Using an FAE road planer in Ohio, USA

An FAE RPL/SSL works for a major municipal paving contractor.

Crossroads Asphalt Recycling is a municipal paving contractor based in Northeast Ohio, USA. Over the last 40 years, the company has developed a full range of pavement programs that include asphalt milling, asphalt paving, asphalt maintenance and repair, chip seal, crack and joint sealing, asphalt recycling, and base/soil stabilization.

“We’re a paving contractor dealing with city and county street programs. We don't do any residential work, so we're typically more in the concrete street overlay business,” says President and Owner Jeremy Ciehanoski.

Crossroads Asphalt Recycling has an RPL/SSL-60 24-inch road planer attachment that it uses with a Kubota SVL97 skid steer.

We asked Mr. Ciehanoski about his experience with the road planer.

“We got this one last year, and it's been great. Usually, we run a W60 road planer that can work around all the castings and manholes. We use the FAE road planer a little bit more for joints, headers, and similar things. We have nothing but positive things to say about it. We sent our competitor's road planer back and got this one! This unit has been a night and day difference compared to what we've had”.

And what was the difference?
“Typically, it's been that the drum keeps rolling. In the past, on the other machines that we've run with the cutting heads on them, even the one-and-a-half to two-inch cutters, they always seem to bog down a little bit. I think once we got this thing dialed in, we turned down the pressure a little bit on the high flow and got it in the sweet spot, I would say. We didn't have the bogging down and the drum stopping that we've had in the past with the other units”, says Jeremy.

How would you say it has helped your business overall?
“There's been some time savings on the unit itself compared to what we've had in the past. We don't use it for some of the things we do, but when we do use it, it's more efficient than what we had in the past.

Jeremy also has experience with the water spray system.
“Yes, we do use it, and it is nice because it's all self-contained. The tank is built into the frame, so you won't have to worry about people or equipment around the tank damaging it. It's a nice feature that the tank is built into the unit and is protected very well”.

Crossroads Asphalt Recycling also liked FAE USA customer service and the dealer who sold the machine: Akron tractor.

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