csx7006
Active Member
Hello. I am new to the forums and i am wondering why there is much hate and discontent with the older CAT/CMI rotomills? What made it bad that they was brought out by TEREX? Are their new mills any better?
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CMI machines
- Thread starter csx7006
- Start date
milling_drum
Senior Member
You won't catch me hating on them atall. Main reason the older versions aren't liked is because parts are impossible to come by for one, some of the design changes over the years added to the confusion on that as well. Far as the newer models, CAT still have a decent amount of mills out there but Terex hasn't sold many for a number of reasons ranging from weight to fuel consumption. Iv never seen most all the current production models of Terex anywhere.
csx7006
Active Member
I thought it was the way that the controls are setup. From what i heard and read, that it takes a real man to operate a CMI machine while a newbie with some experience runs Wirtgen. I aint bashing either. It's just the facts that the older machines dosnt have that lectric stuff on them.
milling_drum
Senior Member
That was me talking back in the early 90s for sure...compare them all nowadays the Terex units are easily just as good cutting as the competitors wirtgen and roadtec. Written outright have been putting out the best mills since the late 90s. Anyone that's spent a considerable amount of time operating all three would say it's wirtgen first, Terex second and roadtec last. People that have only run roadtec will not budge on the fact that they feel roadtec are the best. Running a roadtec makes the brain and motor skills of the operator a dim place.
Back when CMI released the 800-7 it was lights out for the others until roadtec finally caught up in the mid 90s with a few models that could almost keep up. At the Birmingham airport back in 1998, the Miller group (all CMI) and another company name uh Douglas Asphalt corp (all roadwreck) split the runway in half at the crown to go 5 inches deep at 2%. Both company's had no less than 6 mills apiece on the runway. Douglas had to bring a few extra because.....well...they needed them as it turned out. Of course the CMI/Roadtec hate was in full effect, around 8 hours in the roadtecs were showing themselves fine. Our first walk back i counted 4 pulled off the runway, one was on fire still moving. Running out of time we were forced to help Douglas finish. All the 1050s were not going to run again that night so we got over there with a wirtgen and a couple of 800-7s and came down on the RX45s so fast they almost got hit by the trucks getting out of the way. i can guarantee you a fella by the name uh Redbone that worked at miller was by no means a real man...so don't fall for the hype.
Back when CMI released the 800-7 it was lights out for the others until roadtec finally caught up in the mid 90s with a few models that could almost keep up. At the Birmingham airport back in 1998, the Miller group (all CMI) and another company name uh Douglas Asphalt corp (all roadwreck) split the runway in half at the crown to go 5 inches deep at 2%. Both company's had no less than 6 mills apiece on the runway. Douglas had to bring a few extra because.....well...they needed them as it turned out. Of course the CMI/Roadtec hate was in full effect, around 8 hours in the roadtecs were showing themselves fine. Our first walk back i counted 4 pulled off the runway, one was on fire still moving. Running out of time we were forced to help Douglas finish. All the 1050s were not going to run again that night so we got over there with a wirtgen and a couple of 800-7s and came down on the RX45s so fast they almost got hit by the trucks getting out of the way. i can guarantee you a fella by the name uh Redbone that worked at miller was by no means a real man...so don't fall for the hype.
csx7006
Active Member
I bet yall got a bonus for helping Douglas out.
milling_drum
Senior Member
Eddie K was my foreman, the 1050 was the second purchased by miller. His older brother Kevin had the 4th 1050 made. I was on the ground with redbone operating. Slope control didn't hardly matter because the mill was running around 75 to 80 fpm. Redbone knew how to stroke the V12 pretty good, the little engine didn't act the fool on accountah it was night time. Flipped a coin to see who would set down first. Eddie won. Redbone got to hollaring at the Douglas boys who were watching. Most of them had been milling for years and never seen a CMI. One of them fellas fell for redbone and his mouth got to hollaring at each other while we were taking off. Was funny because redbone got him to back the first truck up to the mill while they cussed each other out. This went on for about 150 ft. Mill wasn't moving more than 30 fpm thru all that. Eddie had a temp gun checks the drive shiv s, give redbone the green light, redbone hollars at me to take it down a turn on the cut side and get that dayum truck the hell moving. Behind us Douglas have a PM 565 and they set that in ahead of the RX100. All this makes redbone laugh his ass off, he had been jawing that he had never seen such junk in his life and the fact they decided to use the 565 to cut relief for the 12ft roadtec about confirmed that. They had the CMI/Roadtec hatred in full effect. It was on too see who was going to break down first.
Three more trucks and the 565 couldn't catch the 1050, at the crown the depth is 5 inches. We backed the slope down a little to compensate for going that fast which kept the right side at a rich 7 inche give or take a half inch deeper from time to time. We starting cutting around 8 pm. Around 10 we could barely see that 565. The 1050 behind us stayed back so the trucks wouldn't be a confuggled and slow us down. Redbone settled in and got to pounding on the V12, screaming at Eddie how that thing is a POS because he's not the regular operator anymore blah blah. By the sound I was getting he would get into to 1800 rpm which would make Eddie start to walk for the ladder, redbone would see him coming and back down laughing. Things are good, then......
All this dust is up in my face....the last 50 ft is a lighter color. Water pump fuse blew
By the time Eddie got his truck and back to the mill, the two fellas on the 565 had caught up an got right into redbones face about what happened which redbone wasn't having a second of, they almost got to swinging on each other cept Eddie wasn't about to change the switch out while redbone stand there running off at the mouth....
Moral of the story is, the CMI, by no good reason...$hit happens, broke down first despite the obvious superiority we had maintaining our machines where Douglas didn't. I lost count of all the mills they brought but I do know not many finished the job running, most of them were in pretty rough shape and they were all roadtecs. That's a big two strike right there.
Last I heard of redbone he worked for Villager....that made me laugh.
Three more trucks and the 565 couldn't catch the 1050, at the crown the depth is 5 inches. We backed the slope down a little to compensate for going that fast which kept the right side at a rich 7 inche give or take a half inch deeper from time to time. We starting cutting around 8 pm. Around 10 we could barely see that 565. The 1050 behind us stayed back so the trucks wouldn't be a confuggled and slow us down. Redbone settled in and got to pounding on the V12, screaming at Eddie how that thing is a POS because he's not the regular operator anymore blah blah. By the sound I was getting he would get into to 1800 rpm which would make Eddie start to walk for the ladder, redbone would see him coming and back down laughing. Things are good, then......
All this dust is up in my face....the last 50 ft is a lighter color. Water pump fuse blew
By the time Eddie got his truck and back to the mill, the two fellas on the 565 had caught up an got right into redbones face about what happened which redbone wasn't having a second of, they almost got to swinging on each other cept Eddie wasn't about to change the switch out while redbone stand there running off at the mouth....
Moral of the story is, the CMI, by no good reason...$hit happens, broke down first despite the obvious superiority we had maintaining our machines where Douglas didn't. I lost count of all the mills they brought but I do know not many finished the job running, most of them were in pretty rough shape and they were all roadtecs. That's a big two strike right there.
Last I heard of redbone he worked for Villager....that made me laugh.
csx7006
Active Member
When did Miller switch to wirtgen and why? That storey made me laugh when Redbone was getting in a cussing match with the Douglas boys
milling_drum
Senior Member
The Miller Group in Atlanta are owned by a Canadian operation called Miller Paving. Since they are the real owners and having been into wirtgen going back to 1994 and the CMI story being what it is they stick with wirtgen as the supplier of alot of equipment. The French arm of Miller in Canada still run a 1050 on cold in place recycle. But since CMI is a thing of the past it makes no sense to buy them anymore unless you enjoy hunting down parts endlessly.
Redbone was a character, there were a few others like him there as well. The Miller story's take hours there's so many. I will suggest if you get a chance to have a minute with the older CMI models to try it. You might understand how and why they are gone.
Redbone was a character, there were a few others like him there as well. The Miller story's take hours there's so many. I will suggest if you get a chance to have a minute with the older CMI models to try it. You might understand how and why they are gone.