Feelings on Gyrotrac

[Schwartz04]

I was just wanting everyones opinion on the gyrotrac dedicated machines? I had a salesman call me today wanting me to try one out but wanted everyones opinion first.

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

My opinion will probably be viewed abit bias but I'll chime in anyway. I have seen and run alot of tractor and mulchers. For the money and the optioons available today there are better routes.
1. If your after high performance planier head we can handle that, and at a competitive price.
2. The carrier, There are options there too. Supertrak, Prentice as a larger carrier, Rayco makes good tractors. As the industry increases the size of skid steers, two large skid with high productions head are a tough combination to beat and they are very transportable.
3. Depending on what your trying to accomplish we haven't even started talking about excavator mounted brush cutters. We can mount a cutter on just about any excvaator and do so without power packs.
4. I will not comment on Gyrotrac specifically
5. See what you think of that. Robbie, the other Denis Cimaf guy

 

[deniscimafinc]

Hello Schwartz04,

Gyro-Trac base machines were originally built based on the design of tracked carriers made by Bombardier. This is except for the GT-50 which was built based on the design of a tracked machine made by Plaisance Equipement, in France. See:

www.plaisance-equipement.fr/index.php/eng/accueil/machines_automotrices/galotrax

You could contact Plaisance Equipement directly to find out more about the Gyro-Trac GT-50 history. Their phone number in France is 0033 (0)3 83 42 15 79.

Their former cutting head technology with swinging tooth was based on the design of the head made by ROWMEC. You could contact John O'Hagan Sr. at ROWMEC to find out more about Gyro-Trac's original 500 and
700 cutter heads. Their phone number is 936-539-5488.

Now, Gyro-Trac build their "fixed-tooth planar heads" using DENIS CIMAF patented technology, although some of their ads might lead you to think it's their own invention. You may have a look at:

www.deniscimaf.com/en/products/technology/brushcutting-chipping-rotor.html

I know, we don't have much pictures there yet. We're working on that But by going through the site, you'll find some image galleries where I think you should see some closeups of our rotor. You'll notice that our newer models have their teeth positioned in chevron, or inverted V's, while Gyro-Trac models have their teeth positioned in spiral.

As far as some Gyro-Trac operators who could give you their feedbacks, I might have a few people you could contact, but I'll get their permission first before posting their name here. And hopefully, some others will reply directly in this thread.


Best regards,


Frederic

 

[TMTS]

my first cutterhead was a gyro trac toma ax 500H -vintage 2002- the swing tooth variety. Was a pretty good head, but had lots of maintence issues with the head. granted I was using it in some pretty rugged conditions (New Hampshire's not called the Granite State for nothing...) but i kept bending the end shafts and having the drum go out of balance. The new planner heads may be a different story.

I really liked the guy they had on customer support- Vic- he was always available and excellent at helping me trouble shoot- but he has since retired I think.

the thing that gets me about gyro trac is their stuff is so much more expensive than the other machines or heads out there...their 130 hp machine is something like $50-60K more than a similar Fecon, etc.

just my 2 cents worth....

 

[deniscimafinc]

TMTS, you're right about Victor (Vic). I've met and spoke with him a few times and he's the nicest guy, and very knowledgeable also. I'm not sure he has retired, though. Well, if he hasn't, the peoples he works for now are lucky to have him on their team

 

[cbturf]

I will be glad to comment about Gyrotrac. The tractors are way to soft! Look at the paper thin screens on the sides of the engine compartment. The head is dainty and if you drive past a rock you have to replace or sharpen the teeth. I posted last night to use knives when you can but you need carbides too. COMPARE THE PRICE! Find a Gyrotrac with 500-600 hours and see if is still a lean green mulching machine. I may have been wrong about the durability of the undercarriage since a tech out here in NM said that one he works on said the running gear has held up OK. COMPARE THE DEALERS! I had the Gyrotrac dealer bidding on jobs in my market, while they were trying to sell me a machine. Find out about the demo program I am demoing a Supertrak next week and they are just dropping the machine off Tuesday for me to run and the Salesman will be here Friday. Fecon is sending a 148 out for a couple of weeks when one comes available (demand is pretty high). If the demo is for 2 hours with a company operator get suspicious! My opinion is that Gyrotrac sucks, all of us have tried them but none of us own one.

 

[Schwartz04]

Well everyone seems to feel the same about them so it might not be in my best interest to even try one I dont wanna waste my time.

 

[cbturf]

Get one of these and you can mulch the Gyrotrac! Notice the smooth drum in a Fecon housing.

 

[Maka]

I will tell you why I don't care for them. I saw them, met with them and drove one while at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in 06. I like the product enough and when I got back home we tried to call many times. I left ,I will say 10 messages for a return call and sent numerous emails and did not get any response. Here is how I finally got a response.

I sent one final email telling them that since they could not respond to phone messages or emails that did not give me a warm feeling that if I was a dealer for their very expensive product that they would not give me the support I would need and thus I had contacted Rayco. I proceeded to tell them that Rayco returned the call immediately and was sending a rep out to talk to us as well as ship out a demo C140.

Boy, Gyro trac got back to me and referred me to some one in Oregon I think is where he was located. I just never even bothered after that with them.

As for me, I would look elsewhere if it were my money. By the way I try and be as even handed here on TBN as possible but GT was just so bad that I have to say it here.

Thanks,
Maka

 

[undercutter]

Robbie,

What exactly do you mean when you say "a mulching head can be mounted on an excavator without power packs" ? I guess my question is; what are power packs?

A Kubota dealer told me that an 80hp excavator could run a mulching head better than a 80hp skid steer. Is he wrong? Or does this have something to do with "power packs"?

Thanks!

 

[john_bud]

I'll make a stab at your question, undercutter. It may be that the dealer was thinking the skid was going to use up more of the 80 hp total in moving the machine forward and backward that the exc would moving the boom and dipper around.

jb

 

[undercutter]

jb,

That makes a lot of sense! I'm sticking with it unless something better comes along.

 

[Eagleview]

Not trying to hijack the thread but i see mention of an excavator for mulching . Ive been looking for a new excavator track base to build a PTO shredding machine but can't find one . What i did find was a new Chinese 23ton excavator at the right price with a Cummins 5.9L , Kawasaki pumps etc . It puts out 252 litres per minute , can't remember the pressure . Would i be better off putting a head on that instead ? Would a disc slasher be better than a drum cutter for right of way work ? I watched a vidieo on the Slashbuster 480 but did'nt like the flex in the third boom . I also like the vertical tree extraction grab for removing large trees roots and all instead of mulching them . Any thoughts ?

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Okay One question at a time.
1. Power pack is an aux. motor/hyd unit mounted on the back of a excavator dedicated to run only the head, the excavator motor runs just the excavator. Great mulching power at double the fuel burn. Yesterday here in GA highway diesel 3.92, not a very effecient way to mulch. Denis Cimaf heads are designed to run off existing hyd power and do so without excessive overheating. Simply a more efficent design!
2. We have a new model in testing just for the 8 ton class and up excavator such as the Kubota 080. It is currently being tested on that unit. Reports and pictures soon to come. No power packs needed and we can mulch with the best of them.
3. Barko makes a BAD tractor! If you would like to see the most productive mulching monster made put one of our heads on that barko and get out of the way. I hope to have one mounted on a Prentice 2864 soon and can give feedback. 100" cutting width, twin hyd motors, 85 GPM @ about 5000psi. I have seen one of these units personally mulch 3 12" hardwoods at once and not bog down, that was impressive.
4. Iron horse, I would absolutely recommend putting a mulching head on your excavator. It would make excellent use of the excavator and I'm posititve you would be pleased if you ran a Cimaf head on it. We make heads for every imcrement of excavator form 8 ton and up. We size the head for your tractor and send a tech to put it into service to tune the head to your tractor! If your mulching the tree from the top down you do not need to pull it up or cut into sections. PM me your address and we'll send you a packet and you can see for yourself.

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Oh forgot this one.
Yes a excavator is more efficent. Jon is right, turning a level turret is much easier than moving a 10k machine on 6' of tracks while raising the head and running it. You mulch on the down swing with an excavator so all your driving hyd is the head. Your only opening the sylinoid(spell) to let off pressure to boom down.
Also here is a picture of our big boy. A DAF-250Ex

 

[john_bud]

Yes a excavator is more efficent. Jon is right,

Even a blind squirrel as they say...

j

 

[mar5690]

new to posting on here-the kubota is a fine machine but not heavy enough in the backside to work with 1400 lbs on the the end of an extended boom over the side of the tracks as they advertise. I bought one to work ditches -no ground underneath to catch a tip over.

 

[QwikDraw]

Some input.

After a year with the ASV everyday I become more convinced that a tracked machine is fine for the smaller "back yard" jobs but are much to expensive to run (around here atleast with the rocks) for larger jobs. If I continue to land bigger jobs I will go with a tired machine or an excavator. I like the feel of an excavator and it is comfortable to run. I also think the New Holland TV145 is a great machine for multiple uses including mulch heads and deck mower up to 20 feet wide. CBturf I think that Barko will be awesome but I can't see the Supertrak 400 built on a dozer being very good.
I'm not sure wich way my company is headed but will probably try and get a bigger more productive machine in the future...and with cutting teeth not carbides.

 

[cbturf]

QD I somewhat agree with you already but I need to try out every machine that is out there so I am sure that I have what is best. I was in some STEEP stuff on this first job and the tires would have never stayed on the ground. Greasy side up is not good. From now on the terrain is supposed to stay much flatter...we'll se. I wanted to try Supertrak because it is a Cat base machine, Cat is tough and parts are available everywhere in the country. One major issue that I see with the Supertrak is the positioning of the radiator. It sits just a couple of feet behind the head, I am almost certian that my dust and high altitude air will cause sooling issues. But I don't know if I don't try it out.

I sure do love the looks of the Barko, they had some overheating issues on the early machine but everyone says that they have fixed that and it is now the best tractor on the market.

 

[jmfox]

QD, I wonder if a smaller ASV would be better. One of the main reasons I bought the SR-80 was the ISR-4 suspension. It has the best attributes of track and wheels. However, I do not have a lot of rock, which I understand is a problem with rubber undercarriages.

Are you thinking about getting a wheeled excavator?

jmf