carleton chippers?

Kathy_Holzer

Kathy_Holzer

Location
Seattle WA
hey guys,
am test-driving a 12" carleton tomorrow. anybody have or use one of these things? i've only ever used bandits and never heard of a carlton chipper til like two weeks ago. interested in any comments on the manufacturer.
thx.
k.
 
Their stump grinders are well built. The chippers I've seen seem to have alot of exposed hydraulics and doodads, which could be a good thing I suppose. That is certainly subjective.

-Tom
 
We seriously considered the Carlton chippers last year. They do seem to be built well. Final decision was another Bandit 1590. The unit was a bit lighter than comparable Carlton and the drum was larger in diameter which made it the best buy for us.
 
Kathy, you are gonna freak when you see how much less time you spend on cleanup with a bigger chipper!!! Just dont let it fool you into chipping bigger wood.
I have zip for input on the brand
 
yeah, i know. kinda like i freaked the first time we dumped chips with a button instead of a pitchfork...
movin on up bennie, movin on up :)

(ever meet that girl?)
 
Are you using the 140hp John Deere diesel option? Model 2012, 2512, or 2512 HD? I was just talking with someone about these the other day . . . he seemed to think they were really well-built machines, and should have great longevity. Smart design, lots of little details, etc. I think they're built as a response to Bandit cutting into the stumper market?

Never chipped with one, so that might tell you more in one outing than all the speculation I can offer . . . but make sure you spray-paint an arrow and a this side up on the new machine, so there's no confusion again!
 
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but make sure you spray-paint an arrow and a this side up on the new machine, so there's no confusion again!

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nice. will do. not sure which engine is on this one, but the dealer is offering a 12 inch carlton for basically the price of a 9 inch bandit. will talk specs tomorrow. yeah, i heard the same thing about the stumper/chipper turf war, and also about the smart details. i'm too damn old to need a 12" though! geez.
well, we'll see. it's ready now, and bandit is like 2 months out for a new machine. unfortunately, that 's a factor.

blinky, tell me more. why?
 
James Patrick is the owner. He's a good guy who supports the industry.

From what I've heard, their stump grinders are powerhorses, the chippers can hang with the big boys.

Is there a dealer near you? Based out of SC, I would want to see a dealer close by.

SZ
 
yeah, there's a guy who tried to land a bandit dealership and didn't. now he's working with carlton. an hour away, but bandit is in portland more like 2 1/2 hrs away on a good day. good to know the owner is a good guy, but more interested in experience with the product. thanks stephan.
 
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good to know the owner is a good guy, but more interested in experience with the product. thanks

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ha ha, Stephan got in trouble!
 
I've used the 1260 (6 inch) a fair bit and it's not a bad design but still has a few issues they need to work out. They seem very similar to Bandits (no surprise) but maybe aren't as refined.

When the 1260 was new it had a plate welded in just past the infeed that reduced the width to almost half, so anything bushy would be taken in only to foul up as it got squished into the narrow part. A boneheaded feature that the dealer remedied with a torch and grinder, much better afterwards.

A few other mostly minor issues I can go into if you're interested Kathy.
 
I own a 12" Carlton with the 88hp Kubota diesel engine and the winch. Model #1712.

I have just over 100 hours on it. Those first hundred hours have been good. I had minor bugs to work out from the start, but hours 60-100 i can say I didn't call James (James Patrick, are you sure he's the owner, EZ?) at all.

The bugs I dealt with were minor enough I won't go into detail, and customer support has always been great.

If you are into chipping 12" hickory, you may want a larger chipper. If you want to throw some 12" white pine through there, no problem. I do a lot of white pine removals (go figure, Western North Carolinians don't like white pines all that much), so it's the perfect chipper for me 75% of the time.

The other 25% of the time, I give it away as firewood or grapple and load the stuff with the branch manager.

My other 40 hours of the week are spent with a Bandit 1590 with 1500 hours on it. These two chippers aren't in the same league, but I can tell already that the "details" people speak of on the Carlton pay off in the long run. Thicker steel for instance in a lot of key places. Welds that have broken several times on the Bandit now in the 6 years we've been running this chipper.

Oh and price. Comparable chippers were several thousand dollars different. That was important to me, still is, especially if they are similar products. They are.
 
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good to know the owner is a good guy, but more interested in experience with the product. thanks

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ha ha, Stephan got in trouble!

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Hey man, trouble finds me. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me, Dottie. I'm a loner....a rebel.



SZ
 
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(James Patrick, are you sure he's the owner, EZ?)

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I think so. The company name is J.P. Carlton mfg. He is the big dog there. He is one of the long-time sponsors of the CAA TCC.

Kathy, sorry for not having any real experience with the machine, just heard things, and nothing bad about them.

SZ
 
I noticed the "J.P." before as I was writing the check, and did put the "James Patrick" thing together, but since have wondered.

Maybe I should just ask him, but I think I already got the notion from him when he mentioned "putting something by the boss" one time.

Maybe he meant his wife.

Anyhow, great chippers, great people to work with.
 
I had a very poor experience with Carlton a few year back. I bought a brand new stump grinder from them with a deutsch 60 HP engine. It was a 4400 model. We changed the oil regularly and with each oil change sent a sample for lab analysis. I kept getting traces on silica in the sample. I started changing the air filters often and increased the oil change frequency. I called and discussed this with them many times. The samples got worse and worse. I did everything they told me, but the sample just got worse and worse. I finally told them I was stopping using the machine and took it to the deutsch dealer.

The engine flunked a compression test and the engine dealer said the engine needed replaced. They said the air filtration system was added by Carlton and that it was faulty and why the engine failed. Carlton said it was not faulty and it was my fault for "too much maintenance"!?!?! I needed the machine back and paid $6,000.00 for a new engine.

Two weeks later an entirely new air filtration system showed up at the shop. It was a completely new design. I called Carlton and they said it was a courtesy upgrade and was sent to all owners... I was furious! I called and called, but got no where. I finally turned it over to my lawyer to file suit. They finally sent me a check for $4,500.. they refused to pay the $6,000.00 and I decided to cut my losses.

I had them dead to rights with lab oil samples and the new filter system. They fought me till the end. It was one of the worst displays of customer service I have ever seen.

I still own the machine and it has over 1200 hours. It is built like a tank and has served me well. Their customer service and warranty was despicable!
 
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