My New 23GT and trailer

[sotc]

Wild!

 

[simplypete]

I'm curious. Do you spike when you step out of the bucket? Or use a strap of some sort? That is prob. just in the movies.

On second thought, I guess safety would demand spikes.

 

[Koa Man]

Just got an email from MLE regarding their upcoming A87TD. They said they are revising the specs on it. Originally the platform height was going to be 87 ft. for a 93 ft. wh. The revised spec will be a lift with 90 ft. platform height for a 96 ft. wh. It will be 34.5 inches wide and 24 ft. long. Dual position outriggers like the 23GT and a whooping 54 inch outrigger height offset. What I especially like about the MLE lift is the ability to drive the lift with the lower boom elevated to 44 inches to clear low obstacles like railings, 3 ft. high fences, planters, etc. The 23GT cannot do that and the height clearance is only about 18 inches.


simplypete,
I spike the palm when I step out of the bucket.

 

[simplypete]

 

[DTW902]

Just got an email from MLE regarding their upcoming A87TD. They said they are revising the specs on it. Originally the platform height was going to be 87 ft. for a 93 ft. wh. The revised spec will be a lift with 90 ft. platform height for a 96 ft. wh. It will be 34.5 inches wide and 24 ft. long. Dual position outriggers like the 23GT and a whooping 54 inch outrigger height offset. What I especially like about the MLE lift is the ability to drive the lift with the lower boom elevated to 44 inches to clear low obstacles like railings, 3 ft. high fences, planters, etc. The 23GT cannot do that and the height clearance is only about 18 inches.


simplypete,
I spike the palm when I step out of the bucket.

You can move the 23GT with the upper boom up 2 or 3 ft if needed. You have to manually manipulate the limit switches, just be careful as that raises the center of gravity. Just make sure they are back to normal after getting around your obstacles. I will have to check out the MLE lifts.

 

[Koa Man]

Dave,
I know that trick with the limiter switches , but it is much more time consuming that simply being designed to run that way. I also just noticed something that you probably would not like. The MLE lift weighs 8400 lbs. and has only 14.5 hp. That may not be enough to climb hills. I like their travel speed of 1.5 mph, 50% faster than the 23GT.

I picked up the coconut trimming account for the new hotel right next to the Hilton called the Grand Waikikian. All the palms there are new plantings that they do not want spiked. It is managed by Hilton. I wanted to take my 23GT into the pool area but the gate to the pool is only 36 inches! The trees are short, 20 to 40 ft. so it looks like I will have to bring the little guy to do it. I did manage to trim some of them from outside the fence. There are about 40 coconut palms at this hotel.

 

[sotc]

Do those coco palms ever blow over?

 

[DTW902]

Dave,
I know that trick with the limiter switches , but it is much more time consuming that simply being designed to run that way. I also just noticed something that you probably would not like. The MLE lift weighs 8400 lbs. and has only 14.5 hp. That may not be enough to climb hills. I like their travel speed of 1.5 mph, 50% faster than the 23GT.

I picked up the coconut trimming account for the new hotel right next to the Hilton called the Grand Waikikian. All the palms there are new plantings that they do not want spiked. It is managed by Hilton. I wanted to take my 23GT into the pool area but the gate to the pool is only 36 inches! The trees are short, 20 to 40 ft. so it looks like I will have to bring the little guy to do it. I did manage to trim some of them from outside the fence. There are about 40 coconut palms at this hotel.

You are right Wesley.
I would probably would want more power; I would also want to know what track drive motors they are using? The other thing I do not like from looking at there web site. The basket rotates left to right but not from the end or corner like our 23GT's do. That would be a must for me; I could not tell if the tracks adjust, if they do how? (Like in and out or out at an angle like the 23 GT's). Any way I would like to see more info on them, they do say, they make custom lifts to the customers needs; I bet that would not be cheap!!!!!

You need to convince the new hotel that it would be better and cheaper to put in a wider gate so you can get your machine inside the fence. Also, it would be better for the palms to keep from spiking them as they get taller.
Tell them this would keep you from having to order a custom lift or hiring a crane to lift your 23GT over the fence. Which would keep costs lower for them?

 

[Koa Man]

Do those coco palms ever blow over?

Once in a while they will fall from the base. Most times they will break from somewhere in the middle of the trunk to just below the head.

Dave, I agree that having a corner mounted basket is much better than rotation in the middle. If the tracks are not adjustable like the 23GT, that would stop me from buying it. I would need to sell both of my lifts to be able to buy the A87TD.

Regarding the gates, the sidewalk is 4 ft. wide but at the gate, they had the fence come in 6" on each side. . Don't understand what fixation builder's have on 36" gates.

 

[DTW902]

Thats crazy they would bring the gate in like that. Those palms are only going to get taller and eventually will require a taller lift if they don't want them spiked. What kind of money are they wanting for the MLE lift?

 

[Koa Man]

I'll take a picture of how the fence goes in when I go to the Hilton on Monday. The price I got for the A87TD is $189,900.

 

[rumination]

Holy moly, I can't believe they slapped a new hotel right there. That used to be a big brackish pond and some beach, if I remember correctly.

 

[Koa Man]

Leon,
The new hotel is where the old single story Waikikian Hotel and an old 2 story apartment building was. It was a narrow strip of land between the Hilton and the Ilikai Hotel. Hilton bought the property, demoed the buildings and built a beautiful new hotel. They spent over $15 million on landscaping alone with a 70 ft. slide on the swimming pool. The Hilton lagoon is still there, completely renovated. The water is crystal clear now. They installed pumps that constantly recycle the water from the ocean. You will be surprised how much that area has changed.

 

[MasterBlaster]

It sounds like Hawaii SUCKS!!!

 

[rumination]

Cool, that's good to know Wesley. I'm glad they didn't backfill the lagoon. Can you still walk through from the yacht club parking lot or have they put fences up?

 

[Koa Man]

You can still walk through and they even built a pedestrian overpass.

Here is a couple of aerial pictures of the renovated lagoon and hotel grounds as well as some of the 400 plus coconut trees located on the 22 acres of this hotel.

The Grand Waikikian (not seen) is behind the building to the left of the Rainbow Tower with the pool in front of it. The building on the left of the Rainbow Tower is the Lagoon Tower, one of the 6 towers the Hilton has.

 

[MasterBlaster]

WoW!!!

 

[TREECYCLE]

Dude you must see some FINE! scenery

 

[Koa Man]

Dave,
Here is the picture of how they stupidly brought the fence over the 4 ft. wide walkway to narrow it down to 3 ft. This entry has no gate, but the two other entries come in the same way and have gates on them.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

That even looks stupid! What were they thinking..... A good planner knows better!

 

[lumberjack]

That's some fine thinking there!

 

[Banned by Squirrels]

I remember when they were building that, stayed at the Ilikai next door a few nights and during the earthquake even. Sure looks nice now.

 

[DTW902]

Dave,
Here is the picture of how they stupidly brought the fence over the 4 ft. wide walkway to narrow it down to 3 ft. This entry has no gate, but the two other entries come in the same way and have gates on them.

Man that is crazy Wesley
They were not thinking ahead there, A 48" gate works just as good as a 36" gate and would look much better, matching the sidewalk. :roll:

 

[treesandsurf]

Can you still fit the smaller lift through that opening? Sounds like it is working out that you are not selling your smaller lift!

jp

 

[Koa Man]

I took the 15GT in there today and did 17 of the 41 palms in there. 13 I did with the 23GT from outside the fence and reaching over. There are 11 more than I am going to do with an extension ladder and my tree steps like the ones in the "selling my spurs" thread. 6 of the 11 cannot be accessed by the 15GT and I don't know of any smaller lift that could get there. Rather than going to the hassle of getting my 15GT to do the 5, I am just going to use the extension ladder on all of the remaining palms.

With the combination of height and side reach needed, several of the palms will be out of reach from the 15GT in about 5 years. After driving my 15GT in there, the turns are rather tight and the 23GT would not make the turns even if it was possible to bring it in. The designers of these hotels certainly were not thinking of ease of maintenance when they designed it. All they thought about was how pretty it will look.

The hotel landscape manager gave me permission to spike the palms that my lift could not get to, but I hate to start spiking that beautiful unblemished trunk. I'll use my extension ladder, even though it will take longer and be a lot more hassle.