mini loaders

I use my mini three of five days a week. Some weeks more. I have seen a dramatic increase in work this season and owe most of it to my mini. The storms just haven't been finding their way to the Cape this yr. I do mostly removals but have used it on several prunes where everything was in the back yard and had to be dragged to the front. After my chipper, this is the best investment I have made for my business. And it works all day without bitching.:D
I would like to upgrade next season to a Gehl 340 so my Boxer may be for sale in the spring BMG included.
 
Here in my area we are blessed with one exceptional stump guy in particular, along with plenty of others who do good work reliably. I couldn't see the value in buying a stump grinder unless you were going to use it every day. It has to be running in order to pay for itself and the more time you're running the stump grinder then the less time you're doing tree work. I don't want to grind stumps for a living and I surely don't want to spend that much money on a machine that would only get used once or twice per week. At an average of $75 per stump it would never pay for itself.

IMO focus on buying equipment you will use every day and then let the equipment pay for itself as well as providing you with income. My bucket truck may have cost $67K but it's a gold mine because I use it every day.

Nobody around here uses minis but I think that's because jobs are scarce and laborers are a dime a dozen. It's easier to bring two extra grunts to the job rather than invest in a mini. IMO the long term plan should be to buy the mini and then design your rig and crew around it so you can incorporate it into every job. It's easy to say you don't need it if you are used to working without it. I didn't need a bucket truck either, I climbed everything.
 
Carl has sold me on the al540, hopefully the beginning of next year. I will keep the mini though.

The mini has now become a no brainer for tree work.
 
Brian, you make some excellent points, but I dont use anything daily except for my pickup. Not even a chipper, and we have two of those. If we were buying new, I would want it going out daily, but if you can pick up quality used equipment at a reasonable price, its worth it. Our stumper has more than paid for itself over the last four years and I would not want to be in business without one.
 
I agree Brian. I bought a stumper, Sc 252, this spring for a measly $4500 dropped 500 into it and it has paid itself off and then some already. I do not use it everyday but also did not spend thirty G's on it. I would suggest renting one for a week or two if you are unsure, although the BMG will probably not be an option, just to see if it falls into your plan. We are a two man crew here and sometimes it is just me so the mini is used a lot. But as Brendon said, plan on another truck trailer or at least ramps to get it around.
 
We are a two man company too and every year my body gets more and more busted up. I think a mini might save my body a lot of ware and tare.
 
no one mentioned a dingo?....i love my dingo that i got from willy......with forks it moves some wood digs trenches, and 1/2 a sheet of plywood on the forks carry s a lot of duff in a tarp. with the bucket i grade out stump jobs, move random wood, and make roads into hilly locations, and ive rough graded out some connstruction sites, its gas, but its controls are easy enough that my 10 yr old can run it with me, and with forks makes it thru a gate..tight squeeze...talk to willy about the dingo vs boxer..for weight and jerkiness of operation

i do not regret buying it, its the only tool i kept besides the rigging and 16 ft trailer
 
From what I recall the Dingo is the narrowest, lightest mini out. That is the one that I would like first.
 
Maybe I'm lazy. I use a loader of some sort on every job. Even prunings. We will make large stacks and run the chipper for 10 min at the end of the day.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #38
woodworkingboy said:
Jon, so you have decided to remain in the islands?
Click to expand...

At least for the foreseeable future Jay. I looked into moving over to California with all the diesel emissions stuff and the cost to move my equipment over plus moving a family over and then little security in knowing there'd be work it seemed like too much of a gamble, at least where I'm at financially right now. We've been picking up lately with work here anyways, and I'm finally able to start saving some money.

I should say I bought a 2000 f350 a few months back so was looking at incorporating a mini and hauling it in the bed of the 350 to jobs. I've used DINGOS like Dave's in the past and they seemed pretty good but I don't have much experience with this type of equipment. I've heard the boxer's make a good unit as well,

jp:D
 
We use our mini pretty much every single day. We rarely drag any brush by hand, if we are pruning we stack the brush in big piles are run them out to the chipper and push them through and removals we use it for dragging brush, moving wood, and loading wood. It is hands down one of the best pieces of equipment we have ever bought. I could not imagine doing tree work without it.
 
We loved the Thomas mini we bought from Carl. It really changed Dad's whole outlook on equipment. He was always against one, saying we wouldn't use it enough, and we didn't have the money for it. He changed tunes real quick a few weeks after buying it. It got used on just about every job. I bought a set of ramps so we could carry it on our 3500. We hardly dragged brush by hand after that.

Since the Thomas burned up and I bought the AL340, I've fallen in love. The thing is a beast, and is super gentle on turf, does no lawn damage. I did a job on wet grass yesterday, after a rain storm, lotta turning in place, and we left it like we found it. Try doing that with a skid steer. I'm working on changing our set up actually, now that we have the bigger loader. Switching over to a bigger dump trailer next, and taking the tops off the chip truck and ditching the chipper for a trailer and nifty lift. Between the large dump on the chip truck and a gooseneck dump we'll have no problem stuffing brush and wood. Cheap place to dump it all as well. It'll be nice not running a chipper.
 
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rangerdanger said:
Since I bought the AL340, I've fallen in love. The thing is a beast, and is super gentle on turf, does no lawn damage. I did a job on wet grass yesterday, after a rain storm, lotta turning in place, and we left it like we found it. Try doing that with a skid steer. I'm working on changing our set up actually, now that we have the bigger loader. Switching over to a bigger dump trailer next, and taking the tops off the chip truck and ditching the chipper for a trailer and nifty lift. Between the large dump on the chip truck and a gooseneck dump we'll have no problem stuffing brush and wood. Cheap place to dump it all as well. It'll be nice not running a chipper.
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same. Myself being a one man operation I'm setup with everything I need to get the job done in and out of the smallest yards. Powerbarrow, chipper, 252 stump grinder all on one dump trailer.

But to have a backup setup with a Gehl 340 and a 18' dump trailer would be the cat's ass removing those big hardwoods in easy access, even haul the stump grinder with the Gehl on the trailer and do the biggest stump jobs possible in record time.
Then loading the brush, logs and stump chips and haul straight to the landfill. Maybe even save a few of the better logs for lumber.
 
mccauleytree said:
We use our mini pretty much every single day. We rarely drag any brush by hand, if we are pruning we stack the brush in big piles are run them out to the chipper and push them through and removals we use it for dragging brush, moving wood, and loading wood. It is hands down one of the best pieces of equipment we have ever bought. I could not imagine doing tree work without it.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way about mine, I love it. I will never be without one again.
 
We just added a ASV RC30 to our fleet. Along with a grapple bucket we also purchased a Davco brush mower for it. We use it almost everyday and love the fact that these small machines are like having 3 extra ground crew running around with out the added wages! IMG_0633.jpg
 
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