74inchshovel
ArboristSite Member
We'll have had this machine for 18 months now, thought I would post some mods I have done to it. For me at least, number one cause of down time is a tie- batteries and tires. Every machine I own gets an optima battery upon replacement, and tires foamed shortly after purchase. On the 372, I foamed 4 of the six tires, have a lot more stability, tires will last the life of the machine. Was a little more than 200.00, when you factor in time that's less than a flat repair. The chip blade was next to worthless, I could pitch fork the chips quicker than flipping the machine around and pushing the chips. Blade was removed, leaving an unused hydraulic circuit. By making an adjustable wheel guard, my grinding time on big stumps is cut by at least a third. Granted, not the kind of thing you want to have an employee use, huge potential for danger. But when I grind, I want the chips out of the hole asap, I don't want them being constantly re ground by the wheel, robbing a lot of horsepower. I can raise the guard a little and lob the chips right over the top of the stump and land them right at the base of my shielding. This also works great for grinding right up against a deck, house, fence etc. Once again, I am in no way suggesting you attempt this. Extremely Dangerous.
Some other mods would be to the front drive chains, there is a 2 inch by four inch window left open in the frame that workes great for allowing chips to get in and ran into the drive chain. These windows are too small to check chain tension and much bigger than need be for oiling chain. These were welded shut, and 3/8 holes drilled and tapped and bolted shut to allow a much easier oiling of chain, and keep the junk out. The friction discs in the throttle assembly were a joke. The throttle would back off, and have to be constantly reset. Bigger friction discs were sourced, and the crappy rivet that was used to provide compression on the discs was dumped. Replaced by a heavy spring and some jam nuts, works great. Speaking of the throttle cable it seemed to get a lot of water inside, causing a no go when grinding in cold weather. Cable was stripped, cleaned and packed with grease. Had some warrenty issues out of the gate, dealer and Vermeer were awesome to fix these. Spool valve would not quit leaking. So props to Vermeer, and Vermeeer Rocky Mountain. Thanks for reading.
Some other mods would be to the front drive chains, there is a 2 inch by four inch window left open in the frame that workes great for allowing chips to get in and ran into the drive chain. These windows are too small to check chain tension and much bigger than need be for oiling chain. These were welded shut, and 3/8 holes drilled and tapped and bolted shut to allow a much easier oiling of chain, and keep the junk out. The friction discs in the throttle assembly were a joke. The throttle would back off, and have to be constantly reset. Bigger friction discs were sourced, and the crappy rivet that was used to provide compression on the discs was dumped. Replaced by a heavy spring and some jam nuts, works great. Speaking of the throttle cable it seemed to get a lot of water inside, causing a no go when grinding in cold weather. Cable was stripped, cleaned and packed with grease. Had some warrenty issues out of the gate, dealer and Vermeer were awesome to fix these. Spool valve would not quit leaking. So props to Vermeer, and Vermeeer Rocky Mountain. Thanks for reading.
