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ASV RT-120.... Anyone know much about them?

Started by labradorguy, January 14, 2019, 10:46:12 AM

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labradorguy

Does anyone have any experience with these new machines? I was wondering how it would compare with Cat's 299D XHP? I see a lot of ads on CL for guys mulching with them.

I can see their undercarriage being pretty slick for forestry work, but I'm wondering about lifespan and $$$ when it comes time to replace tracks. Looks like there is a lot of plastic and rubber down there. What I have found online about the machine's features reads well, but there is nothing like feedback from the woods.

Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks!

barbender

Member redprospector had one for mulching, it may have been a 100, and it about ruined him iirc. My experience with ASV undercarriages- they will go places and maintain traction on sideslopes that other machines can't, but that comes at the price of super high maintenance costs. I put many hours on a Cat machine (287) that had the ASV undercarriage. The Cat base machine was good. Red had lots of reliability issues with the ASV machine itself, not just the undercarriage.
Too many irons in the fire

labradorguy

Yeah... that is what I was hearing too. It sounds like Cat has dropped that undercarriage along with steel tracks on CTLs.

barbender

Cat bought shares in ASV years back to have access to the ASV uc. I don't know if they still own any of the shares or not.
Too many irons in the fire

D2 Cody

You can still order steel on the compact track loaders if you want and the ASV under carriage was used on the multi terrain loaders mainly instead of the compact track loaders. Its confusing but just a few differences is all that separated the names. The compact was or is more of a general purpose machine while the multi terrain is for muddy,wet,and other more off the beaten path terrains.
Are you just going to lay there and bleed or get up and do something about it..Wyatt Earp Tombstone

Echo-Stihl-Caterpillar-Dodge-Craftsman-Lincoln

labradorguy

That's incorrect. Steel tracks are done until 299E in late 2020 or 21.

barbender

To the best of my knowledge, Cat makes (or made) 3 lines- The rubber tired machines, the Compact Track Loader that is on the Cat u/c, and the Multi Terrain Loader that rode on an ASV u/c. The steel tracked versions were on the CTL u/c. The same base machine could be used across all 3 versions, the only difference being the u/c. Models ending in 9 (279, 289, 299 etc) are CTL, models ending in 7 (277, 287) are MTL, I think the rubber tire machines end in 2.
Too many irons in the fire

Riwaka

I wonder if the ASV  120 has been part of the reason Fecon has made a 150 horsepower tracked mulcher (probably fairly similar to this - 98 inches of lift, probably better cooling than a ctl/mtl - at a higher cost, more track on the ground? - https://www.fecon.com/media/602249/ftx128l-walk-around-guide.pdf )
Fecon 150 tracked mulcher   2019 video
Fecon FTX150 - YouTube



There are a number of ASV 120 videos, this one  has  a short interview with ASV people who explain the changes of ownership etc.
ASV Forestry Skid steer pushed to the limits in swamps, mud and woods - YouTube

120 review 2018 - unlucky machine/ operator?

ASV Forestry Skid Steer, 350hr RT120 Review, Forestry Mulching Skid Steer KING? - YouTube

Bandmill Bandit

ASV was absorbed/merged to CAT quite a few years ago. I think cat still operates the "Snowcat" out of the ASV manufacturing division but not 100% sure. 
Skilled Master Sawyer. "Skilled labour don't come cheap. Cheap labour dont come skilled!
2018 F150 FX4, Husqvarna 340, 2 Logright 36 inch cant hooks and a bunch of stuff I built myself

Bruno of NH

I wouldn't run a ASV in the Bonney woods
My friend has one
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

barbender

ASV is, or at least was, publicly traded. Terex bought majority shares for a while, that's when the mchines were white and black. They've been through another restructuring in the last couple years, they are back to being ASV but I don't k ow who owns the controlling interests. I'm fairly certain it's not Cat, I don't know if they have any shares at this point. The Perkapillar engines they put in them for a long time, when Cat was more involved, were badged Cat. Now they are back to Perkins, and I think that 120 is Cummins powered. ASV's are wonderful machines to run- for someone else!😁 The bigger models are just not built heavy enough for the HP they are producing- look at the Fecon that was mentioned. 150 hp and it probably weighs twice as much. The only ASV I would consider owning is the RC50, they are big enough to do some work with but not powerful enough to destroy themselves. This is the advice I was given by two friends that were ASV factory mechanics. 
Too many irons in the fire

Tasha

I will disagree with just about everyone who has posted.  I run a 110 with a Fecon head and it is fantastic.

I know of several folks that have the 120 and they say that it makes the 110 look like nothing in comparison.  Everyone that has used/run the 120 that I have talked to loves them.  The number of 299XHP units that have caught fire and burned doing mulching work is large. They also have hydraulic overheat issues in the warmer climates when mulching. Lots of folks run them and like them but they are much harder to keep clean enough that they don't have issues (catching on fire and burning to the ground in the woods).
I have no idea how many folks on here have every used any equipment for mulching/mastication work but the folks that I know that do it professionally day in and day out really like the 120.  Yes redprospector hates the ASV and is very vocal about it.

Now if you are going to do majority of your work in the dirt and not the woods then I am going to have a different answer.  But if you are a mulcher based business that never takes the head off of the unit the 120 is a great choice.  If you have the bucks and are not going to work in small spaces,  (I.E. ROW, powerlines, etc then I would go with a dedicated unit and not a CTL with a head)

labradorguy

Good advice about the dedicated machine, but I'm not that guy. My skiddie does EVERYTHING. I've even sat in the raised bucket and shot a nice buck. The Fecon looks great but I'm not sure that it lifts high enough for me. ;)

mike_belben

Praise The Lord

labradorguy

Parked it right out in the middle of an indian grass field... hehe




mike_belben

Thats a beauty.  Now you got me thinking. 
Praise The Lord

maple flats

My brother has one of the older ASV's. I think his is a 70. He needed a new track about a year or 2 ago. The local dealer wanted $2450 US, he went online and got one delivered for $1800 frt included, same track. He does not have hills on his land, just swamps and hard ground, but he does contract work for others and many different types of land. His ASV has served him well. Last year he also bought a ToolCat. He takes that to jobs when it will suffice. It has more PSI and a little more GPM but he uses it mostly to run his 14" shear or his stump grinder when he does not need the floatation of the ASV.
On his swampy land he drives thru 6-8" of water and mud to bring out logs for firewood to fuel his OWB.
He does not have a mulcher head but he welded up a mount on a Brown Tree Cutter and carries that  on the front of his ASV and using a hydraulic motor he clears land for hire. He also takes a shear on some jobs if there are trees over 6-8" diameter. The smaller ones he drives over like a super duty brush hog.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

redneck

208 timberjack 353 detroit, case 580 super K backhoe, homemade bandmill, 357xp, 372xpg

Gary_C

Quote from: labradorguy on January 18, 2019, 05:44:52 PM
 I've even sat in the raised bucket and shot a nice buck.
There was an older farmer near here that got the bright idea to set his IH combine out in a field and then sit in it to hunt deer during the season. The problem was the DNR game wardens caught him and he and his buddy got a huge fine for his idea plus lost their guns. Then later the DNR came back with a lowboy to confiscate his combine. The only thing that saved the combine was the farmer had a loan at the local bank and the banker demanded full payment of his loans before they would release the combine.
So at least here in the land of 10,000 taxes, if you hunt from any piece of equipment, make sure it has a security agreement listed on the title. 
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

mike_belben

Thats baloney.   So you can hunt from a hollowed out hay bale but not a hay baler.  They make it up as they go dont they?  

Praise The Lord

Gary_C

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

labradorguy

They may do it that way up in Walnut Grove, but I'm down in the hills of Missour-a.... That stuff doesn't fly around here and the wardens know it.

There are a lot of stories about what has gone on way back in the hills and they have heard them too... Don't get me wrong, they do their job, but they leave the nonsense like that at the door and I've yet to hear of a warden walking out on someone's land without an invite. They pretty much leave large landowners alone here and concentrate on public ground, stuff happening out on a road, on the rivers, or with the urban sprawl land barons on their 5-10 acre "estates". LOL

The dipsticks from up in STL coming down gives the law enough to do that they stay busy. Three or four years back a guy was fishing for smallmouth in a stream near here and was crossing an old guy's ground to get to the hole. The guy warned him twice to stay off his land and the fisherman just ignored him. Third time he came out trespassing, the old guy dropped him in his tracks with his rifle. Nothing came of it other than an officer said, "he was told not to do that..." We are the state of carry what you want, where you want, no permit needed and a man's house is his to defend. I love that Castle law we have, is should be nationwide. It is amazing what all of the above has done to the crime rate out in sticks.

Riwaka

Very likely to get some more boom height out of the Fecon mulcher with some modifications.

Depending on who your favourite dozer brand is - most them have yellow paint. Crawler loader with power pack for mulcher.
new jd 655k is too many dollars for most.  some of the 655C are 20percent of the cost of a new one. 655C2 (34K lbs, 130 hp and 41gpm when all the horses were alive in the engine and the hydraulic pumps were brand new)  (New 655K $$$$ to have 40Klbs, 155hp, 50gpm and new paint)

Iron wolf - power pack crawler loader - got the height and weight to push and bit more mumbo in back.
IronWolf High Speed Mulcher - YouTube

Envirocom

Hi Guys, have any of you done a flow pressure test on the RT 120 high flow?

keen to know what kind of power curve to expect at the mulcher / help me to pic a motor for new mulcher design.

Or is there a graph online somewhere?

maple flats

Unfortunately that is correct in New York State too, you can not shoot from on or in any piece of equipment. It doesn't even matter if that equipment is operable or not. 
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

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