spiderlift

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stehansen said:
I rented a 34' spiderlift to take down a bunch of Italian Cypress trees in a back yard and it worked great for that. Then I used it to clean the mistletoe and trim a Modesto Ash tree also in the same yard and I found it to only slightly easier than climbing the tree. I realize that there is a learning curve with anything and I was definately on the bottom part of that. What I didn't like was that it didn't extend very far from the base, compared to a bucket truck. You could only work a small area of the tree pretty much right above the lift and consequently I was always dropping stuff on the lift, and you had to move it quite a few times. I dented up a few things, but they didn't say anything when I brought it back. With the insurance it came to $220/day. I used it for 3 days, but they only charged me for 2 since it had rained one of the days that I had it. Another thing I didn't like about it was you had to push really hard on the switches or it wouldn't move. I know...nag, nag, nag.
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Which Spiderlift did you rent Steve(model). If it was only a 34ft lift it probably would not have much side reach. Was it actually a Spiderlift or another make? KOA's 15GT has almost 21ft side reach. My lift has right at 36ft side reach at 40ft height (13ft to 40ft height is 36ft side reach).
Both booms on mine telescope, so anywhere from 13ft to 40ft you can telescope horizontally into the canopy and back out.
It's all about set up with these lifts. You don't have to work the whole tree from one place (set up). Like you would with a conventional bucket truck, because you are lucky to even get them close to the tree, in backyard, difficult access spots.
With the 23GT you work one side, boom down lift the out riggers drive to the other side, set the outriggers down and boom up and work the rest of the tree. All with out getting out of the bucket.
Hell if it is a front yard tree, easy access, I'll use the regular bucket, drop it, pull the bucket out. Pull the grab truck in load it and head to the next job.
The Spider is for the jobs you could not even think about getting the regular bucket to. No access or to wet of a lawn, on the side of a hill ect. 8)
 
stehansen said:
Absolutely, like lumberjack said one hit on the outrigger hydraulic fitting and you would be tipping over. I'm assuming that they were designed for construction worker lifting.
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You should be able to remove both hydraulic pipes/fittings while the the machine is set up without effecting the stability of the machine .

In the block that the fittings attach to is a check/lock valve that closes to hydraulically lock the cylinder piston. The check/lock valve requires a pressure input from the machines hydraulic circuit to open, this is of course providing that no one has tried to adjust the lock valve or it is damaged.

Why is a construction worker less likely to damage a hydraulic fitting pipe than a tree worker?
 
lumberjack said:
They went on and on how German engineering far exceeds my country's engineering.

I asked "What would happen if this fitting was knocked off?" Refering to a hose fitting on the cylinder of the outrigger. They said it was nearly impossible for it to be hit, I provided a resonable senario, they scoffed and said I was crazy. (The answer was if the fitting was knocked off the outrigger would go limp pressing down, but would still be able to pick up.) Then they mentioned how someone in the mother land dropped a chunk on the outrigger, bent the cylinder, but drove the outrigger into the ground with no (visible) damage. They again went on saying how superior their engineering was to mine.

.
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Salemen only sell the things, very few will know their arse from their elbow, don't expect them to answer technical questions about machine design/safety, ask the service engineer!!!
 
zzr1200 said:
Why is a construction worker less likely to damage a hydraulic fitting pipe than a tree worker?
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Are you serious? What happens when you cut a limb or chunk of wood? Does it float up? Construction scenerios usually don't involve repeatedly dropping/lowering things to the ground.
 
MasterBlaster said:
Are you serious? What happens when you cut a limb or chunk of wood? Does it float up? Construction scenerios usually don't involve repeatedly dropping/lowering things to the ground.
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MB, just the answer I was expecting.

A tree worker will understand these things, in my experience most construction workers only see the job they are doing, not whats going go around them.

ie: they will drive machines across lawns, flower beds and soft ground then wonder why the machine sinks up to its chassis and bypass tilt alarms/sensors just to get the job done.

They only look at the bit they are working on, not the whole working area.

PS. I would say a tree worker is safer than a construction worker any day, yes there is a possibility of damage from falling objects but the worker will/should be aware of this and make allowances.
 
pete mctree said:
Good point, however some basic guarding on the pipes on the ones i've seen would be a bonus. Some people are not so carefull dragging brash as they are dismantling the tree.
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Pete, I can't see anyone managing to break a hydraulic union just by manually dragging brash over it, I will agree that some unions could be better protected but its all down to build costs and design constraints.
 
MasterBlaster said:
I want a rear-mounted flatbed bucket truck. Frig those combo units.

Not my cup of joe.
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I agree. I had a forestry unit at one time. Sold it and got a material handler with no chip box. Once you filled at tiny 10-12 cu. yd. box on the combo unit and you need to dump it, you lose your lift and chip truck. With separate units, you can keep working. A forestry unit, IMHO is only good for line clearing work.

Having owned both a spider lift and a bucket only truck, the spider lift is far more versatile and if I could only have one, it would be the spider. If I only worked in areas large enough for a bucket truck, then that would be my choice. What you get really is dictated by the area you work. Any lift is useless if it cannot get to the work area.
 
zzr1200 said:
Why is a construction worker less likely to damage a hydraulic fitting pipe than a tree worker?
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Construction work usually involves things going up,tree work involves things going down more often than not
 
Koa Man said:
I agree. I had a forestry unit at one time. Sold it and got a material handler with no chip box. Once you filled at tiny 10-12 cu. yd. box on the combo unit and you need to dump it, you lose your lift and chip truck. With separate units, you can keep working. A forestry unit, IMHO is only good for line clearing work.
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What makes the flatbed so much better than a forestry package? We very rarely chip into ours, we mainly use to load wood into. Since our truck has the long boom (65ft) , the chip box is allot bigger than the standard forestry box. We always run multiple trucks with one crew so we just chip into something else.
 
395xp said:
What makes the flatbed so much better than a forestry package? We very rarely chip into ours, we mainly use to load wood into. Since our truck has the long boom (65ft) , the chip box is allot bigger than the standard forestry box. We always run multiple trucks with one crew so we just chip into something else.
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not working over cab or chip box.
 
roller said:
Construction work usually involves things going up,tree work involves things going down more often than not
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Roller I fully agree with you, but the amount of damage construction workers do looking/going up is unbelievable at times.

I personally fitted £600-00 worth of power track parts to a Genie 85 ft machine only to have the numpty worker rip the new parts off before I had packed away my tools and yes he was only looking up.

Demolition workers also use mewp's, we don't have half the amount of damage construction worker cause, its not the industry its the operators that cause the damage.

Now don't get me started on steel erectors they are something else............:O
 
395xp said:
Thats it? Thats why the cab has a cage over it and no one sees the dents on top of the chip box.
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a rear mount will yield you about 6' to 8' more in reach due to it being able to back in closer, or a larger, unobstructed drop zone.

and a rear mount may be shorter wheelbase making area's more accessible
 
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