Proud owner of a 4012 44hp grinder and am looking for all the tips and tricks!

[dontbthatguy]

As the tittle goes, I just purchased a used 2014 Carlton 4012 44 kubota stump grinder. This is an uprgrade from my current 1625. It was time to make the jump.

I demoed it on a 4 foot oak stump and it ground it down twice the depth and in about half the time.

It doesn't haven too many bells and whistles, no blade or remote, only 4x4.

There were a few things I wasn't crazy about, it is a little hairy how big the motor is and how it feels likes wants to go over on a chip pile or hill.

Also unless your in low gear, your not going anywhere once those chips pile up in front of the drive motors. And lastly the swing seems really small it felt almost smaller than my 1625.

But I was drooling over how fast she can eat wood. I ground a small one foot stump, something my 1625 would do in 5-10 min, under a minute.

But here I am hoping to hear what 4012 owners or operators have to say about their machines.

Routine maintenance, Greasing routines, Any dos or dont's regarding the machine.

Also, what are people running for teeth? It currently has green teeth 1100's, but I would like to down grade them to 900's as I have a bunch of them ready to go. I also want to upgrade to the quad wheel in the future.

Also does anyone have the attachable push blade? I am hoping to hear some positive reviews on it. And if so will buy one.

Thanks in advance! any information will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Creeker]

Congrats on the purchase dbtg, it will be a very good all rounder that is fairly good to get into smaller house yards and thru' 3' wide gates with singles wheels on it.

Quad wheels, I guess you mean it only has singles at the cutter end - if so the first thing, is to get the duals on it, it'll be far to high a centre of grav. w/o then. I avoid at all costs running mine w/o duals - always !

I don't think it will be that dear to fit the duals, fairly straight forward job you will be able to do in < 1 hr.

Lot more to talk about but out of time at the mo', will get back to you.

 

[dontbthatguy]

Congrats on the purchase dbtg, it will be a very good all rounder that is fairly good to get into smaller house yards and thru' 3' wide gates with singles wheels on it.

Quad wheels, I guess you mean it only has singles at the cutter end - if so the first thing, is to get the duals on it, it'll be far to high a centre of grav. w/o then. I avoid at all costs running mine w/o duals - always !

I don't think it will be that dear to fit the duals, fairly straight forward job you will be able to do in < 1 hr.

Lot more to talk about but out of time at the mo', will get back to you.

By quadwheel I mean the greenteeth cutting wheel they make.

This machine does have the duel wheels on it. What is your process for taking them off? Do you use the cutter head to lift up the machine one wheel at a time?

 

[Mowingman]

Yes, you can do it that way easily. Swing cutter head to one side, lift machine, remove wheel. Swing head to other side and repeat process. Sometimes I can get through a gate by only taking one dual off. If so, I usually just leave it off while grinding, then reinstall after passing back out of the gate.

 

[MSgtBob66]

Congratulations on the new machine! I was dreaming about a Carlton 7015, but they seem rarer than hens teeth around here, especially used. What is the swing on a 4012? I just bought a Rayco RG45X, same 44 HP engine, 60" swing. Currently have the Rayco super teeth on it, I have a bunch from my 1625, my greenteeth setup will directly transfer over minus missing 6 teeth (18 vs 24), I'll fill that gap with super teeth for now. I think my RG45X is something like 4 times faster than the 1625, even with the greenwheel. I like the greenwheel smoothness, the unit impulses are faster than the stock wheel with Greenteeth. Enough! Congratulations on the new machine!

 

[Topbuilder]

By quadwheel I mean the greenteeth cutting wheel they make.

This machine does have the duel wheels on it. What is your process for taking them off? Do you use the cutter head to lift up the machine one wheel at a time?

Don't use the hydraulic pressure if you don't need to. Keep a couple of short 2 x 4s handy. Drive up on them to install or remove duals. Safer, easier.

 

[dontbthatguy]

Don't use the hydraulic pressure if you don't need to. Keep a couple of short 2 x 4s handy. Drive up on them to install or remove duals. Safer, easier.

Good tip. I'm hoping to deck out a cargo trailer and store my machine in there. I'll throw in a cheaper car jack for the wheel swaps.

 

[Topbuilder]

Congratulations! I'm sure you will enjoy all the upgrades in power and productivity.

 

[dontbthatguy]

Congratulations on the new machine! I was dreaming about a Carlton 7015, but they seem rarer than hens teeth around here, especially used. What is the swing on a 4012? I just bought a Rayco RG45X, same 44 HP engine, 60" swing. Currently have the Rayco super teeth on it, I have a bunch from my 1625, my greenteeth setup will directly transfer over minus missing 6 teeth (18 vs 24), I'll fill that gap with super teeth for now. I think my RG45X is something like 4 times faster than the 1625, even with the greenwheel. I like the greenwheel smoothness, the unit impulses are faster than the stock wheel with Greenteeth. Enough! Congratulations on the new machine!

One of the downsides of the 4012 is the sweep. It is only 40'' and feels tiny on such a large machine. It is something I can live with. I talked to the carlton dealer and the new generation of that size machine is the 5015 or something. It now has a bigger swing.

 

[dontbthatguy]

Anyone running a 44hp engine with 900 series teeth?

Mine has 1100 on it now and because of how many 900's I would love to...well downgrade as long as the drop off in power isn't too crazy. Also I plan on running a quad wheel on it next week which uses the 900's

 

[Topbuilder]

I would think 900s is where you want to be.

 

[Stumpefy]

I'm hoping to deck out a cargo trailer and store my machine in there.

I tried to use a single axle enclosed trailer, but both the trailer and 4012 ended up weighing way more than advertised. Trailer title says 1075, but weighs 1380. 4012 literature says 1650lbs with the Kubota, but actually weighs 2160 with a quarter tank of fuel.

 

[outdoorsman0490]

900s are what I have on my rg1642 and they work great. Of course, I never ran if with 1100 for comparison

 

[dontbthatguy]

I tried to use a single axle enclosed trailer, but both the trailer and 4012 ended up weighing way more than advertised. Trailer title says 1075, but weighs 1380. 4012 literature says 1650lbs with the Kubota, but actually weighs 2160 with a quarter tank of fuel.

Good to know. I planned on a tandem axle incase I wanted to go to a 7015 in the future.

 

[dontbthatguy]

900s are what I have on my rg1642 and they work great. Of course, I never ran if with 1100 for comparison

Awesome. I'm leaning towards the 900s.

 

[AlexEquip]

As far as the dual wheel removal, we usually just use the cutter wheel to lift the machine to take them off, it it has a plow you can lift all the wheels off the ground.

 

[dontbthatguy]

As far as the dual wheel removal, we usually just use the cutter wheel to lift the machine to take them off, it it has a plow you can lift all the wheels off the ground.

Do you have any feedback on the attachable blade? I can't find any literature on it. It's an option I might pull the trigger or.

Or uh try to make one myself.

 

[Stumpefy]

I have the blade and don't care for it. Turning the machine around can put more ruts in the yard. If you don't push all the material in one push, you end up driving on it and packing it down more making it more difficult to finish up with a rake. Even on large stumps, I just use a pitchfork and hard rake to get the material into a pile.

 

[dontbthatguy]

I have the blade and don't care for it. Turning the machine around can put more ruts in the yard. If you don't push all the material in one push, you end up driving on it and packing it down more making it more difficult to finish up with a rake. Even on large stumps, I just use a pitchfork and hard rake to get the material into a pile.

Your machine actually has a hydraulic blade right?

Mine doesn't so I'm looking into an attachable one for the front. I'd hope it's easy to attach and works well but I haven't been able to get any feedback.

 

[Stumpefy]

Yeah, hydraulic. I think you can buy one directly from Carlton that slips on the front.