Vermeer sc1152/Carlton sp7015trx

[Cupocoffee]

Grinding time was about 40 minute I made a note of the hour clock before and after I started grinding....Have you had a chance to look at the tracked 80hp grinder I made.....it's on my web site www.baileyforestryengineering.co.uk in case studies.

I just now looked at your web site. It is very nicely done. You work on a grander scale than I. I am very impressed with your stump grinder. Are you going to build them in the UK for sale? The pictures I saw before were on your Facebook page. I have only a heavy duty truck, a heavy duty trailer, and the Carlton SP7015, with associated tools. I am a one man show. It works good for me because if I were to hire help, I would have to show proof of workmans compensation which is very expensive. Most of my jobs are for several stumps per job. Several times per year I will get jobs, with a couple hundred stumps, on horse ranches or large properties but the stumps have always been in close proximity to each other which makes it nice. I am meticulous with records ... not only for Uncle Sam, but for my own use. I log my hours at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. I have a price, in mind, as to the minimum I should make with this machine per hour of grinding. It is rare that I don't hit that mark but we all underbid jobs now and then. The problem I have is that Okies are very friendly people and love to talk about their kids/grandkids, their football team, their hunting and fishing trips, etc.. Ha! So, I spend way too much time talking. I am off now to take my kayak down a river to watch fireworks celebrating our independence from a certain king. That was said with a bit of humor and not in an ugly way!

 

[Bailey Foresty]

Happy independence day....we may have one of them now here in the UK !!!.....I am only a one man band too and as for putting the grinder I made in to production it's just something I'm not set up for ....I strike a balance between the stump grinding and the engineering work that I do....I find it hard to get any continuity in the grinding but I earn good money when I do it.

 

[Topbuilder]

"the tracked 80hp grinder I made"

Beautiful work. When will you be exporting...

 

[Bailey Foresty]

"the tracked 80hp grinder I made"

Beautiful work. When will you be exporting...

As I said I am only a one man band and not set up for production work......It's a nice thought if some one with the facilities all ready in place would take the idea and run with it.....I think there's at gap in the market for a high hp tracked grinder in a small package with a mechanical drive rather than the more expensive and complicated hydrostatic drives that consume loads of hp before it gets to the cutter wheel....Carlton Bandit and Vermeer all make a good track grinder but in my opinion they all have there faults....If you were to take the best attributes from each and blend them all together you'll have a great machine.!!!

 

[Topbuilder]

"If you were to take the best attributes from each and blend them all together you'll have a great machine.!!!"

Agreed! Do we have video of your machine at work?

 

[howel07264]

Thanks for the response. I know there are a million guys who say that if you have a track machine you would never go back to wheels. I have no issues with the wheeled Carlton but I hate, hate, hate taking the wheels off and on and off and on to go through a narrow gate. I live in Oklahoma and we have very hot summers with high humidity. That means instant sweating. Ha! I would love to have a track machine just for that purpose ... push a button and the tracks go in or out. With tracks, I think I would lose about 10% of my work for people who have manicured lawns with several stumps. It isn't always possible to make a straight run at several stumps on a property. Also, I am nearly 70 years old, so dragging sheets of plywood around to go from stump to stump isn't something I would be willing to do. Nearly all my customers would not mind a divot or two out of their lawn but those who spend fortunes on their landscape would not like that. My point in all this is, do you go the extra mile and lay plywood down for such jobs or are you good enough that you don't find that to be an issue? Do any of your customers worry about you damaging their lawns? One other thing, the Carlton SP7015 can be a bit tippy on any incline if you are traversing the ground parallel to a slope. How is your track unit in those situations? Other than taking the wheels on and off, I have never had a job I couldn't do with the wheeled unit.

Cup, I used a 4400 wheeled machine for 8 years before going to the TRX. I too hated getting down on the ground removing the wheels. Don't miss that at all. I really have not had a problem on high dollar manicured lawns. Never used boards to turn. I've found that if you make gradual turns to the stumps it doesn't do any damage. Once you grind the first stump you can straddle the chip pile and rotate the machine toward the next stump.Not only have I not lost the 10% of jobs but have gained many more jobs that would be impossible with my old wheeled machine such as going up a steep incline with a chip pile in front or working down hill on an incline in muddy or loose till ground or on a pine straw bed. The track contact area is is so much greater that you can traverse areas without fear of sliding down the hill. With my old 4400 I use to get stuck in muddy yards so often that I mounted a 10k Ramsey winch on my old machine to get me out. Having used both machines I would never go back to wheeled.

 

[howel07264]

Here is a pic of the stand on t-bar and 10k winch on my old machine

 

[howel07264]

Here are more pics of the modifications to my old 4400-4

 

[howel07264]

Here are more pics of the modifications to my old 4400-4

Modifications on Carlton 4400

 

[Rick Gandee]

Hi.
Dose any one own and operate a vermeer sc1152 ?
I have run a carlton sp7015trx with a sandvik wheel, Then later replaced with a new revolution wheel. Very produtive combonation for eight years and have thrown every thing at it, from large land clearance site,forestry plantations to small back yard work. I now want to replace it with a new grinder. Either a new 7015trx with a kubota engine or may be upgrade !! to a vermeer sc1152.
How dose the new carlton sp7015trx with kubota engine compare to the old deutz powered machine ?
Any feed back please.

I own a 2004 7015trx and a 2016 sc1152. I've been grinding stumps for 21 years now, I'm not new at this. The Carlton 7015 is most likely the best built grinder on the market. That's where the comparison ends. On it's best day it will never come even close to the performance of the 1152. The maintenance alone is a game changer. My 1152 has 1600 hours on it with NO cutter head repairs needed. Some will tell you that the mechanical drive system puts more power to the ground and in theory it does, but when your passing through big stumps that would put the 7015 on its knees 24" deep and not loading up the engine I think you'll have a change of mind. Then there the parameters. 80" is a lot of swing, but the downreach and the power to support it. I replaced the lift cylinder on my 1152 and can make near 30" of downreach. This is very useful when your approaching a stump from an angle that has the potential of taking downreach away, not to mention the effortless ability to grind deep and making a good chip soil mix for the customers who want to keep and back fill the grindings with faster turn around for grass. I'm also impressed with the neatness of the chip scatter. If you clean the lawn area after the grind this will mean a lot. My biggest beef with the 7015 is it's a well built grinder with 3" more downreach than a Superjunior. The maintenance never ends. I averaged 10k per season, mostly bearings belts and shafts. And you need to set up guards to control the chip scatter. By the time I got the Carlton set up to grind I am back on the trailer with the vermeer and on my way to the next job. Sorry for the long rant, my experience has been much different from what I'm reading and I believe I'm in a good position to make an honest comparison.