Raytree drum mulcher

[ianberwick uk]

I'm based in the UK & was scanning for more info on the raytree drum mulcher & came across this thred, I bit the bullet & bought one with some apprehension however since buying it I did a quick strip down of the covers & tbh I am quite impressed with the engineering on this thing. I am waiting for the hydrolic adaptors which are metric to marry them to my bsp quick connectors then I can test it but on first inspection im impressed not at all disappointed as I half expected I would be, the bearings look like really heavy duty and good quality the welding mostly is top notch (although the welding on the drum is not as crisp as the welding on the body. Evan the pully's are or seem to be well engineered & the drivebelt also looks like it's been made with heavy duty use in mind my biggest surprise was the scale of each component including the rexroth piston motor. I had seen the pics of all the bits I've referred to but despite seeing the pictures I was pleasantly surprised by how robust the whole thing seems to be. I may of corse have a different view when I fit it on my jcb 85z excavator & put it through its paces but it looks on first inspection like a decent bit of kit with decent components. I bought it new but didn't get the spares pack that normally come with them which would have been a great thing to have had but aside from that so far so good. I may do a YouTube video on my findings on it I think on the 8.5 ton digger it's heavy but easily manageable on that size machine. The post about the grease nipple needing an extension is totally valid & raytree really should amend the design to incorporate that as standard as most of the other things on the mulcher seem well put together despite the negative connotations hinted at by its Chinese origins.

 

[ianberwick uk]

Let me know how the other teeth work out for you. Mine also had the 2 grease fittings on each end of the drum outside and accessible, not sure why they didn't do the same with the third on the top bearing, but it's much better now since I relocated it by adding a remote grease hose.

Could you put a pic up to see how you did the grease nipple extender out of curiosity please?

 

[ianberwick uk]

Ive now managed to hook the raytree REDM32 onto my excavator & ran it for a full day. It did a good job of dealing with a lot of overgrown & out of control loreal maybe 25 foot tall most of which were around 4 or 5 inches thick some much thicker. It was quiet & well balanced. I was pleasantly surprised how well it got the job done. I can't know about how reliable it will be but so far im really pleased with it. Ive seen guys on youtube using one on smaller excavators but tbh I personally wouldn't want to use one on anything less than a 5 ton machine not only would they be limited in reach but the weight of the mulcher is enough to get yourself in trouble paticularly when working on slopes or over the tracks but evan with a 5 tonner you would do well to go slowly if your inexperienced at working downhill with a heavy implement. I took a quick video of it in use but it was too large to post on this forum so I put it on my Facebook if anyone's interested in seeing it in action if it helps. Video

 

[AW East Texas]

Well I went and picked one up today, hooked it up and greased everything, there is only one fitting that is a little aggravating to get to, it runs smoothly with no vibration but only time will tell if it holds up, it has some big shoes to fill to outdo my forestry mower, I suspect it will still be my go to.View attachment 3157662

Lineman I have one of these too. Have not had any luck with raytree replying to my emails for parts or operating manual. I have been using mine for a couple months now, and it does a decent job. I have been doing a lot of web browsing and have run across many threads on the subject of tuning your mulcher to your specific machine. I decided to do this on mine and that was the reason I reached out to the manufacture. I have my mulcher on a 2016 Cat 259D skid steer. I am probably in the range of 20 gpm. Just curious, have you seen what your drum speed is when you are mulching ?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Lineman I have one of these too. Have not had any luck with raytree replying to my emails for parts or operating manual. I have been using mine for a couple months now, and it does a decent job. I have been doing a lot of web browsing and have run across many threads on the subject of tuning your mulcher to your specific machine. I decided to do this on mine and that was the reason I reached out to the manufacture. I have my mulcher on a 2016 Cat 259D skid steer. I am probably in the range of 20 gpm. Just curious, have you seen what your drum speed is when you are mulching ?

Sorry, I have no idea, I just hooked it up and have run it on low flow on my Kubota SVL 75-2 which is a little over 17 GPM . Not real sure why they haven't responded to you as they have always responded to me in a timely manner. What e-mail address are you sending your questions to?

 

[oldnslo]

Lineman I have one of these too. Have not had any luck with raytree replying to my emails for parts or operating manual. I have been using mine for a couple months now, and it does a decent job. I have been doing a lot of web browsing and have run across many threads on the subject of tuning your mulcher to your specific machine. I decided to do this on mine and that was the reason I reached out to the manufacture. I have my mulcher on a 2016 Cat 259D skid steer. I am probably in the range of 20 gpm. Just curious, have you seen what your drum speed is when you are mulching ?

I believe the machines that are being tuned have variable displacement hydraulic motors on them. I think your unit has a fixed displacement motor on it so only adjustment is if you can vary the flow output on your skid steer without creating excessive heat and energy loss.

 

[AW East Texas]

Sorry, I have no idea, I just hooked it up and have run it on low flow on my Kubota SVL 75-2 which is a little over 17 GPM . Not real sure why they haven't responded to you as they have always responded to me in a timely manner. What e-mail address are you sending your questions to?

I used the email on the mulcher. The email address I used was info@raymondy.com. I have probably put around 20-30 hrs on this little mulcher. It does do a pretty decent job, but on bigger trees I have to make several passes on them to get em chewed up. I usually end up leaving the bottom 15 ft. and hauling them to brush piles with my grapple. For the past couple of weeks I have been reading a lot of forum treads and manufacture recommendations as to flows and drum speed on low flow and high flow, and the main consensus is that the drum speed to be effective is somewhere in the range of 2000-2400 rpm's. Since I was leaving a lot of unmulched material on the ground I decided to look into tuning my unit. The main difference between the standard flows and the high flows were mainly recovery time, and the high flow units are indeed more efficient because of the increased flow but both should be able to function within reason. For this reason I started seeing what my unit was actually doing. I found out that my mulcher head was not within spec. My drive motor was only doing 1650 rpm's, it was a 5-1/2" cogged pulley. My drum pulley is a 7-1/2" cogged pulley. That shaft was turning 1170 rpm's. I thought WOW ! I remembered seeing a tuning video from seppi mulchers talking about standard flows needing to have the pulley's changed out. I looked at the shaft sizes and measured them, ( driven-drive ) and they are the same. I swapped pulley's Friday. I now have a drum speed of 2070 rpm's. This thing is Jennin now ! I am striking out in the dark on this move, but I have had no contact from raytree on how to, or what they recommend to do on tuning. Soon as I get some pic's to download I will.

 

[AW East Texas]

I believe the machines that are being tuned have variable displacement hydraulic motors on them. I think your unit has a fixed displacement motor on it so only adjustment is if you can vary the flow output on your skid steer without creating excessive heat and energy loss.

On the raytree mulcher, there is a square collection block in behind the green plate that is under the hyd. pressure gauge. There is some sort of adjusting screw under the left hand side of the block assembly. I adjusted it out about 3 turns and absolutely nothing happened. This was before I changed my pulley's out.

 

[AW East Texas]

Here is my Cat Skid Steer. The pic of the pulley's is how they are set up now. It was originally reversed.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I used the email on the mulcher. The email address I used was info@raymondy.com. I have probably put around 20-30 hrs on this little mulcher. It does do a pretty decent job, but on bigger trees I have to make several passes on them to get em chewed up. I usually end up leaving the bottom 15 ft. and hauling them to brush piles with my grapple. For the past couple of weeks I have been reading a lot of forum treads and manufacture recommendations as to flows and drum speed on low flow and high flow, and the main consensus is that the drum speed to be effective is somewhere in the range of 2000-2400 rpm's. Since I was leaving a lot of unmulched material on the ground I decided to look into tuning my unit. The main difference between the standard flows and the high flows were mainly recovery time, and the high flow units are indeed more efficient because of the increased flow but both should be able to function within reason. For this reason I started seeing what my unit was actually doing. I found out that my mulcher head was not within spec. My drive motor was only doing 1650 rpm's, it was a 5-1/2" cogged pulley. My drum pulley is a 7-1/2" cogged pulley. That shaft was turning 1170 rpm's. I thought WOW ! I remembered seeing a tuning video from seppi mulchers talking about standard flows needing to have the pulley's changed out. I looked at the shaft sizes and measured them, ( driven-drive ) and they are the same. I swapped pulley's Friday. I now have a drum speed of 2070 rpm's. This thing is Jennin now ! I am striking out in the dark on this move, but I have had no contact from raytree on how to, or what they recommend to do on tuning. Soon as I get some pic's to download I will.

Alright try this email address as it is the one that I have gotten all my responses from. service@raymondy.com
Now you got me wanting to swap the pulleys on mine to see what happens.