T 320 Bobcat with Loftness G2 Tree Shredder

[Mowermoney]

Here is a question about A Bobcat 320 attached to a Loftness G2 Model No.
51CCHS4-27. Today I demoed a new T320 and attached my G2 which has been running great on my old Cat 248.

The model 51CCHS4-27 is rated at 32-37 GPM @ 3500-6000 PSI. The T-320 is rated at 38 GPM @ 3750 PSI. These should match, right? Well , the first pass over 3-4" oak and sweetgum went fine. When I backed up to mulch them I noticed a pretty good drop in RPM, but not alarming. Then I moved to a 10" decayed, but not rotten pine stump. This time an alarming drop in RPM almost to the point of stalling the engine. Next I went to the semi rotten pine tree. When I stuck the drum deep as I would normally do with my Cat to cut the tree in half, the engine stalled and shut off. End of demonstration.

The Bobcat sales rep though that the motor in the G2 was set for too low horsepower since the CAT is only putting out 74 HP vs. 94 for the Bobcat. Not so if you beleive the G2 spec sheet. He claims they run great with the Bobcat(Fecon) head. I told him to show me. He wants to swap out my 3 month old G2 with a new Bobcat (Fecon) for about the same money.

The question is , why does the new Bobcat stall out when the old tired Cat keeps on grinding.

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Yes something is off. I don't think anything's wrong with the bobcat. I do think the flows(gpm) and pressures are different, atleast enough to cause the G2 to perform differently. With both heads having fixed displacement motors they will work well at a very tight range. Let him bring out the bobcat and see what it does. The reason he wants to bring it is he knows it's matched to the bobcat exactly.
If you had the exact gpm and pressure (readings from the tractor) then we could tell if the motor is too big or small for the bobcat. I would try to guess from what you told me but after fighting with my demo DENIS CIMAF head for two days only to find a bad valve I will NOT.
We recently installed a DENIS CIMAF head on a S330 (westshore) on here with excellent results you might want to broaden your search, HINT HINT!!!
Anyway, all skid manufacturer are stepping up there game on big skids and specially mulching packages. Just might be a good year for mulching guys and related. Later

 

[WestshoreConstruction]

Here is a question about A Bobcat 320 attached to a Loftness G2 Model No.
51CCHS4-27. Today I demoed a new T320 and attached my G2 which has been running great on my old Cat 248.

The model 51CCHS4-27 is rated at 32-37 GPM @ 3500-6000 PSI. The T-320 is rated at 38 GPM @ 3750 PSI. These should match, right? Well , the first pass over 3-4" oak and sweetgum went fine. When I backed up to mulch them I noticed a pretty good drop in RPM, but not alarming. Then I moved to a 10" decayed, but not rotten pine stump. This time an alarming drop in RPM almost to the point of stalling the engine. Next I went to the semi rotten pine tree. When I stuck the drum deep as I would normally do with my Cat to cut the tree in half, the engine stalled and shut off. End of demonstration.

The Bobcat sales rep though that the motor in the G2 was set for too low horsepower since the CAT is only putting out 74 HP vs. 94 for the Bobcat. Not so if you beleive the G2 spec sheet. He claims they run great with the Bobcat(Fecon) head. I told him to show me. He wants to swap out my 3 month old G2 with a new Bobcat (Fecon) for about the same money.

The question is , why does the new Bobcat stall out when the old tired Cat keeps on grinding.

I have the Bobcat Forestry Cutter and a DAF-180D Denis Cimaf cutter. One is on a S330 and one on a T320. I swap them back and forth. On the 330 I'm getting 37.2 GPM at the cutter and the Bobcat cutter can stall out a bit if your not careful. You really have to pay attention to the Bobcat mulcher. The Denis Cimaf is almost impossible to stall out, when you start cutting if you feed it through a little too fast the drum speed will decrease, and the variable displacement motor will change displacement and keep on truckin.. Its like having a two speed motor when its loaded too much for high gear it drops down a gear a keeps movin. Very very impressive. I'm going to be uploading some vids soon. Don't get me wrong both cutters are good I'm not slamming the Bobcat (Fecon) cutter but it will be outperformed 1.5 to 2 times by the Cimaf cutter. I agree with Robbie, the G2 motor probably isn't well matched to the Bobcat.

 

[Digdeep]

Anyway, all skid manufacturer are stepping up there game on big skids and specially mulching packages. Just might be a good year for mulching guys and related. Later

Robbie I agree that manufacturers are stepping their game up. I heard last week that ASV is set to launch a forestry edition of their PT100 this month. It supposedly finished its final testing last week down in FL. From what I was told it has a certified fully sealed and pressurized cab with some kind of forestry certifications on the ROPS/FOPS that other skids do not have. It is supposed to be 40gpm@3650psi load sensing, has a standard automatic reversing fan, new hood, new forestry guarding, hinged belly pans, metal face seals on all wheels, independent suspension, suspension seat, additional shoulder harness, fire extinguisher, hookups for GPS and MP3, and a few things I already forgot (should have wrote them down). Even though I'm not in the brush cutting field I can't wait to see what it looks like.

 

[TMTS]

Digdeep or anyone else...keep us posted on the PT-100 forestry update...
sounds pretty promising...
-TMTS

 

[Mowermoney]

Thanks, Guys for the input. After reading my G2 owners manual I found a chart listing the motor numbers for various flow rates. There is a break between 37 and 38 gpm flow rates with different moror numbers for each. I'm going to call the Loftness tech rep tommorrow and get to the bottom of this. One thing is for sure. The Cat machines have got to go. I'm not going through another summer w/o Air conditioning and having to put out fires on a weekly basis. Ain't going to happen. Robbie you should call me and set up a demo. Do you still have my #? If not, I'll PM you.

 

[WestshoreConstruction]

Thanks, Guys for the input. After reading my G2 owners manual I found a chart listing the motor numbers for various flow rates. There is a break between 37 and 38 gpm flow rates with different moror numbers for each. I'm going to call the Loftness tech rep tommorrow and get to the bottom of this. One thing is for sure. The Cat machines have got to go. I'm not going through another summer w/o Air conditioning and having to put out fires on a weekly basis. Ain't going to happen. Robbie you should call me and set up a demo. Do you still have my #? If not, I'll PM you.

I just looked up the rates for the T320 and sure enough the pressures are higher than the S330, I'm guessing my 180 is gonna need some tweaking to work best but thats no problem. Glad to see you figured it out , hopefully they will not charge you the 2-4k for the other motor.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

The Bobcat sales rep though that the motor in the G2 was set for too low horsepower since the CAT is only putting out 74 HP vs. 94 for the Bobcat. Not so if you beleive the G2 spec sheet. He claims they run great with the Bobcat(Fecon) head. I told him to show me. He wants to swap out my 3 month old G2 with a new Bobcat (Fecon) for about the same money.

The question is , why does the new Bobcat stall out when the old tired Cat keeps on grinding.

Your cat has more pressure I would suspect that helps. Your machine, if your pressure and gpm is right (the specs show 3650 @ 38 gpm = about 83 hp in a 100% efficient machine) will give good rotor speed but I think the CAt's extra torque from pressure helps the stalling. I have run a Bobcat s300k and a Cat 272c side by side and the CAT didn't stall the same mulcher as quickly as the Bobcat did.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Your cat has more pressure I would suspect that helps. Your machine, if your pressure and gpm is right (the specs show 3650 @ 38 gpm = about 83 hp in a 100% efficient machine) will give good rotor speed but I think the CAt's extra torque from pressure helps the stalling. I have run a Bobcat s300k and a Cat 272c side by side and the CAT didn't stall the same mulcher as quickly as the Bobcat did.

I found the T320 specs are actually 37 gpm at 3650 psi unless the machine is running outside of its specs

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Hey Yellowdog. With several CAT demo's on new machines we have found they are abit higher than printed specs. From Westshore's reports when Gilles was there it sounds the same. New machines running alittle higher than normal.