full of teeth hooked directly to a PTO shaft with a standard PTO shaft type clutch and a forward pressure safety limiter created by the wheel hanging from a hinge on the frame like a pendulum.

Nothing wrong with any of that for my purposes, but much simpler than the more expensive designs that have the base machine relatively stationary and the cutter movement controlled hydraulically.

Seems several here have one of these. Don’t recall ever hearing any negatives.

Anyone know of any negatives with this unit?

 

[Mark_BX25D]

There was a discussion here about them recently. Last week, or maybe two weeks. Take a look for it, I think you'll find it useful.

 

[TheOldHokie]

About to order one of these. Have rented in the past and it’s just getting to be too much too often for renting forever. However, not planning to go into the stump grinding business. My L4701 is HST and has 3 rear remotes.

So basically renting is not ideal and although I can’t exactly stop anyone from advocating renting, with all respect, I’m not paying any mind to any such arguments or responding to them. Something like a Baumalight 3P24 looks swell but the price tag is a bit much for something I’m not making money with. I suppose a Vermeer SC-382 would work too if they were all the same price. But they’re not.

As my profile shows, I have a Woodland Mills WC-68 and have been quite pleased with the quality and performance. At first, I was concerned about the quality and effectiveness of the WG24 considering it’s quite low cost compared to alternatives for similar sized PTO grinders. Maybe I still am concerned a little bit.

Based on the parts diagram on Woodland Mills’ website, the relatively low price appears to be primarily explained by an incredibly simple design of a big wheel full of teeth hooked directly to a PTO shaft with a standard PTO shaft type clutch and a forward pressure safety limiter created by the wheel hanging from a hinge on the frame like a pendulum.

Nothing wrong with any of that for my purposes, but much simpler than the more expensive designs that have the base machine relatively stationary and the cutter movement controlled hydraulically.

Seems several here have one of these. Don’t recall ever hearing any negatives.

Anyone know of any negatives with this unit?

A very obvious negative is it is operated by repeatedly driving the tractor over the stump. That can be problematic in and of itself. The grinding also takes place behind your back where visibility and control are more difficult than a traditional Vermeer type design. Other than that its pretty conventional.

But like you the low unit cost and convenience of owning my own grinder appeals to me. I have watched a number of videos and the grinder flat out works and I am willing to live with that tradeoff. I dont have one yet but it is on my very short list along with an inexpensive backup camera.

Stump grinding is a dirty, bumpy, noisy, slow tedious task I would prefer to do in stages and at my convenience. Plus the owner of my golf club has also suggested an economic consideration in exchange for my services so it could potentially pay for itself in short order.

If you beat me to the finish line please share your hands on experience.

Dan

 

[MountainMeadows]

I've also got one of these stump grinders on my short list after I recover from the grapple. It expensive but I wouldn't even consider a rental. By the time I make a 50 mile round trip to pick one up half my day is over and that doesn't even included returning it. Plus, I can think of at least 20 or 30 stumps that need to go.......lol
Here is a video of one in action and the owner pretty good at explaining it's operation.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

This is a good comparison between the more expensive swing style and the WGT24. There's a lot of unnecessary yapping, so you might want to watch it at double speed.

 

[TheOldHokie]

This is a good comparison between the more expensive swing style and the WGT24. There's a lot of unnecessary yapping, so you might want to watch it at double speed.

Maybe I didn;t watch long enough but:

He appears to be experienced with the Baumalight but he is using the wrong cutting side of the WG24. That is causing the grinder to pull itself into and onto the stump - climb milling versus conventional milling if you are machinist.

Dan

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Yes, someone else pointed out that mistake. Still, even with that, it's a good side-by-side comparison.

With excessive yapping.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Yes, someone else pointed out that mistake. Still, even with that, it's a good side-by-side comparison.

With excessive yapping.

There is no doubt the Baumalight is much more machine. Its also $8,300 versus $2,300. Of course a Vermeer SC292 is even better but a little pricey at ~$30K

Dan

 

[dirtydeed]

My experience has been good with the WG24. I have ground well over 100 stumps with mine. Mostly my own stumps, but have done some "commercially". It's already paid for itself. I've had to replace approx 10 teeth.

I would agree with the negatives mentioned by TheOldHokie. Visibility and the need to move the tractor slowly to make the cut. Some have mounted a mirror/camera to avoid the "pain in the neck" felt when doing many stumps in a day. When I first got the unit, I banged out somewhere north of 50 stumps over a weekend.

Other than that, it works pretty well and I love having one at my disposal.

 

[Henro]

I WANT one now! LOL but true!

 

[TheOldHokie]

I WANT one now! LOL but true!

My wife saw me watching the video and has threatened to buy some jelwelry.....

Dan

 

[Mark_BX25D]

My wife saw me watching the video and has threatened to buy some jelwelry.....

Hmmm. How about you two compromise, like mature adults.


Get diamond teeth on the stump grinder! Everybody's happy!

 

[dirtydeed]

I watched a bit of the comparison video posted above. I could only take a few mins of it. But yes, they were using the woodland mills grinder on the wrong side of the stump. Additionally, for the first comparison, they were grinding cedar with the bauma and what appeared to be ash with the woodland mills. Not a real fair comparison in my opinion. Especially when grinding on the wrong side of the wheel.

 

[NCL4701]

In my case, wife wants more stumps gone than I do so she’s wanting a stump grinder as much or more than I want it.

Appreciate all the feedback. Looks like I’ll be ordering one in the morning. No clue what their lead times are but the stumps ain’t going anywhere on their own so doesn’t matter much.

 

[Daferris]

I have had the Woodland Mills WG24 for a couple of years now. Works very well. One tip I have found that works well is I have a wireless backup camera setup I got just after getting the LX2610 last winter. I have a cell phone mount to hold the "TV part" from the cup holder so the screen is in about the middle of the left hand grab bar by the gear and PTO levers. I have the camera part mounted to a small 12" tripod with powered by a spare 12v trailer break away battery. It powers the camera for 5+ hours so far.

Only draw back is I have to jump off to move the camera for each stump. But I get a really good view of what's going one with that setup.

What I like best is it fit's under my tall work bench so it's out of the way to store. Also it fit's the quick hitch.
Very happy with it and would buy it all over again no regrets at all.

 

[NCL4701]

Seems like the people that have them and have ground a bunch of stumps with them like them. Hard to argue with that.

The videos were helpful as well although I must agree with TheOldHokie climb milling with a rotary cutter isn’t exactly a minor error. I’m not a machinist but I know in a woodworking context it’s to be avoided if possible because of control issues and potential damage to the workpiece. I mention that partly because I’ve always referred to that practice as “feeding it backward”. “Climb milling” sounds much more intelligent so I’ll adopt that terminology going forward.

Put in an order today. Supposedly in stock and ship within 2 weeks. We’ll see…

 

[NCL4701]

Put in the order Tuesday. Arrived this afternoon.

Now I just have to find the time to assemble it, set up the PTO shaft/clutch, and start taking out stumps.

 

[Daferris]

That was fast!

 

[TheOldHokie]

The videos were helpful as well although I must agree with TheOldHokie climb milling with a rotary cutter isn’t exactly a minor error. I’m not a machinist but I know in a woodworking context it’s to be avoided if possible because of control issues and potential damage to the workpiece. I mention that partly because I’ve always referred to that practice as “feeding it backward”. “Climb milling” sounds much more intelligent so I’ll adopt that terminology going forward.

Some trivia for you. In metal working climb milling is generally the prefered method but the feed screws on manual machines need to have backlash eliminators to prevent the cutter from grabbing the work piece and overfeeding the table into the cutter. Thats a feature typically only found on larger higher dollar machines. Tough for a tractor to emulate that - the cutter simply lifts the rear if the tractor up and onto the stump.

Climb Milling vs Conventional Milling

CNC'ers almost always use Climb, but there are cases where it's detrimental. Learn when to use Climb (Down) vs Conventional (Up) Milling.

www.cnccookbook.com

Dan

 

[dirtydeed]

That was quick. I do hope that it works well for you. The shipping crate makes for a nice dolly.