Gerasimek's Tree-mek

Gerasimek said:
Bob Montgomery has tree-mek #2 in Cleveland. Jerad beat Rick off the podium taking the #3 title getting his in action first. Congrats Jerad! I'm jealous of Jerad's Shiney gangsta rims. Rick should be #4 unless Jamie Montgomery, from Louisiana, gets his in action 1st.
Click to expand...
Glen it might be possible to bedazzle them? I tried to get Jason to get some spinning rims but that might have been over the top.
 
Hey Jerad, that is a sweet ride !! you can be proud of that rig, what number of extensions on your upper boom and than on your fly jib? What is your total weight capacity at 99' without the grapple saw? 99' is flat out reach, do you know at 70' up how far you can reach?
 
Hey guys! Does one have to have a cab-over to be in the "Tree-Mek" club? I should hopefully be taking delivery of my truck in the first part of next year. But, it will be a conventional cab truck due to the cost savings of buying an existing Truck Crane combo. I am, however, going to have Tiffin shorten the truck for me. I think I will be able to keep the overall length of the truck very close to the 26.5 feet of Glenn's setup. My crane is going to be an Effer 340 with a jib. (That is what is on the truck)
 
Gareth's Tree said:
Hey guys! Does one have to have a cab-over to be in the "Tree-Mek" club? I should hopefully be taking delivery of my truck in the first part of next year. But, it will be a conventional cab truck due to the cost savings of buying an existing Truck Crane combo. I am, however, going to have Tiffin shorten the truck for me. I think I will be able to keep the overall length of the truck very close to the 26.5 feet of Glenn's setup. My crane is going to be an Effer 340 with a jib. (That is what is on the truck)
Click to expand...
Hello Gareth,
I was up at Tiffin on Monday and saw your name on the board. We may want to consider making a new forum post for this direction of tree work. Glen would be the guy to really direct any serious questions with. As of now I believe he might be considered the expert on grapple saw tree removal. I can tell you yesterday I drove 40 minutes to remove a tree off a house and it took me only 10 minutes compared to what it would have taken me an 1.5 hrs traditionally. Since I was set up I took a small leaner for him too. This setup can make life very easy but on the other side it can a very steep learning curve and if your not careful you can damage the machine and everything surrounding it in a blink of an eye. Here is a pic of some of the engineering staff, Jason Smith and I at Tiffin Crane.
 

Attachments

  • image.webp
    image.webp
    268.2 KB · Views: 102
I believe it's 97' of hydraulic but using a 2' extension as Glen suggested keeps the grapple off the boom some giving you 99'. So that's 97' and if you want a little more you can use three manual extensions of 6' to get out to 115' minus the weight of the extensions with a max limit of 500lbs on those. Now if you put a grapple saw on there you will have to subtract 700lbs from your estimated picks. To stay in a safe range it's best to only take 500 lbs at a time anyways. In about a year I can probably tell you a lot more but still in diaper size nb here.
 

Attachments

  • image.webp
    image.webp
    897.1 KB · Views: 155
  • image.webp
    image.webp
    580.7 KB · Views: 143
Jerad Oren said:
Hello Gareth,
I was up at Tiffin on Monday and saw your name on the board. We may want to consider making a new forum post for this direction of tree work. Glen would be the guy to really direct any serious questions with. As of now I believe he might be considered the expert on grapple saw tree removal. I can tell you yesterday I drove 40 minutes to remove a tree off a house and it took me only 10 minutes compared to what it would have taken me an 1.5 hrs traditionally. Since I was set up I took a small leaner for him too. This setup can make life very easy but on the other side it can a very steep learning curve and if your not careful you can damage the machine and everything surrounding it in a blink of an eye. Here is a pic of some of the engineering staff, Jason Smith and I at Tiffin Crane.
Click to expand...
Hey Jarad, I do know Glen. I have gone out and seen him work for a day! That was cool!
 
AmericanArborist said:
Do you find customers will hire you because of this equipment setting you apart?
Click to expand...
Yes, people are willing to pay more. In some cases, several hundred more. One customer told me he had a bid for $700 less, but wanted me to do it because he felt it was safer and his yard wouldn't be disturbed. Seeing is believing for people so whenever I'm doing a bid, I send a link to my video to their smart phone or email. People love the idea that nobody is up in the tree. Everyone is familiar with guys getting hurt in trees and law suits so a tree-mek pretty much eliminates that possibility.
AmericanArborist said:
Do you find customers will hire you because of this equipment setting you apart?
Click to expand...
 
Gareth's Tree said:
Hey guys! Does one have to have a cab-over to be in the "Tree-Mek" club? I should hopefully be taking delivery of my truck in the first part of next year. But, it will be a conventional cab truck due to the cost savings of buying an existing Truck Crane combo. I am, however, going to have Tiffin shorten the truck for me. I think I will be able to keep the overall length of the truck very close to the 26.5 feet of Glenn's setup. My crane is going to be an Effer 340 with a jib. (That is what is on the truck)
Click to expand...
Gareth,
I think a tree-mek club is a good idea and even though your truck looks different, it's doing the same thing as the rest of ours. Sure, we may poke fun at you having a hood on your truck, but that's probably it. You had the vision and initiative to put things in motion for the betterment of your business and your health and that's what sets tree-mek owner/operators apart. In the years to come, it is my hope, that we can all exchange ideas and make our tree-meks even better. Congrats!
 
Jerad Oren said:
I guess it's my turn to buy the tree mek four sticker for Montgomery.
Click to expand...
Jerad,
I think that would be a great tradition to start. It'll create relationships between tree-mek operators which will, in turn, lead to ideas and innovations being shared. Plus, it'll save me forty bucks and postage!
 
So guys, I have a question... for those of you that are using a Tree-Mek, what type of more traditional tree crew do you think would be needed to equal its time to remove a tree? For example would you need a crew of 4 guys, a crane, and a bucket truck? Or maybe just a 100 foot stick Crane with a 4 man crew? Or how about a setup like Mike Poore with the remote control knuckle boom, a climber controlling it and then maybe a mini skid, or articulated loader feeding the chipper on the ground? I am just curious. I realize part of the beauty of a Tree-Mek is being able to do it all with only a two man crew.
 
Gareth's Tree said:
So guys, I have a question... for those of you that are using a Tree-Mek, what type of more traditional tree crew do you think would be needed to equal its time to remove a tree? For example would you need a crew of 4 guys, a crane, and a bucket truck? Or maybe just a 100 foot stick Crane with a 4 man crew? Or how about a setup like Mike Poore with the remote control knuckle boom, a climber controlling it and then maybe a mini skid, or articulated loader feeding the chipper on the ground? I am just curious. I realize part of the beauty of a Tree-Mek is being able to do it all with only a two man crew.
Click to expand...
That is a tough question since there are so many variables, but I'll try.
Before the tree-mek I had a 75' rear mount elevator that I would operate and 2-3 guys on the ground handling the rigging and clean up. I think the best way to answer this question is to add up all the time spent doing things that you don't have to do with a tree-mek then add up the expense of the 1 or 2 extra employees.
Here are things u don't do anymore. I don't put on a harness, climb into a bucket, climb, set up a portawrap, handle a rope, set a rigging point, tie knots or use rigging, make a face cut, make a back cut, move a rigging point, wait for guys on the ground to move limb or log, untie rigging, and send rope back up, estimate and communicate how many wraps to use, use a saw and run out of gas, come down, refuel, and go back up. There's a lot more, I'm sure. I'm sure you're starting to understand.
Its just so simplified. Very little saw use. Very little clean up. No impact on the yard. Easy to load logs. Less men to depend on. Less equipment to maintain and coordinate.
If you build a tree-mek, it will change forever what you think is a day's wage and a day of work. Hopefully, this gives you some idea of what it's like.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom