Piece of equipment that changed your game

[PCTREE]

Willie, Knuckle booms are pretty cool and you got a steal on yours but personally that wouldn't be the top of my list. I could easily forsake the Kboom before I even began to consider loosing the wheel loader.

 

[sotc]

You know, my mini doesn't even go out once a month. I wouldn't be without a bucket. I'd say the one piece is love to have is a grapple loader. Either remote control or the controls in an easier place to see than this truck

 

[sotc]

A wheel loader would rarely get used in residential work here either. Bigger commercial/municipal jobs or the occasional large property. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have one but not really ideal here

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I could totally use a boom truck of late. I think I would just have to have a mill once I had one though...

 

[MasterBlaster]

Grapple Loader.

 

[lumberjack]

I still can't wrap my head around the sit down aspect of a loader? When feeding the chipper with it do you never hit the feed bar? Is there an extra guy that just runs the chipper? Is getting on and off just not that big of a deal? I've run line skidder before and that was the worst part of it, the constant on and off the machine.

I can't legally disable my feed bar up here if that's how y'all get around it down there. Big compo fines if I got caught with a disabled feed bar. Hell I even have to have the functional last chance pull cables in my Bandit which get caught up the odd time and reverse things. On a mini it's easy peasy to step off and correct.

No chipping, cram the bush and logs into the box.

 

[squisher]

No go here then. Chips are free dumped on my way to or from town. And unprocessed is 20/ton at the dump 1/2 hr away.

 

[PCTREE]

Shoot any biomass is $50 a ton here!

 

[Stumper]

The Bucket truck made a world of difference. I don't have a mini skid but I could use one at times....but the bucket makes a difference almost every day. I do have the benefit of a firewood guy with a grapple. Big help. Still that is a tool for some days/some types of jobs. The Bucket gets used much more often, Also, the bucket makes a huge difference in perception by the public. I noticed a big increase in call volume when I bought a medium duty truck with a chip box. That big rolling billboard got attention and suddenly it looked like a "serious operation" to many people. Adding a bucket increased that further.

 

[mccauleytree]

Ours without a doubt would be the sk650. It is just an amazing piece of equipment. It has no problem feeding our 18'' chipper and easily replaces 2-3 extra guys on the crew.

 

[brendonv]

I agree with that, justin.

Bucket trucks increases your validity with consumers for some reason. There was a time where people would ask on bids if i had a bucket truck. I told them i did, but it never showed up because at the time i really didn't.

If my truck wasn't so slow id take it on all my jobs as a toolbox/billboard.

 

[Tucker943]

The general consensus is that material forwarding rates higher then a bucket truck. That surprised me. And didn't at the same time......

 

[woodworkingboy]

Probably even more so if you aren't chipping, material forwarding becomes a big priority. I wouldn't be keen on going back to the days of dealing with a lot of brush by hand, and then observing a sea of green when I closed my eyes to go to sleep at night. Enough of doing that. I did build up a lot of stamina for it though, now after only a few minutes it's like frig this!

 

[Tucker943]

Im just kicking options around. I am going to buy more iron, or spend the equivalent on bringing in professional marketing......... Im ready to step things up. Im at a crossroads. Its time to make a move and grow. Im looking at my options both ways. Im going to pull the trigger before spring one way or the other.

 

[woodworkingboy]

No website yet, Chris? Having one is a pretty basic thing these days, sometimes if only to say that you do.

 

[littlenick]

Grapple Trucks and the Gehl with Duals.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Hey, Nick, what's up with you? Still doing the school thing? Got to keep your young person most likely to succeed status.

 

[littlenick]

Hows it going! Hope all is well! Yep, still doing both! Have another year and a half left to go, should go pretty quick! I don't have any free time really so I unfortunately don't post that often. Still into trees too and love every aspect of it. Looking to expand this year and start to really grow my company. Been researching the heck out of grapple trucks and are a no-brainer. Did a $6k job friday in about 6 hours, only really needed three people too. Could have gotten it all on one truck load, but didn't want to get too ballsy with DOT. Cant wait to get one.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Keep on keeping on, Nick!!!

 

[Tucker943]

Working on that Jay.

 

[treesandsurf]

I would say the mini/grapple and then the spider lift. I can get through many pruning trees probably 3x faster on average than climbing them with a lot less effort. We just completed 220 very large trees at Foster botanical garden in about two months, if I had to climb each tree I'd be there at least 6 months.

jp

 

[cory]

Yeah, Chris, if you've got the marketing and hence plenty of work, most any iron will pay for itself easily.

 

[mistahbenn]

Grapple truck for sure, that is our (hopefully!!!!) Next acquirement.. Thats what Rob has been saying anyway...

 

[flushcut]

My mini.

 

[rumination]

I would say the mini/grapple and then the spider lift. I can get through many pruning trees probably 3x faster on average than climbing them with a lot less effort. We just completed 220 very large trees at Foster botanical garden in about two months, if I had to climb each tree I'd be there at least 6 months.

jp

That must have been an awesome job Jon, and perfect for the spider lift. Some of the trees there are amazing.