Piece of equipment that changed your game

[Tucker943]

What was it. Not rope shit and handtools either. Iron. What piece of equipment created a turning point in the money you generated week to week. Now, I know equipment isn't a one size fits all deal. Every tree co is different. But we all do mostly the same thing. I have some choices to make shortly. Material forwarding or bucket truck. I myself, am trying to decide which will get me off the job faster.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Grapple truck and mini loader. nothing else comes close

 

[PCTREE]

For us it was the wheel loader but we have big house lots here, 2 acres, for more urban areas I would go with a mini with grapple.

Next big chipper, our cone head chips at least 3X quicker than say a BB250

 

[brendonv]

Mini probably first.


After having the bigger chipper id say that is high on the list too. Can do without the bucket, not used enough as the other things.

 

[cory]

Wheel loader or bucket truck. The loader is far less expensive than the bucket and so gives more bang for the dollar. It does everything but climb trees: rake debris and chipables, drag brush, feed brush, makes a large tow-behind stumper into a self propelled one, remove stump mulch, carry mats, drag logs, lift logs, load logs, lift men, pull trees, push trees, spread chips, pull up stubborn fence posts and stubs, move trailers and chippers and containers, nuke giant snow piles, dig out from blizzards, free stuck vehicles, nuke old brush piles, pull the butts of gin-poled trees, goes thru gates/openings that all your other trucks/chippers won't.

Maybe go back and check the last year or two of your jobs that you did, as well as jobs you bid on, and see which would have made the most difference.

 

[squisher]

For me the mini with a grapple. Boom is a luxury that does speed accessible jobs up. But what's the point of speeding up the cutting if the ground can't keep up?

Processing is the key!

 

[emr]

https://db.tt/Y1TucCmT

This is all I got. :what:
I was hoping to have a mini by now but stuff changes in a hurry sometimes.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Mick!]

1.5 tonne Mini digger with hydraulic thumb. Loads wood, clears up, pulls back Leaners over, easy to transport, plus.....digs holes.

 

[squisher]

I've used some mini hoes. Seems like it would be really slow if there was much of any forwarding to be done and quite high impact compared to a mini skid or mini loader.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Mini (dingo) and I know you said no rope thingys... but the Wraptor was a huge game changer as well.
Now I just need a bigger chipper, that should be the next biggie.

 

[Mick!]

You're right, but if you're loading direct onto a truck next to the trunk/digger it's pretty handy.
You don't have to to and fro just slew round once in position.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

I've used some mini hoes. Seems like it would be really slow if there was much of any forwarding to be done and quite high impact compared to a mini skid or mini loader.

Actually, no. The tracks are 99% rubber, and no worse than a tracked skid steer. The will handle a BMG just like a mini skid, and are more versatile.

Key difference is that there are millions of them over here, and hardly any mini skids.

 

[Husabud]

Boxer with BMG, no question about it. Then Wraptor. The GRCS is nice in certain situations, but the mini can do about the same with the right blocks and MA.

 

[squisher]

I have no doubt it's handy. Pretty much any mechanical lifting device is much better than none.

One of my comp here has a hiab and no one else has anything but backs. They just can't compete on removals.

 

[No_Bivy]

My iron clad employees........then

Mini/grapple

 

[rangerdanger]

Mini and BMG with a dump trailer. Then I stepped it up to the Gehl. The loader and dump trailer is probably the best investment you could ever make. It'll easily pay for itself within a year. Cory nailed it right on the head with how versatile they are.

I had the chance yesterday to work with a large grapple truck and let me tell you, these things are the shit. Me and Nick have been looking into them for a long time, because they are the way to go for tree work. A buddy of ours who uses these told us out of all the equipment he owns, his guys would give up everything before they gave up the grapple truck. No more crane, no bucket trucks, no loaders.

But not many people can roll like that. But just goes to show, material handling equipment is probably the best investment you can make. Like they've said, so what if you can get the tree on the ground quicker, it won't matter if your ground guys can't keep up, or if you spend the rest of that day cleaning up the mess.

 

[FJR]

Bucket truck, then the Gehl by far. The mini was a great improvement in efficiency, but the Gehl flat out makes money. It cuts hours off of site time, which allows for more work to be done in a day and more revenue. The extra revenue that it creates per month allowed me to purchase the new stump grinder. It goes on 75% of the jobs, which is something I never expected was going to happen. I thought it was going to be way too hard on landscape, but the fact is that it is more turf friendly than our tracked mini.

Adrian, that truck is on the radar for me one day. You hit the nail on the head, material handling is the name of the game.

 

[Mick!]

Yes, I looked into getting a skid steer but it was not easy, so 400 quid got me the thumb.
For forwarding (if you can call it that in domestic tree work) this has proved handy.

 

[Mick!]

Mini and BMG with a dump trailer. Then I stepped it up to the Gehl. The loader and dump trailer is probably the best investment you could ever make. It'll easily pay for itself within a year. Cory nailed it right on the head with how versatile they are.

I had the chance yesterday to work with a large grapple truck and let me tell you, these things are the shit. Me and Nick have been looking into them for a long time, because they are the way to go for tree work. A buddy of ours who uses these told us out of all the equipment he owns, his guys would give up everything before they gave up the grapple truck. No more crane, no bucket trucks, no loaders.

But not many people can roll like that. But just goes to show, material handling equipment is probably the best investment you can make. Like they've said, so what if you can get the tree on the ground quicker, it won't matter if your ground guys can't keep up, or if you spend the rest of that day cleaning up the mess.

I cannot highlight so I'll just say I entirely agree that material handling is the the key.

 

[squisher]

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.

 

[cory]

Adrien, nice pic. Those guys have an excellent website. Do they own that crane in the pic? How are you able to work with them? Do they dump brush for free?

 

[brendonv]

Id say the mini is most versatile though. No extra truck, not extra trailer, no extra driver. Great for micro guys like myself, i would consider you the same from what i gather too, chris.

Minimal investment. Little maintenance.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Agreeing with Brendon here. Mini's rock with a micro crew. We went small with tracks because of our niche. Hitting two jobs on Monday that will make it shine... Me climb, make a mess, mini moves mess to burn area, pack up and leave. Quick cash.

 

[rangerdanger]

Adrien, nice pic. Those guys have an excellent website. Do they own that crane in the pic? How are you able to work with them? Do they dump brush for free?

Hey Cory, this job was actually Nick's. little nick on here. Joe Russell, who owns Russell Tree is a good friend of ours out of Columbus so Nick payed him to send a grapple truck down. Dumping in OH is pretty much free, as its all ground into mulch. Crane is a rental but Joe does on a 23 1/2 ton crane.

 

[sotc]