Dipperfox Experience

[monkeybusiness]

Has anyone used one/seen one in action on anything other than small forestry stumps? 
What are they like on real-world oversize poplar/willow etc? Is there effectiveness limited by carrier weight (do they perform significantly better on a 21 tonner for example?) 

How do they cope with contamination? Does the odd rock-strike stop them working until resharpened?

They look a great tool and I’ve got a couple of sites lined up where they might work well but am not convinced how well they would perform on the sort of crap we encounter day to day! 

[LGP Eddie]

I was kindly called in by Justin Kingwell to carry one on my JCB JS145 Long Reach, with the narrow tracks and rubber block pads working off the road reaching up slopes.

 

A range of stumps, to go at, and in reality this thing is made for a 20 tonne machine.

The JS145 in Long Reach form comes down to only 8 tonne class mountings, but has good flow from the 14 tonne class engine/pumps.

Obviously I had to take things steady as it was always going to be hard on the long reach arm, and this setup is never going to do much about it should it decide to head off sideways.

 

Some buried conifer stumps they wanted just sending under a bit more were ridiculous easy, but bigger stumps and multi stem took a bit of common sense and patience.

 

Not rocket science that if there’s not a good face for that centre screw to get hold of, you’re into about as much use as one bloke on them petrol powered post hole borers!

 

On large stumps take 4” off and move over, keep working it down as a face and just don’t get greedy in one spot.

 

Blades were totally unmarked at the end of the shift.

Very well built unit, it’s just a track motor really, and the packaging is incredible, proper chequer plate box it came in.

No thrown debris and chunky arisings pretty easy to clean up.

 

It’s got it’s place, good to send stuff just under and in Forestry it’s perfect for getting stumps gone from access routes etc, but still leave the guts in to help the ground hold up.

 

My advice, try before you buy
 

 

Eddie

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by LGP Eddie

[monkeybusiness]

Cheers Eddie. 
I guess you wouldn’t want to go too mad on a long reach - that’s potentially a lot of twisting force through the front end! 
Does it just spin if no flat face to get started on? Would a bigger machine be able to force it to start cutting, or would it just stall would you think? 

They are a great concept but not much use for my job if they only get just below the surface. I’m looking at alternatives to ripping and mulching really - the size of the finished grindings aren’t really an issue. 

[LGP Eddie]

It doesn’t really sound a solution to what you’re after, it likes a nice flat faced stump ideally under it’s maximum diameter,

It really is a one shot job then, and very impressive too.

 

If you’ve a big site you need to tidy up and Mulch, leaving a 14 or 20 tonner with one of these to give all the stumps a hit first is going to see the Mulcher Operator being one happy guy!

 

Same goes on Forestry sites, literally minutes to take all the stumps down flush on the main routes but still leave the guts in the ground, rather than ripping the stumps and making it soft.

 

It’s got it’s place, and even on a Long Reach machine just to see stumps under the soil on slopes rather than pulling them out with the resulting disturbance, it’s ideal.

 

Justin Kingwell may hire them, but I’m not certain, he may just have them for his own use.

 

Try and get to a demo or hire before purchasing.

 

 

Eddie.

[monkeybusiness]

For ripping and making a mulcher’s job easier I reckoned these look good - I saw them at a forestry show in France in 2019. ISTR you had a picture of something similar at some point Eddie - any good? 

[LGP Eddie]

I bought a monster Westtech version, but the job never came off and I had the laughs of watching them dancing around huge stumps with a root rake my Liebherr would have sheared and plucked out for fun!

 

They then get ever increasingly big Mulchers to deal with the huge whole stumps they’ve managed to drag out and windrow, with all associated wear and fuel costs.

 

A stump shear is a total no brainer, that’s what is made to do, shear the stump, make it easy to remove, ensures most of the soil is left behind, and you can keep sectioning down into nice Mulcher size pieces.

It takes a huge amount of strain away from the base machine and ensures far better productivity from a Mulcher, or in many cases the material becomes manageable with less specialist kit.

 

Funny how they’ve all started to buy them now!

 

 

Eddie.

Edited December 5, 2021 by LGP Eddie