Sorry to hear about your AC issues. While mine has had no issues, I know this is known issue for a lot of these. You raise some issues that I totally agree with. 1. The DEF cap is stupid and so frustrating. Why not just use same cap as fuel? 2. Checking Hydro fluid is a pain. My eyes aren't so good anymore and had a hard time seeing the level. I bot a small bottle of dye for hydro oil and tinted it red. That helps a bit, but still such a pain for an important thing to check daily. 3. Fuel fill tube. They fixed under warranty. Now fine. 4. Speed sensors. I am surprised since you run on slopes you haven't had this yet. Each track has a sensor that notifies the ECU when it senses the machine is moving when it shouldn't be i.e. this is for hills. This is a stupid, overengineered "safety" feature that has a lot of problems. Initially you just get a fault and can keep working, but eventually the hydro shuts down and it goes into limp mode. This began happening to me on level ground. FB group said the wire harness would chafe and short the sensor. They showed how to lift the cab and disconnect these sensores. Easy fix, but shouldn't have been installed in the first place. 5. RE AC, while you could hang meat in my cab, when I had it in for the fuel line the dealer did the full upgrade under warranty. 6. My dealer, who is good and I like, did not explain to me at purchase, that the Forestry models do not come with ride control or bucket leveling. I asked ASV about this and they said they could activate both, but they recommended against it for mulchers. The weight, vibration and engine load of mulching tends to wear through the wiring required for these features. I understand, and do 90% mulching, but they and their dealers should explain this better at purchase. Why have those knobs in cab? I would bet 80% of these models are sold for mulching. 7. Don't know what was going on with your jam nut for tracks. Strange. I have only tightened mine once and it holds fine. All that said, I love this machine. I run a Mastodon M60S drum head with carbides and it is a great combo. I upgraded from the ASV 75 with Mastodon M60F, which I liked but wanted more production, and this machines delivers. Doesn't overheat in the hot TN summers. Notwithstanding the front belly pan is reversed, they are all hinged, which makes it a lot easier to clean out, and get them back in place. Lifting cab is two bolts (although you do need a deep socket). I am 6'3" and don't have your issues with cab or safety bar. You must be bouncing hard to hit your head. I prob run an little bit tamer and find it comfortable with the best visibility of any skid steer. Maybe that single arm JCB is better, but you can't mulch with that. Aside from the AC, so many of your problems are with a weak dealer. I got mine from Heavy Machines near Nashvillle. While it is a 2 hour drive for service, it has only been in twice. Once operator error (don't ask) and again for the warranty issues. They are great. I bot there because they were going to open a dealership in Knoxville, which is only an hour. 3 years later they have finally begun building. IF and when I need service I hope they are as good as the Murfreesboro team. Mulching is hard on a machine. I hope the CAT works out well for you. Thanks for the full review.
Thanks for the comment. Did you watch my Part 1 vid? I hit on almost all of your points in that vid, other than the speed sensors. Yes, they throw alarms at me when I'm on steep hills. I've gotten away with just ignoring them. When we purchased, we had 2 close dealers. The other one has since closed their doors, so now the only option is 2 or 3 hours away, and that's just not happening with the # of breakdowns we've had in so few hours. When I run, I run hard. We get very few days that are ideal for disc mulching. Most of the time, it's either too dry or too wet. We are trying get MORE grass to grow, after all, not kill what we have! The bucket buttons really, really ticked me off. I've used the machine for moving snow/dirt 1/3 of the time. I asked the dealer and ASV. Neither one of them said we could hook them up. They actually didn't know why they were there and non-functioning. It took them a while to give me an answer. I am an engineer, and I became one because I've gotten frustrated over so many examples of products that were designed by people who never use them. I firmly believe the ASV 135 is designed by a room full of engineers and suits & ties who have never/will never run one a day in their lives to put food on their own tables. Overall, I'm sad to see it go, because I think it has a lot of potential. But happy to be done dealing with our ASV dealer!
@@doomsdaydiesel Def watched both. and the seat belt upgrade. Was agreeing with you on pretty much all the issues you raised, except the cab works for me. Appreciate the time you took to make and post it
@@jrisnerny cab don't bother me since I put the harness in. Keeps me planted in the seat. I am working on hillsides with an ultimate elevation change of 100' from top to bottom right now. The first project I did was relatively flat ground and I didn't have a complaint about restraints there.
Def. It is a warranty item. I am an individual owner so not under same time constrainst as a commercial operator but jeez I hated the 10-15 min to fill machine. Call ASV HQ and speak to a service tech. Give them your serial number and they will give you the order numbers for whatever recalls are active for your machine. Give those numbers to dealer when you schedule repair so he has the right parts in stock.
I own a asv rt120 great machine. My opinion the best track loader made. I have over 6000 hrs on it. I don't have a 135 yet. But I see some improvements with the 135. The main downside of asv 135 is purchase price. I probally get one sometime.
Saying you like the 120 and will probably buy a 135 because of it is very similar to saying you like the 12 Valve 6BT Dodge so you're going to get the new 24 valve. Although there are several significant upgrades with the new generation, the 135, just like the 24 valve, was released prematurely before they had the bugs worked out. Now that the TSB's are out for most of the major problems, the 135 is a heck of a lot better machine than when it was released. They still have a long way to go to unlock its full potential, though. Could easily be the best machine on the market if they'd take customer feedback seriously.
Sorry to hear about your poor experience with H2, that’s frustrating. Edit - I should have waited through the end, but hope your experience with NMC is significantly better.
John deer and New Holland and Case are the safest and best skid steers out there you can lock the boom up from in side the cab one person operation that beat every one on the market
As an owner of 6 Cat skidsteers…. Please reconsider…. 2-289’s, 1- 279 and 3- 299’s I will NEVER buy another one of their skidsteers. 5/6 have had either engines or Def systems under 500 hrs. 2 of the 299’s got engines within 50 hrs. One of the 289’s got a def system at 3.5 hrs. I’ll never own another I hope you have better luck if you go that way!
@@treyhutchison4526 with even corporate ASV refusing to stand behind their piece of crap, yes, we went with CAT. Night & day better customer service thus far. Hoping to be done with this contract long before 500 hrs. Then if I want to continue this as a long term business, I'd absolutely be wanting to try the new 275/285.
@@doomsdaydiesel I had an ASV 120- Nightmare to Clean. The Cat is so easy. I blow the machine/engine compartment out at the end of the day. All the debris blow out easily. Once a week i lift the cab and blow out. It only has 2 exterior bolts to remove- everything is open and easily cleaned. Lifting cab to blow out takes 15-20 min. Done. The new Cat 285 XE looks Bad- 134 HP
Wow, after watching both parts of this review, I realize that I wouldn't have one of those ASV machines if they gave it to me. And that sounds like a dealer from heck, they need to go out of business. I hope you have better experience with the Cat when you get it.
@@JoeHTX CAT's working great with the mulcher. The ASV is on grapple duty and is also working great. Neither machine is perfect. I'll do a comparison video if the wind ever dies down here.
Not really, those machines are great I’ve ran an RT-120 which is the 135s little brother and it was great. It cost a lot but the amount of work that thing can do in an hour mulching can make you a ton of money
@@midengineZ06 I don't see the ownership really affecting the dealer. The dealer is going to do what they do. On the flip side, I think ASV really suffered from the buyout. I've worked in that environment, going from a family owned operation to an investment firm owned operation that needed to be scaled to they could sell the biz to make money. It's lousy for everyone involved besides the owners.
That's so TRUE without a good honest and fair dealer backing the machine, NO MACHINE WORTH THE HEADACHES. We had a similar experience with Deere equipment and their horror of the dealer in our area DOGGET. So the company switch to CAT and the Mustang Cat Dealers here locally, it was completely different experience we got proper service and we got loaner equipment
Sorry to hear about your AC issues. While mine has had no issues, I know this is known issue for a lot of these. You raise some issues that I totally agree with.
1. The DEF cap is stupid and so frustrating. Why not just use same cap as fuel?
2. Checking Hydro fluid is a pain. My eyes aren't so good anymore and had a hard time seeing the level. I bot a small bottle of dye for hydro oil and tinted it red. That helps a bit, but still such a pain for an important thing to check daily.
3. Fuel fill tube. They fixed under warranty. Now fine.
4. Speed sensors. I am surprised since you run on slopes you haven't had this yet. Each track has a sensor that notifies the ECU when it senses the machine is moving when it shouldn't be i.e. this is for hills. This is a stupid, overengineered "safety" feature that has a lot of problems. Initially you just get a fault and can keep working, but eventually the hydro shuts down and it goes into limp mode. This began happening to me on level ground. FB group said the wire harness would chafe and short the sensor. They showed how to lift the cab and disconnect these sensores. Easy fix, but shouldn't have been installed in the first place.
5. RE AC, while you could hang meat in my cab, when I had it in for the fuel line the dealer did the full upgrade under warranty.
6. My dealer, who is good and I like, did not explain to me at purchase, that the Forestry models do not come with ride control or bucket leveling. I asked ASV about this and they said they could activate both, but they recommended against it for mulchers. The weight, vibration and engine load of mulching tends to wear through the wiring required for these features. I understand, and do 90% mulching, but they and their dealers should explain this better at purchase. Why have those knobs in cab? I would bet 80% of these models are sold for mulching.
7. Don't know what was going on with your jam nut for tracks. Strange. I have only tightened mine once and it holds fine.
All that said, I love this machine. I run a Mastodon M60S drum head with carbides and it is a great combo. I upgraded from the ASV 75 with Mastodon M60F, which I liked but wanted more production, and this machines delivers. Doesn't overheat in the hot TN summers. Notwithstanding the front belly pan is reversed, they are all hinged, which makes it a lot easier to clean out, and get them back in place. Lifting cab is two bolts (although you do need a deep socket). I am 6'3" and don't have your issues with cab or safety bar. You must be bouncing hard to hit your head. I prob run an little bit tamer and find it comfortable with the best visibility of any skid steer. Maybe that single arm JCB is better, but you can't mulch with that.
Aside from the AC, so many of your problems are with a weak dealer. I got mine from Heavy Machines near Nashvillle. While it is a 2 hour drive for service, it has only been in twice. Once operator error (don't ask) and again for the warranty issues. They are great. I bot there because they were going to open a dealership in Knoxville, which is only an hour. 3 years later they have finally begun building. IF and when I need service I hope they are as good as the Murfreesboro team.
Mulching is hard on a machine. I hope the CAT works out well for you. Thanks for the full review.
Thanks for the comment. Did you watch my Part 1 vid? I hit on almost all of your points in that vid, other than the speed sensors. Yes, they throw alarms at me when I'm on steep hills. I've gotten away with just ignoring them.
When we purchased, we had 2 close dealers. The other one has since closed their doors, so now the only option is 2 or 3 hours away, and that's just not happening with the # of breakdowns we've had in so few hours. When I run, I run hard. We get very few days that are ideal for disc mulching. Most of the time, it's either too dry or too wet. We are trying get MORE grass to grow, after all, not kill what we have!
The bucket buttons really, really ticked me off. I've used the machine for moving snow/dirt 1/3 of the time. I asked the dealer and ASV. Neither one of them said we could hook them up. They actually didn't know why they were there and non-functioning. It took them a while to give me an answer. I am an engineer, and I became one because I've gotten frustrated over so many examples of products that were designed by people who never use them. I firmly believe the ASV 135 is designed by a room full of engineers and suits & ties who have never/will never run one a day in their lives to put food on their own tables.
Overall, I'm sad to see it go, because I think it has a lot of potential. But happy to be done dealing with our ASV dealer!
@@doomsdaydiesel Def watched both. and the seat belt upgrade. Was agreeing with you on pretty much all the issues you raised, except the cab works for me. Appreciate the time you took to make and post it
@@jrisnerny cab don't bother me since I put the harness in. Keeps me planted in the seat. I am working on hillsides with an ultimate elevation change of 100' from top to bottom right now. The first project I did was relatively flat ground and I didn't have a complaint about restraints there.
Thanks for sharing. ASV is off my list for consideration.
I'm going to ask my dealer about the retrofit! Ty sir!
Def. It is a warranty item. I am an individual owner so not under same time constrainst as a commercial operator but jeez I hated the 10-15 min to fill machine. Call ASV HQ and speak to a service tech. Give them your serial number and they will give you the order numbers for whatever recalls are active for your machine. Give those numbers to dealer when you schedule repair so he has the right parts in stock.
I own a asv rt120 great machine. My opinion the best track loader made. I have over 6000 hrs on it. I don't have a 135 yet. But I see some improvements with the 135. The main downside of asv 135 is purchase price. I probally get one sometime.
Saying you like the 120 and will probably buy a 135 because of it is very similar to saying you like the 12 Valve 6BT Dodge so you're going to get the new 24 valve. Although there are several significant upgrades with the new generation, the 135, just like the 24 valve, was released prematurely before they had the bugs worked out. Now that the TSB's are out for most of the major problems, the 135 is a heck of a lot better machine than when it was released. They still have a long way to go to unlock its full potential, though. Could easily be the best machine on the market if they'd take customer feedback seriously.
Sorry to hear about your poor experience with H2, that’s frustrating. Edit - I should have waited through the end, but hope your experience with NMC is significantly better.
@@seff7658 fantastic so far
John deer and New Holland and Case are the safest and best skid steers out there you can lock the boom up from in side the cab one person operation that beat every one on the market
As an owner of 6 Cat skidsteers…. Please reconsider…. 2-289’s, 1- 279 and 3- 299’s I will NEVER buy another one of their skidsteers. 5/6 have had either engines or Def systems under 500 hrs. 2 of the 299’s got engines within 50 hrs. One of the 289’s got a def system at 3.5 hrs. I’ll never own another I hope you have better luck if you go that way!
@@treyhutchison4526 with even corporate ASV refusing to stand behind their piece of crap, yes, we went with CAT. Night & day better customer service thus far. Hoping to be done with this contract long before 500 hrs. Then if I want to continue this as a long term business, I'd absolutely be wanting to try the new 275/285.
Honestly if the a/c worked I'd be fine, just a nightmare to get it to work
@@VerdantImage for those couple hours when everything works, it's bliss
I Have 2- Cat Machines with over 1000 mulching Hours. No Problems, Just General Maintenance.
@@bellforestrymulching4989 what's the best way you've found to keep the DPF clean of debris? That's my biggest fear so far. I can't even see the DPF
@@doomsdaydiesel I had an ASV 120- Nightmare to Clean. The Cat is so easy. I blow the machine/engine compartment out at the end of the day. All the debris blow out easily. Once a week i lift the cab and blow out. It only has 2 exterior bolts to remove- everything is open and easily cleaned. Lifting cab to blow out takes 15-20 min. Done. The new Cat 285 XE looks Bad- 134 HP
@@bellforestrymulching4989 well obviously you blow it out. But how do you get to the DPF with your air??
What model cat machine do you have?
@@bellforestrymulching4989 ??
Wow, after watching both parts of this review, I realize that I wouldn't have one of those ASV machines if they gave it to me. And that sounds like a dealer from heck, they need to go out of business. I hope you have better experience with the Cat when you get it.
@@JoeHTX CAT's working great with the mulcher. The ASV is on grapple duty and is also working great. Neither machine is perfect. I'll do a comparison video if the wind ever dies down here.
@@doomsdaydiesel Thank you, that would be great to see a comparison video when you have the opportunity to make one!
the price came down substantially ... means that the greedy trash were charging way too much
I’mmblown away by the poor engineering and quality of most all new machines. Never seen a happy owner.
WOW over one hundred thousand dollars for that little machine is a rip off
Not really, those machines are great I’ve ran an RT-120 which is the 135s little brother and it was great. It cost a lot but the amount of work that thing can do in an hour mulching can make you a ton of money
Maybe with Yanmar now owning it the experience changes at the dealer network.
@@midengineZ06 I don't see the ownership really affecting the dealer. The dealer is going to do what they do. On the flip side, I think ASV really suffered from the buyout. I've worked in that environment, going from a family owned operation to an investment firm owned operation that needed to be scaled to they could sell the biz to make money. It's lousy for everyone involved besides the owners.
That's so TRUE without a good honest and fair dealer backing the machine, NO MACHINE WORTH THE HEADACHES.
We had a similar experience with Deere equipment and their horror of the dealer in our area DOGGET.
So the company switch to CAT and the Mustang Cat Dealers here locally, it was completely different experience we got proper service and we got loaner equipment