Sherrills new GRCS pricing

[lumberjack]

A quick Google search shows the prices for a Super Hawg vary from $260-$514.

A couple of the cheaper ones are remanufactured (units returned after they're purchased, sent in, checked out and sent back out) but still come with a full warranty.

Makes you wonder what these people are thinking when you can get the same thing here.

 

[okietreedude]

i also bought my grcs used (im the one from treebuzz). Ive used it acouple of times. it is indeed handy to have.

one thing ive noticed bout mine- the rope slips in the toothed guide while your winching on it. is it supposed to do this or is something wrong w/ it? ive thought it was just we were out of slack but ther has been times weve had a not too tight rope and it still gives. its almost taken two people on the winch...one to crank and one to pull the rope.

any suggestions?

 

[lumberjack]

On heavier loads it will slip, the newer version will slip less because of the knurling.

With 1/2" high mod lines, it doesn't slip as much with more reasonable loads. I rarely use anything larger than 1/2" in it now, although I used to use 9/16" on occasion.

 

[okietreedude]

1/2" is what I primarily use.

 

[Ax-Man]

I don't how much more lifting power you would need with the 7.5 amper. It does lift with athourity!!! Much more than I can crank going counter clockwise on the winch( forgot the gear ratio ) 16 to 1 ?? I think.

Anyway, Any hand type winching is going to have it's limitations short of using a winch truck. The limitations I have found have been not so much with the drill but more with the number of wraps you can get on the capstain before the rope loses traction on the capstain. If your using Stable Braid 5/8 it will lift and hold a hell of a load but is limiting for lifting because of the number of wraps you can get on the capstain. You can put more wraps using 9/16th's thus getting more lifting power and traction and still be able to hold a load compareable to a what a 5/8 th's will hold. The work horse rope we use is 12 strand True-Blue. It gives the most wraps on the capstain, good traction and speed for lifting. I like True Blue better than Stable Braid in 1/2 in. because it is easier to work with and seems to give better traction on the winch than Stable Braid.

I don't think I need to tell you this LJ but for others that might be reading and thinking about a GRCS drill generator set-up. The most limiting factor for lifting is not so much the drill or the winch but more how the notches and particularly the hinge and how thick it is that hinders a big lift. All factors that go into a heavy lift have to work in harmony or otherwise it doesn't give the desired results. The same goes for a doing a snap cut if a piece doesn't need to be lifted so to speak but just tensioned a little. The exacusion of the cut is more important than the hardware.

 

[Koa Man]

On the GRCS you need to get at least 5 wraps to lift a heavy piece without slipping. I normally use 9/16 for lowering big pieces. 1/2 otherwise and even 11mm retired climbing lines for light rigging without the GRCS.

 

[lumberjack]

For lifting applications I use 1/2" high modulus lines that offer little to no stretch and ridiculously high working loads.

My main 1/2" lifting line is rated to 22klbs, which in a static lift is far more than the GRCS is designed to put out.

On real heavy lifts I'll use a double or tripple whip tackle setup to increase lifting power.

Normally I use 1/2" Stable braid for most rigging work not involving the GRCS. For general lifting/lowering I'll use 1/2" ir 9/16" Stable on the winch.

The drill sounds like it'll lift more than the winch is rated for, I'd rather have too much power than not enough.

 

[Frans]

Ah, lots of questions and concerns....wonder if I should just call Greg and ask him to get off his ass and join up with the TreeHouse?

Most important item before I post my thoughts on all those questions

ALWAYS USE A PULLEY TO GUIDE THE ROPE INTO THE FAIRLEADS IF THE LOAD LINE IS COMING IN AT EVEN A SLIGHT ANGLE.

1. truck mount length:
you want it set away from the truck so you can position your body where needed.
No, it will not bend. The entire truck will slide before that happens.
2. 'Jaws' slipping on 1/2" rope. first I suggest you call Greg Good and order up some replacement springs. Also get the DVD which completely explains how to replace the springs as well as service the unit.
What happens over time with the jaws is that the springs become splayed because of using 9/16"-3/4" rope. So when you load it with 1/2" rope, that rope can slip if you only have a half wrap or so.

3. LJ, you are a typical tree guy. 'Gotta have 'mo power! The hole hawg is plenty strong enough. Altho it would not hurt to have a bigger drill, you run the risk of breaking your arm when the drum on the GRCS stops, and you don't stop. Seriously. With the hole hawg, it can almost get away from me. I am not a weak pansy ass either.
The reason why is that you are concentrating on working your ropes so you end up standing just a bit away from the GRCS so you can look up. Hit the trigger and the drill wrenches away from you.


The head of the GRCS which accepts the crank or drill bit attachment is made of stainless steel. However the rest of the mechanism is not. Their are some parts in there that do not like to be hammered on .
DO NOT USE A HAMMER DRILL. Make sure you insert the drill bit attachment fully into the socket before cranking.

Gas powered drills (and I have used just about all of them) are too slow.

4. The drill bit attachment is cut from stainless steel. Sherrills is making good coin from selling it at their price point.
I always wonder why folks don't just call Greg and ask him to sell them one. No big deal, just pick up the phone.
5. The minimum generator power I have found to work is 3000Watt.


I will call Greg, this is really his ball game. I am not an employee or anything like that, I just like the unit.
But I am happy to answer questions.

 

[lumberjack]

Frans, it's not that I want more power, I simply want enough power to meet my expectations.

I DONT want to have to take the drill off to crank by hand.

The Super can be had for 20-30 bucks more than the Hole, I don't see a reason not to get it. I wanted to make sure it would do the deed before investing the money.

The reason I asked about the drill bit's material was for weldability concerns.

Thanks for the answers!

 

[Frans]

If I had to buy another drill I would get the bigger one.

'MO POWER FOR ME!

 

[Ax-Man]

Frans,

Before I purchased our GRCS I talked to Greg. He prefers to sell the GRCS through his distributers like Sherrill or in my case Alexander Equipment in Lisle Ill. who also is a Morbark dealer. There is no price difference if Greg sells it directly or you get it from another source. He did throw the bit adapter in for free for my order. He is a real nice guy. He was also able to get me one of those ART mini block which are very hard to come by. That wasn't free though.

Sherrill isn't the only one offering the GRCS below list. Aerial Equipment was also listing them for less than list price. At least they were when I was pricing them. I don't know if they still are or not. I could have gotten mine cheaper from Aerial but decided to stay loyal to my Morbark dealer for what little difference there was in price. I think these big guys are figuring if they can sell the GRCS for under list they will probaly sell you other gear to make up the difference. A kind of loss leader game the supermarkets play to get you into the store because odds are your going to buy other things while your there.

 

[Frans]

But remember I did say to call Greg for the drill bit adapter, not the GRCS itself.

Also I said that the other dealers are honoring this lower price. Read the prior posts?

 

[sotc]

i have the stihl gas drill with 2 forward speeds, 2nd gear seems fast to me. leon, if carl doesnt want it ill buy it from you, other wise ill order one someday along with the visor

 

[Frans]

The Stihl gas drill is slower than the Tanaka gas drill. Both have a true gear box with forward and reverse.

I was way too frustrated with the gas drills. Got better things to do than stand their falling asleep waiting for the gas drill to do it's thing.

When I hit that trigger I want results, right now.

LJ, now you have me wanting a bigger drill damm you! My drill works fine as is, not too slow.

 

[rumination]

Willie, if Carl declares that he doesn't want it, then it's yours free of charge.


Make up your mind Carl!

 

[sotc]

thanks for the offer leon. dont make your chocie based on me carl, if you need it take it

 

[lumberjack]

I could use it

 

[rumination]

Well then, it's yours Carl.

Now I just have to dig around in my climbing bag and find the darned thing...

 

[sotc]

to cool leon

 

[Old Monkey]

LJ, now you have me wanting a bigger drill damm you!

Carl has that effect on a lot of guys.

 

[Frans]

I must post a retraction to a prior post:

1. Greg Good DOES NOT SELL HIS PRODUCTS!
Sorry for the confusion, I was mistaken in stating that. To receive parts, accessories, or the unit itself, contact your favorite vendor

2. Sherrills lower price on the units is Sherrills price, other vendors, may, or may not, lower their prices to match Sherrills price.

Thank you, and sorry for the confusion.

Frans

 

[treesandsurf]

Apologize for being slow here, but I still haven't found the best method to switch from lifting to lowering with the GRCS? Does it help to run the line through the pig tails before taking it off the brake (name??) portion of the bollard. Thanks for the patience.

jp

 

[rumination]

Jon, when lifting you generally have taken as many wraps as you can fit on the bollard and then snugged the tail down into the self tailing jaws. How many wraps you need to lower is going to depend on the size of your load, but in almost all circumstances you're going to need to take a few of your lifting wraps off to comfortably lower.

My process to go from lifting to lowering: remove winch handle, pop out pigtail, remove rope from jaws, take off as many wraps as necessary so that I can easily lower the load (keeping hand tension on the tail at all times), slide the rope tail into the pigtail, step back to a sensible position and lower away!

I just realized that you might also be referring to the three fair leads mounted on the top and sides of the frame of the GRCS. Those are for the rope coming from the load to direct it in the correct direction onto the bollard. The rope needs to go through one of those before getting wrapped around the drum. If the rope angle is really awkward for fitting it through one of the fair leads then you need to set up a sling and block on the stem of the tree to redirect it smoothly into one of the fair leads. You will notice that one of the fair leads on the Arboretum's GRCS is slightly bent sideways. This is because I neglected to make sure that the rope was entering the fair lead without tweaking the frame.

 

[Koa Man]

I leave my rope in the pigtail and push back on that end to give it a little slack. I lift the rope out of the jaws and use the same method to take off the amount of wraps needed to lower, making sure I take up the excess slack as each wrap comes off. I hesitate to take the rope off the pigtail under load because if you are not real careful, all the wraps can suddenly come off and you have no control. That happened to me once. Good thing I was using the GRCS to lift a branch up and away from the house and it was hanging over an open area when it came down.

 

[treesandsurf]

My process to go from lifting to lowering: remove winch handle, pop out pigtail, remove rope from jaws, take off as many wraps as necessary so that I can easily lower the load (keeping hand tension on the tail at all times), slide the rope tail into the pigtail, step back to a sensible position and lower away!

Leon, good clear instructions.

I think my problem might have been too few wraps. I was lifting a large piece for Ben the other day (about 18" D by 8', F. microcarpa) and when I switched to lowering it, the angle of the rope coming off the brake caused me to loose a wrap rather quickly (which sounds like what happened to Koa Man).

I think I had four wraps there but maybe more would have solved the problem... plenty of opportunities ahead to experiment .

jp