WOOOO HOOOOO I GOT IT!!!

milkman · Jul 10, 2009

Like that fourth picture, man that is Fecon awesome.

cbturf · Jul 11, 2009

I got to run for 2 1/2 hours today and it is an awesome machine! I had to do some charity work for my brother. I cut up severa green and dry hardwoods and this baby hums. I will give a better report and get some more pictures once I get it out on a real job.

cbturf · Jul 17, 2009

Some initial impressions on the machine are that I really love it but I have a few things to get used to. You sit very high in the cab and the visibility is awesome but it gets me a little anxious as I go through ditches and working on slopes. In the 140 I am sitting betewwn the tracks and it feels very stable. Even though the 148 is also stable the perch that you sit on makes you feel a lot different and will take some getting used to. The cab is awesome quiet and clean, although no dust is seeming to get in smells and pollen seem to pass through the cab filter pretty easy. That is OK because dust is the problem. Final verdict is that I love it and can not wait to get her out on a big job.

milkman · Jul 19, 2009

I can't wait either, anxious for some real action shots, a video on youtube would be good too.

cbturf · Jul 21, 2009

It is kinda hard to get those action shots from inside the cab! I will have someone get some for me soon. I have been on the road working my way back out to NM but I did stop in Oklahoma City and work for a day. Well it was really a day and a half crammed into one long day. I was in the machine for a full 12.5 hours and the only time I got out was to fuel up and drag the 150 feet of cable that I found in the woods out of the drum. (gotta love the cable in the woods) I have done it before but that long of a day in the 140 is MISERABLE and the 148 was not bad at all. The low noise level and comfortable environment make it not much different than driving my truck all day. For those of you with ASVs HAHAHAHAH it was 96 degrees and I was as cool as the other side of the pillow all day. The only time I got sweaty was when I was wrestling the cable out of the head. Another thing that I like was the design of the head kept the cable out of the ends of the drum. The drum is very tight and the cable was not able to get in. On the BH-85 on the 140 everything you hit heads straight for the bearings and you spend the next hour with bolt cutters and channel locks cussing the machine and they guy who left the fence in the middle of the woods. I did guzzle a lot of fuel though about 2 full tanks in 12 hours. My fuel consumption does not jive with the factory numbers so it may be the fuel guage not reading right or the fact that I was mowing in the middle of a hardwood jungle. It was the thickest crap I have ever seen and it was all oak. Not to big but oak is very hard and takes a lot of power to mulch it up.

The next thing that I have to say is GET A POWERSTROKE! I left Nashville, TN Sunday afternoon and drove to Oklahoma City non stop (I carry my own fule in the transfer tank) with a 25,000 lb trailer and ran the cruise control and the truck never slowed more than 5 mph. Today I left OKC and drove to Ruidoso, NM at en elevation of 8,000 feet and she pulled the cruise control the whole way except for one 6% grade that got me down to about 55 mph. The new 6.4 L is an awesome engine. I got the truck brand new in August of 08 and she has 60K miles on her already, most of them with a huge trailer behind it. The truck is an F-350 DRW with an auto and .410 rear end. You can get a .488 in the F-450,550 I can not imagine what they would pull with that low of a gear.

ClearViewGroup · Jul 22, 2009

i have an 08 450 with the 4.88 that i use to pull a 27,000 gooseneck with the TB175 and demo head I have on it...pulls like a train.....

I am however on motor 2 with 36k miles on the clock tho....

thank god for warranty!

cbturf · Jul 22, 2009

Some of the early engines did have a few problems. Remember that Ford and International got into an argument and almost stopped doing business over the problems with the first few 6.4 Ls.

I was able to run the 148 for 4 hours today and the fuel guzzeling has scaled back a little since I got out of the oak and started working in pine. In 4 hours I only burned 40% of the tank. If it will give me a full 8 hours in the seat I can live with that. Sorry about the gloating on the AC thing guys. I just could not contain myself...the AC in the 140 sucks too. Probably worse than the ASVs actually. I figured out how to make it bearable but I sure would like a better system.

Robbie Hegwood · Jul 23, 2009

I'm glad you like your 148. What teeth are on it? Fill your tank up till spills out, run it for an hour and refill and let us know how many gallons you went thru. The tech stuff interest me.

Careful about the ASV A/C, I have run a new PT-100 and the cab and A/C rocks. They answered the problems customers were having.

cbturf · Jul 23, 2009

My problem with calculating fuel consumption is the fact that my transfer tank does not have a meter on it so I do not know how much I am putting it. The cheapest one I could find was $150 at Tractor Supply. I want to know but not for 150 clams. I am pretty cheap until I get all of my debts paid off then I will spring the cabbage for a meter.

EddieWalker · Jul 23, 2009

I find it amazing how far you travel for work and admire your drive to make a living. I hate being away from home for just one night, but hate even more the thought of not making money and being able to afford my home. I think that you represent the Spirit of America in going out there and getting the jobs no matter where they are!!!

Eddie