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Self-Propelled 8-Ft. Wide Stump Grinder
You can't buy a machine like the one Ken Ashton built unless you want to spend really big money. His 8-ft. wide self-propelled stump grinder wasn't cheap but it clears land fast.
The Bothwell, Ontario, man built the big machine after buying a farm that had second growth trees and brush on 30 acres that he wa
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Self-Propelled 8-Ft. Wide Stump Grinder WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Stump Cutters 31-1-11 You can't buy a machine like the one Ken Ashton built unless you want to spend really big money. His 8-ft. wide self-propelled stump grinder wasn't cheap but it clears land fast.
The Bothwell, Ontario, man built the big machine after buying a farm that had second growth trees and brush on 30 acres that he wanted to farm.
"I could have bought a similar machine that would mount on the 3-pt. hitch of a 150 hp tractor," Ashton explains. "But the tractor needed to have creeper gears and it was also a large investment. When I found out that I could buy carbide-tipped teeth for a stump grinder, I decided to build a grinder myself."
After paying $16,000 for a used New Idea Uni Harvester power unit, Ashton says a large gear box and the carbide teeth were his biggest investment, at about $5,500 for both. The rest of the materials were easily obtained from his regular steel supplier, he says.
The Uni came equipped with a 175 hp Allis Chalmers engine, which has plenty of power to run the stump grinder, according to Ashton. The hydrostatic drive allows the slow speeds needed to run the machine and lets him shift from forward to reverse very easily.
"To clear the 30 acres, we started by cutting the trees down by hand with a chainsaw at ground level, piling them with a backhoe and then burning them. The remaining stumps were up to 14 in. across," he explains. "Then, with the stump grinder, we found that a 14-in. stump could be removed in two or three minutes. Anything under 4 in. usually only required a slight reduction in the 1 1/2 mph forward speed. The grinder has maximum working depth (below ground) of 8 in., but Ashton operated at a 6-in. level. Even though some debris is left, one pass with a one-way disk was enough to plant the field."
Once Ashton was finished his own clearing project, he did several acres of custom work, removing stumps left by the removal of Christmas trees.
He now only uses the unit occasionally to clear fence lines, and says he plans to sell it.
"It was a worthwhile project that took only about two months to build," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ken Ashton, R.R. 3, Bothwell, Ontario, Canada N0P 1L0 (ph 519 695-5471).
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