Forst build quality

[swinny]

Think i'll have to keep the old jensen for a bit longer then! Either that or buy a newer jensen thats a few years old

[SteveA]

Better the devil you know?.... maybe?... or maybe not?

It might give you umpteen years of reliable service with no worries....

Or something might go horribly wrong where the flywheel chips and mangles everything in touching distance.

 

Quite a bit of momentum in those flywheels!

Forst should look at it, I think.

 

Amazing chippers though, I reckon.

cheers, steve

[roys]

I'm with you on this one simonm on this one, you are paying good money for a machine that is by what I understand is made in low volume, so if you like hand made. So what happened to pride in your work by the persons making the machine and where is the Quality Control.

[monkeybusiness]

I doubt that's a bodged build and would imagine they are probably all like that. The bearing housings will be altered to fit in the factory. That's a draughtsman's error possibly, which may or may not be engineered out on the next generation of machines. If you need a new housing I'd imagine Forst will probably have them pre-cut ready to go from the factory. As already stated, these are limited-production machines. They are built where possible with off-the-shelf parts from external suppliers, and these parts may need modification to work as required. I doubt Forst are the only chipper manufacturers that do this.

[Tom D]

So what are the issues with the st8? I demoed one the other day and was very impressed. I don't want a lemon though.

As far as the washer goes, what's the big deal, cutting a washer is fine if it needs to fit round a flange or something. And I suspect the bearIng issue is due to the fact that the early bearings had problems and the newer design is a beefier unit and had to be modified to fit.

[Jonny69]

We have a tr6 bought brand new last year it has barely done any work approx 200 hours, I have noticed a few shitty corners that seem to have being cut, just wanted to know if anyone else had noticed anything.?

1 of theWashers that holds the hopper on has being cut down to fit, as though they had run out of the correct ones!

The bolts that hold the side cover on don't and never have lined up properly, when I first took it off 1 of them was forced in on the piss!

And I have just noticed today the bearing that holds the top roller on and the bearing that goes on the flywheel shaft are touching, I thought something had broken so we used the bar forst provided to open the rollers to have a look, it looks like someone had dropped a bollock and has chipped a lump out of the flywheel bearing to allow the top roller to come down without touching the flywheel bearing! Where the bearing is chipped has being painted forst orange so I know nothing has moved and or changed since its left the factory!

 

It was over 30 grand this machine, we don't abuse it and always keep up with maintenance, to say it was so expensive you'd expect everything to be perfect! Unless someone can tell me it has being manufactured this way I doubt I will buy another!

 

Currently I am being loaned a TR6 with about 300 hours on it. We have put about 12 hours on in the last week, so, I am far from an experienced user.

 

I would have preferred the folding hopper, the fixed drives me mad though that is personal preference.

 

The tracking. Knocks the hell out of you over long distances and is very lumpy to operate and twitchy. One track goes quite a bit faster than the other (this could be down to maintenance from the previous owner)

 

The pan and welding in general. I can see clear daylight through the pan in several places. Not sure if this is normal but I don't like it, it just looks a bit pokey. Saying that I currently own a bandit.

 

It has had whole new tacho, control unit thingy, which is currently showing about 17 hours. Which seems like a lot of money for not much benefit. Would a normal tacho and ignition not save a few hundred per unit which could be passed on to the customer.

 

Grease bank, one pipe has been rubbing for a while on the top roller spring which looks a lot it was there from new. The grease pipe for the main flywheel bearing had come off when I opened it up after greasing twice. No idea how long it hadn't been on, or when that bearing was last greased. It now has a grease nipple in it because I don't want to give it back broken.

 

All that said, it chips really well. Rollers are fast and aggressive. Throws chips nicely into the trailer and tows well, with it being quite a bit lighter than my current machine. I have't had it on any banks yet so can't comment on stability.

 

I would be interested to try a TR8, Provided they seam, not stitch weld everything, it comes remote control, and on a wider track base.

[Ian C]

How the hell did you pay over 30k for a tr6? I got quoted 25k for a tr8! Why not just contact forst rather than moan about it on here?

 

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Edited August 18, 2016 by Ian C

[simonm]

So what are the issues with the st8? I demoed one the other day and was very impressed. I don't want a lemon though.

As far as the washer goes, what's the big deal, cutting a washer is fine if it needs to fit round a flange or something. And I suspect the bearIng issue is due to the fact that the early bearings had problems and the newer design is a beefier unit and had to be modified to fit.

 

So out of 2 washers that hold the hopper on 1 is a small round washer that fits perfectly and the other is clearly too big and has being cut, why not put the same as the other side on? You cant seat the hopper correctly when lifting I on and off which is ****! I've lived with that for over a year, the point I am making is why cut corners? The machine is a newer tr6.

[Ian C]

My year old st8 has and still is faultless.

 

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[dan494]

Why can't he ask if others have had problems? There's plently of threads on other chippers, saws, and one or two about forst quality as well on here. I prefer people do speak about faults with machines so that it helps others make a decision if thinking abut buying one

 

 

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