Mulching SLOOOWWW anyone?

[cann mulching]

Yea the mulching is slow here in MS for me, but the Good Lord just keeps me busy enough to pay bills though!! I would love to sell my ASV but can't get payoff for it, so gotta run it. Landwise you & Quickdraw havin any problems with heating of the ASV while mulching?? I need some advice to keep it cool!!

 

[Landwise]

I thank you guys for the words of encouragement. More venting than anything.

The company that took this job from me moved a Fecon FTX440. I expected more... He only did twice the work in one day than I did in one day with my little supertracks TL150 and a Quickaxe. He didn't get anywhere near as much work done in one day as he told the customer he would, but priced it by the job, not the hour. This company is one of the largest mulching companies around. In fact, the mulching business is a subsidiary of a much larger parent company that works all over the southeast.

I am in no danger of going out of business. As a matter of fact, I am going to look at a PT400 and PT200 on monday, just so I know what they can do for future purchase decissions. On that note, I hope the FTX440 I saw work today either has a problem or a green operator. I could put on two more SK150's for less money, and do 1.5 to 2 times more work than he did today with the exception of the large trees that he choose to take.

To the ASV- I can't sell mine either. 07 model, 400 hours, full forestry package and the head- $55,000 would get it, but I can't get a bite.

 

[QwikDraw]

I've only had over heating issues on a couple of days. I find when the tracks are packed with mud and the hoses are not getting any air it runs hotter. That fixed my issue. I only see a few days in the upper 90s - 100, not like you guys down south. It made a difference with my machine, I am sure you keep the radiators blown out a few times per day and power wash them often (right).
I washed out my radiator on the AC unit a month ago, wow, what a difference.

 

[kmdigital]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Last year I wasn't trying to talk him out of going into business, rather my argument was that it was not good business sense to go $80k+ into debt to buy a brand new machine when he was just starting out in business. I suggested trying to find a good used machine for 1/2 or less of that amount, so that his debt and monthly payments would be lower. But he thought he needed brand new, and others agreed with him. Hopefully he isn't regretting it.

I'm not against following your dreams, but I am against bad financial decisions based on primarily on satisfying ego and need for status.

 

[Terra Firma Scott]

People take chances, it's better than standing by and saying I should have.

Hit The Nail on the head Quick!!
If i ever pulled the plug on mulching and decided this wasnt for me, I WOULD HAVE NO REGRETS and woulndt be wondering the rest of my life about it!!!!

Slow here too-great time to work on your machines....and think up other ways to attract biz...

 

[cann mulching]

Yes here in MS the heat & humidity are just killer on the heating issue. Quickdraw what kind of hydraulic fluid do you run?? I was told to go back with cat oil for better cooling!!
I am thinking of changing my teeth to the planer teeth from Eagle Claw Tooth for the magnum! Anybody running them??

 

[QwikDraw]

I run whatever I can find. From John Deere to Exxon right now, I didn't know it would effect the heat.

 

[cbturf]

I have heard that mulching has gotten kinda slow but I have been to busy to notice. I know that I am VERY blessed to have more work than I can handle. Now on to the 440 only being twice as fast as your little machines. I had a little machine and my 140 is more than twice as fast as it was, and I have a little seat time in a 440 and it will mulch more than the 140 by a long way. I can only assume that the operator was green or going very easy. The larger machines are so much more productive than the small ones that you can charge less and make more. You had better be careful charging to much less the 440 will sip up to 22 gallons per hour of fuel. Better be clearing more that 2 acres a day at that rate!

 

[Landwise]

CB

I spoke with the operator yesterday. He asked me if that was my Takeuchi that was sitting there when he got there and I told him it was. Then, he asked me how long it had taken me to do what I had done. When I told him, he said- I hate this peice of #$*%. He is only able to cut 6-7 acres per day in material that I was able to cut 4-5. He is not green, and has been with this company for 6 years. Also, he ran a Braun for 4 years before this.

He really thinks something is wrong, as this is the second one of these 440s this company has had. The first one was so bad (according to him) that Fecon bought it back. He says that the smaller Braun will out work this machine 2 to 1.

But back to the meat of the original post-. They have now spent 2.5 days cutting 16 acres with a close to $400,000 machine for around $160 per acre. How do you deal with that? They have to be loosing their &$$, or maybe they are just trying to teach me a lesson.....I may have finally gotten their attention. They know I am here......

 

[cbturf]

Dealing with that is easy...just wait until they go bankrupt then you get all of the work! Last Saturday and Sunday I cleared 24 acres on the 140. I only got to work 8 hours each day so that I would not disturb the neighbors so I was clearing 1.5 acres per hour. I knew that the 440s had a few problems but they fixed them all with factory upgrades. Even though my 140 has run out of the factory warranty when Fecon gets a new upgrade they are still installing it on the machine. I still think the operator is not performing up to snuff, if a 440 horsepower machine putting 2000 lb/ft of torque to the cutting head will not run circles around your Tak. he is slacking somewhere. I am not running down the Tak. but the 440 is a huge machine and should be a huge performer. If the machine is running that bad it needs to go to the shop.