4012 whats up

[lawmart]

well at 205 hrs. I'm replacing my King pin bearing, the top one is totally shot it had disintegrated, the rollers where all out of the casing in a pile of grease. that really surprised me and i am on my 3rd belt. any other proud 4012 owners out there have some unusual maintenance issues. i am quite happy with the machine though as for production.
But it does go through allot of teeth with the sanvick wheel .


Lawmart

 

[Creeker]

Sounds a bit expensive Lawmart!
Which belt was it, the top V belt or bottom Poly chain belt?
The king pin is the cutter wheel shaft ?
The belts apparently chop out quickly if over tight or the pulleys not dead straight relative to each other. If overtight then they overload bearings and wear them out quickly.
Bearings also need heaps of grease, and then more so they tell me.
My 4012 is less hours, OK so far.
I reckon its a bit theoretical to get 3/8" deflection with 25lb. force in middle of belt. Hope its right after recent belt tightening. Used a straight edge to align bearings, looked OK. Will pull off covers and check things over, done 3 hours since adjustment.
What motor have you got? I went diesel and very happy with KUBOTA so far.
Have just chased up a Donaldson Topspin pre cleaner to mount on top of air cleaner intake, might cut out the air cleaner cost a bit, heaps of dust here, been dry.
Good luck with everything.

 

[dave k]

Creeker asked most of the questions, engine etc, just as a point of interest polychain belts should be tightened with the use of a accoustic meter and test the resonance of the belt! again creeker pointed out the important issues proper aliningment etc. As for teeth I can go through 10 + on the 27hp carlton and maybe on a bad day 15-20 on the 99hp carlton during a full day's grinding ! What sort of ground are you working ? If we compare to some of the lads in the states in more or less stone free ground with what appears to be fairly soft timber then it's possible to think we are using a lot of teeth, it's all relative to your own condtions- on friday on a site clearance from midday up till 5 30 I broke 8 lead teeth on the 8018 I would say I used 25-30 teeth in that 3 day job.

 

[ibadvanced]

HOLY COW, I have a sp7015 and 110hp machine both with sandvik wheels, I'm in rocky conditions and do alot of stumps in a week, but don't break any teeth to speak of, they wear down after awhile and I change them then... Knock on wood I guess. The wheel wear dose bother me though.

 

[lawmart]

sorry for the delay, we had a storm go through on Sunday night- no sleep -
i have the kabota motor. The belt that i gone through is the upper 5 webbed one. the only tension that can be adjusted is the engagement bolt on the handle.
The king pin that went is the one that pivots left and right. It looks to me like the bearing should be a bit more beefier since it has most of the pressure from the hydraulic piston pushing it down while swing back and forth.
the teeth i find are more prone to braking than the green teeth on my previous stumper, and here they are expensive @ 17.56+ tax.
But hey I really think it is agood machine.

lawmart

 

[Creeker]

Lawmart,

Hope the storm didn't cause to much damage.

Some interesting things on the 'Dura Disc or green teeth' thread from Dave K,
has been using 900 teeth on his 4012.

In Aus. they come standard with the 700's.

What teeth are fitted to your machine.

It is interesting to consider using the bigger teeth, have to change pockets as well to hold larger diameter cutter shaft.

My Kubota 4012 is a great little machine, I was amazed that it is averaging about 2 to 2.5 litres of diesel / hour when working., ie around 1/2 a gallon.

 

[Bigstumps]

Lawmart,

I've got the same machine with over 300 hours now. I've changed the top belt 3 times (I'm on my 3rd now so about 150 hours average). The main pivot pin is still real tight on my machine - pretty much the same way all my other grinders were built - if anything it looks better in this area. I always put the head down on the trailer when traveling to take the weight off it.

Your Sandvik teeth are priced high - maybe the exchange rate but I thought it was 1:1 now. I'm getting good life out of the teeth and feel they really turn up my production and don't throw the chips like other ones.

 

[btw]

4012 belt

I also lost the upper belt, are you guys buying the replacements from Carlton or have you found a alternative source. Everything else seems to be working fine. Have you heard anything on the 4x4 7015.

 

[Liston]

4012 belt

On the 4012 don't use cheap belts use Carton belts as we have tested cheaper options over the years and non have lasted longer then the Carton OEM parts.
Also if you are running a Kubota 4012 and are going through belts quickly you might want to look at changing the engine sheave to a slightly larger dia one as this puts not such a tight bend on the belt this will slow the cutter wheel down a little, but not enough that you will see any difference.

also don't be tempted to over tighten your belt on the slide system.

one more thing, How many of you run your belts up to warm them before you go to work with the machine ? . this will make a lot of difference in cold weather and make your belt last longer.

 

[Bigstumps]

When I 1st got my SP4012 Kubota it came with a 3 band belt - Carlton refitted my machine with a 6 band belt and new pulleys - smaller section but 6 bands. This 6 band seems to last really well.

 

[btw]

4012 belt

Thanks bigstumps and others for the info. Bigstumps, did Carlton pay for this change over? If not how much did the conversion cost. Also if your grinding on an up slope does your machine slowly fade back I have been putting the blade down to help hold the position. Other than that I really like the machine.

 

[Bigstumps]

Carlton gave me all the parts - install took a couple hours of me screwing around - nothing difficult.

No hills down here but it does creep back off the chip pile slightly. I just keep a little pressure on the ground drive lever and it does great.

 

[btw]

4012 belt

Thanks Bigstumps! I called Carlton (very nice people) and told them about my problem. They are going to send me all the parts to switch over to the same set up you have. They told me that I could bring it to the local dealer to have it install but told them I do it myself rather than driving it to the dealer and having the machine tied up. Sounds like they made this upgrade to the new machines (5-belts) not sure if on all or just the kabota. Should have the parts in a few days. They were great people to work with at Carlton and would rate my experience a 10! Hopefully I will get 150 hours on the new set up too. Thanks for the info.

 

[treesurgeon]

blade down

Carlton gave me all the parts - install took a couple hours of me screwing around - nothing difficult.

No hills down here but it does creep back off the chip pile slightly. I just keep a little pressure on the ground drive lever and it does great.

when im on a slope i sometimes put the plow blade down and it digs in good and stays put.

 

[ozmerish]

In Australia, there were a couple of early Kubota powered SP4012's that shredded belts within a few hours.

The machines effected were running the new 6 band belt. As far as I am aware, the AU spec SP4012's were the first machines to run that particular pulley/belt setup. Working with the owners and the factory, we were able to identify the culprit - belt guide was coming into contact with the belt.

Carlton OEM belts are Kevlar reinforced, hence the added cost / life over a "normal" banded belt.