JUst got a free Simplicity making a stump grinder

Ooh, a walking tractor. Those are pretty collectible. Did you get any of the other attachments with it, or just the blower?

GTO(John)

I discovered you can braze carbide inserts for teeth onto a steel wheel with only a propane torch, assuming you can fabricate the wheel. Here's the secret sauce:

I'd study the small units at a tool rental place and try to copy their designs.

There are one or two guys making and selling stump grinders for Gravely walk-behind tractors. Think they have been offered on eBay, or you can check the Yahoo Gravely Club newsgroup.

One of them uses a brush hog gearbox, I believe the other may have used the gearbox for a rotary plow.

Apparently, they work well.

John Martin

Be VERY careful with those tall-wheel walk-behinds. The drive wheels are a low-RPM, high-torque drive. Forward pulling force calculates to torque divided by wheel radius. That big engine, with high ratio gearing, will put a HUGE amount of torque on the axle.

Action equals reaction. Counteracting torque is transmitted to the operator's handlebars. If you are walking behind one of these machines when it hits an immovable object (stump) those handles are going DOWN. If they snag on your belt your pants are going down, too. It could be worse -- much worse -- if your anatomy gets involved. And note that the that you will have to take one hand off the handlebars to disengage the clutch.

Gravelys, with their squatty drive wheels, apply less torque to the drive axle. They are not quite as bad.

Suggestion. Buy two sets of snowmobile treads and turn it into a crawler, with the treads extending well to the rear, and the operator safely on top. You could still mount a stump grinder at the front.

That looks like a 50s vintage Wisconsin. Low RPM, lots of grunt. If you take care of it, it will serve your sons and their sons to the fourth generation.

Pat