Opinons wanted Cimaf vs Rotary Cutter

[KW Land Works]

Hey guys,

We're KW Land Works out of the Florida Panhandle. Our bread and butter is forestry mulching for Panama City and Niceville but we service anywhere between/south of Pensacola, Dothan and Tallahassee. Most of what we cut is either titi in wet areas or hardwoods in upland pine hammocks. Consequently, we get into some sand but not many rocks. Of course there's the hidden steel, concrete/asphalt piles that are probably in every region.

We have a Cat 299D XHP with the Cimaf 180D head that is fantastic. Sharpening teeth isn't the funnest thing ever but it beats mulching at half the speed.



We've been debating buying an additional carbide-toothed head or rotary cutter for the jobs that we know are laden with debris that will give the cimaf a hard time. Other than debris tolerance, does a rotary tree cutter have any advantage over the Cimaf head? The planar vs carbide debate has been pretty well covered so I'll leave that alone.

Thanks,

Jim Keith
KW Land Works, LLC
352-359-0398

 

[ROWmulcher]

I do the same as you except in the tampa area. I have a 180 d and also own a davco. They are not similar in my opinion. If you have 4" material the davco becomes ineffective, time wise. If I were you look for a fecon bh 74 head , paddle wheel style. The heavy duty one if you can find it, they stopped making them in 02-03 I believe. Put some carbides on it and have at it, you will be about half as slow as the cimaf, but it's durable, and that setup should cost you about10k or less.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

KW, I just pasted through I10 to the north of that area. What a difference from my neck of the woods. Saw a lot of ruts and standing water.
I agree with the statement on the Davco. I ran one for a couple of years and it was good on small stuff. End product wasn't great but it was fast on the small stuff and with short blades and big turntable, forgiving on the stumps and blocks and the blades are reversible.

 

[Johnnybee]

King Kong Tools makes two styles of carbide teeth for the Denis Cimaf. I have not used them yet but looking into a set.

Also, I have a ASV branded Fecon head I may be looking to sell...

 

[KW Land Works]

@ROWMulcher - We, for some reason, get a few calls from people in the Tampa area. Message me your contact info and I'll pass them along. One guy was convinced there weren't any companies down there and was about to pay me to drive (2.50 $/mile) my rig down there for a 5 acre job. I told him to call his cat dealer.

Today, in a residential lot with houses on every side, I hit a skill saw blade. Talk about shooting dangerous projectiles from a machine... I'll take a picture of it. It didn't do the Cimaf teeth any favors.

I'll check out that bh 74. I've looked at the ceramic King Kong teeth and after sharpening Cimafs the first few times I was ready to get some. Has anyone ever priced the BFS543's?

BFS543 - Forestry Mowers

-Jim
KW Land Works, LLC

 

[KW Land Works]

Before
After

During

 

[Johnnybee]

Karen with King Kong said about $75 a tooth for the planer carbide or "bear claw" carbide, as she described it.

 

[t320pilot]

That Cat looks nice. I see you have other equipment. How long have you been in the mulching business?

Hey guys,

We're KW Land Works out of the Florida Panhandle. Our bread and butter is forestry mulching for Panama City and Niceville but we service anywhere between/south of Pensacola, Dothan and Tallahassee. Most of what we cut is either titi in wet areas or hardwoods in upland pine hammocks. Consequently, we get into some sand but not many rocks. Of course there's the hidden steel, concrete/asphalt piles that are probably in every region.

We have a Cat 299D XHP with the Cimaf 180D head that is fantastic. Sharpening teeth isn't the funnest thing ever but it beats mulching at half the speed.

View attachment 387987

We've been debating buying an additional carbide-toothed head or rotary cutter for the jobs that we know are laden with debris that will give the cimaf a hard time. Other than debris tolerance, does a rotary tree cutter have any advantage over the Cimaf head? The planar vs carbide debate has been pretty well covered so I'll leave that alone.

Thanks,

Jim Keith
KW Land Works, LLC
352-359-0398

 

[KW Land Works]

That Cat looks nice. I see you have other equipment. How long have you been in the mulching business?

Thank you, we love it. We went pro March '14.

 

[t320pilot]

Did you get the Wild Heron subdivision job?