Mini skids?

WoodCutr

Treehouser
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
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Tennessee
looking to upgrade in the next year or so to an SK1550 with weight kit or a CTX 160, leaning towards the 1550

upgrading from a diesel boxer 526
anyone thats ran both units chime in if you can please, never dealt with the ditchwitch dealer here, have dealt with vermeer, want to demo both units
wide tracks on both machines for me, we work on lots of hills so being stable is a must!
will eventually get a small 42-48" brush cutter to go on it for around the house and small land clearing work, maintaining track speed while running aux hydro or loader functions is a must, im tired of being limited to one function at a time
price and financing are a concern, as much as I HATE payments and paying more than the machine is worth, I need the upgrade and it can pay for itself, as long as its working its paying its own bills

the 1550 is a little bigger/beefier reading through the specs

what say you?
 
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  • #3
Ditch Witch would be my choice over Vermeer. Pretty good wait on them last time I talked to the dealer though...
the wait is no big issue, gonna be a while before I can afford it too lol
also looking at getting a CMc 83 or 92HD to replace the bucket truck, gonna need around a quarter million cash before I end up doing all this stuff anyways
 
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another thing I meant to ask, for people financing their mini skids, what are the monthly payments and overall price like? Ditch witch is doing 3.99% for 36 months it looks like, seems to me thatll be around $1500 a month with 3 grand interest if im not mistaken
 
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  • #9
Lots less.
ehh, used ones are going for 50-300K right now, for a decent one that isnt the same condition as my bucket truck
more boom the better, I want a telescopic boom, just found a 2007 sterling with a drywall boom grapple on it, probably 60ft or so reach for 68K

1677794078511.png
 
Ehh I'm still right. You see, there's the price that people sell stuff for and then there's what the stuff actually costs. You think that stuff is going for that because that's what a dealer sells it for, but that's not what it actually costs, far from it. If you notice the dealer likely has a nice commercially zoned yard or lot, a repair shop, office space, several employees, etc. You may also notice that he's likely wearing a suit nicer than anything in your closet, has a nice car or truck so he looks cool, a sweet house, etc. He's able to pay for all that and more because you don't understand the difference between the two prices.

He calls everything a trade in, and that's probably not wrong....... but it likely didn't get traded in to him. He either has new product from a manufacturer or has inventory that he bought at an auction. He paid the actual price, and it's predictably much less than what he wants to sell it to you for. Buying stuff at auctions requires you have the entire amount of money upfront, or financing secured and verified before it starts. You also have to be able to very quickly inspect stuff and if you're wrong you can lose money on the deal, so you have to know what you're doing. But that's what stuff actually costs, right then and there at the auction, how much cash money someone is willing to give for it to change hands.

You're also seeing that as a single unit when in reality that's a truck and a crane. You can swap them as needed, it's work as you're learning but it's done all the time. You could buy that, pull the crane and sell the truck, then buy a different truck and put it on there. That way if that's too rich for your blood you can build it on an older truck but have the newer/ acceptably priced equipment you want. Check what the truck sells for, maybe a dump truck configuration is really in demand right now bringing the highest prices, so you can get a dump body from another truck to fix up and then mount it. I have buddys that are constantly doing stuff like this, buying and selling stuff all the time, and they make money doing so. You better believe the dealer is doing this too, often literally just painting stuff and marking it up thousands.


If you're doing so well enough that buying new or getting stuff fixed for you is no problem, that's awesome. If you have to fix it yourself then you better know how to, and it's a fact that older stuff is far easier to fix. Now everything's computers and proprietary bs, all engineered to be harder to work on for the sole purpose to make you use.... yup the dealer. And since you can't do it the repair yourself it now costs far more. So there's very good and strong reasons why someone would run older stuff sometimes, or to build a truck from different parts.
 
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that truck I posted is being sold by a local ish tree company, they go for 3-500K new
of course the dealer is selling the skids for way more than it really cost, thing is, no used market for a mini skid here, the few for sale want almost new price for machines with the same issues I already got
I want the newer stuff that isnt already broke before I even get to use it, not brand new but low hour stuff, working towards dealer dropoffs instead of wasting my own time fixing stuff, a week of me in the shop, vs a week paying the dealer but im still at work, at the end of the day (week) it cost the same for me
 
If so that's cool, but saying stuff like "wasting my time fixing stuff" probably isn't your reality, it's definitely not mine. You either have the money or you don't, and you can either finance it or build/ fix it. If you're really young you won't be getting a cdl soon, so maybe buying a truck you can't drive might not be the best step forward. Context helps man. But you can buy either cheaper by buying it without the middleman.
 
If you qualify for financing, it's easier to buy new than used. And in many cases it will make better financial sense to buy new. In exchange for a monthly payment you get a machine that will work perfectly and won't break down for the first couple years, meaning you can work it every day without it costing you time or delayed jobs.

Buying used means you are buying somebody else's problems, every time. If you get it cheap enough and get lucky on the problems, you can make money but it can be inconsistent until you get all the issues ironed out. And the total cost will be much higher than your original purchase price. I've bought a lot of used equipment over the years and almost every time it ended up costing me more than if I had just bought new.

Also, you tend to attract a better class of clientele with new equipment. The ultra rich don't want to deal with the 'old pickup and trailer' crowd and gladly pay more for properly equipped service people. Image is important.
 
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If so that's cool, but saying stuff like "wasting my time fixing stuff" probably isn't your reality, it's definitely not mine. You either have the money or you don't, and you can either finance it or build/ fix it. If you're really young you won't be getting a cdl soon, so maybe buying a truck you can't drive might not be the best step forward. Context helps man. But you can buy either cheaper by buying it without the middleman.
im not the one driving, plan is to stick a trailer behind the grapple truck with skid and spider lift, already got a CDL driver for it anyhow
also, with the "wasting time fixing stuff" comment, that is my reality, I get home from a day of work and work on my stuff till the sun goes down, every single repair my equipment has ever had since me owning it was by me and im sick of it, I could be doing other stuff instead
 
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If you qualify for financing, it's easier to buy new than used. And in many cases it will make better financial sense to buy new. In exchange for a monthly payment you get a machine that will work perfectly and won't break down for the first couple years, meaning you can work it every day without it costing you time or delayed jobs.

Buying used means you are buying somebody else's problems, every time. If you get it cheap enough and get lucky on the problems, you can make money but it can be inconsistent until you get all the issues ironed out. And the total cost will be much higher than your original purchase price. I've bought a lot of used equipment over the years and almost every time it ended up costing me more than if I had just bought new.

Also, you tend to attract a better class of clientele with new equipment. The ultra rich don't want to deal with the 'old pickup and trailer' crowd and gladly pay more for properly equipped service people.
exactly
my boxer cost 9 grand, needs an engine rebuild, hydraulic leaks fixed, battery and starter among other issues, between parts and downtime it will end up costing basically what that SK1550 cost, just with the SK I get more speed, capacity, and a warranty
 
The whole reality of tree business is you need some Iron unless you contract climb for life.
Once you have Iron, you get to fix shit. I don't care if it's new or used. Or you can pay dearly to get shit fixed.
Thinking new shat don't break and everything is under warranty and will just magically be ready again tomorrow is living in an alternative reality.
As far as your Boxer, easier to probably buy a new motor and move on. Unless you are like me and they wont even take the order for a new motor for my Dingo for at least a year. That's the wait. In that case New is Better. However. I remember a few that bought skid steers that developed cracks in the frame from inferior welds and battled that for a while. Attachments always break. Grapnels, buckets....
BTW. Best not have problems with your new unit. They are behind on getting parts as well.
 
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  • #19
oh and since that grapple truck has a knuckleboom with aux hydraulics, and a legit load chart (over 1900 pound capacity at 62ft side reach, 4K capacity at 75ft vertical reach) I can put a grapple saw on it, an SG160 mecanil probably, for another 20K
poor mans treemek basically, get rid of 80% of my mini skid use with that truck, a good 75% of my work could be replaced with the grapple saw and I could go without buying a spider lift
 
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  • #20
The whole reality of tree business is you need some Iron unless you contract climb for life.
Once you have Iron, you get to fix shit. I don't care if it's new or used. Or you can pay dearly to get shit fixed.
Thinking new shat don't break and everything is under warranty and will just magically be ready again tomorrow is living in an alternative reality.
As far as your Boxer, easier to probably buy a new motor and move on. Unless you are like me and they wont even take the order for a new motor for my Dingo for at least a year. That's the wait. In that case New is Better. However. I remember a few that bought skid steers that developed cracks in the frame from inferior welds and battled that for a while. Attachments always break. Grapnels, buckets....
BTW. Best not have problems with your new unit. They are behind on getting parts as well.
yeah, not getting a new skidsteer, the more I look at it the worse of an idea it becomes
 
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  • #22
Two words,

Boom Hoses. Yup, they break too.
Oh and wires. 75' plus run to joy sticks and controllers, circuit boards. Those break too.
ive had them replaced before, im aware what that cost, $2000 and a phone call to a local company, truck down for 2 days
 
You must have few tight access jobs, Woody :).

20% of work needing to be done using the mini still would mean you'd need one, no?
 
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  • #24
You must have few tight access jobs, Woody :).

20% of work needing to be done using the mini still would mean you'd need one, no?
well, I still have one, just cant run it as hard as id need to without the grapple (machine about to croak, dont want to kill it just yet)
id say a good portion of our work is tight access, but if I get a proper grapple/treemek then I can almost 100% do away with the tight access jobs, very few come to mind where that truck wouldnt work, and being able to haul debris away in the same truck would be amazing, dont even need a trailer for the mini since I can just lift it into the box with the crane
 
I thought I'd like a bigger DW mini skid, but I don't like how the 1550 handles compared to the 800. I haven't really used a 1550 for removals, just a little driving around the firewood lot, and just didn't like it. Controls are sluggish. I think it must have computerized controls. The 800 used to be around $25k, now $35k with the whole inflation and doubling of steel's value stuff going on. You can easily put 800-1200hrs on one with only basic maintenance if you treat it nicely. Just keep all the screws tight, and the usual parts handy: tools for putting the tracks back on, tensioner grease gun and spare fitting, a few sets of spare hydraulic hoses with all fittings, fuses, build a protective cage over the hood, and secure the yellow boom prop pins so they can't ever come loose. Maybe even keep a new hydraulic and fuel tank on hand just in case they break, and even get a spare set of tracks and wheels pre-ordered, so you'll have them when you need them after 600-1400hrs. The 800 won't do everything, but it will do plenty. You could probably make a weight for the platform to help work on steep ground. Replace all hydraulic lines after 800hrs or so to avoid a hard to get to line failure.
 
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