Epic VA Treemek Build

[Steve Connally]

High score so far

 

[treebilly]

Pretty tight radius but very impressive steve

 

[oceans]

View attachment 52233

Steve, you really need to wear some of that paint off that grapple!

 

[Stephen Moore]

It's super clean. There's a ton of gauges. Wonder what they all mean

I installed gauges just because I like the look of em.

 

[Stephen Moore]

The only gauges you may not be used to, (diesel related), are:
pyrometer - exhaust gas temperature (EGT)
boost - measured in psi, tells you how much air the turbo is stuffing in the engine
drive pressure - exhaust pressure your turbo is seeing from the engine. Your truck may not even have this one.
These gauges will let you know the efficiency of your engine. The egt gauge will climb when your on the throttle hard and unburned fuel is flying out the exhaust pipe. It's a direct relation to heat.
Same with boost .... more boost equals more atmospheric air fed to the engine. Although your egt will not climb 1:1 with this guage.
I hope I didn't confuse you. I'd be happy to chat with you any time.

May have transmission temp as well? If the trans gets hot increase engine rpms by dropping a gear or 2.

 

[Stephen Moore]

In my opinion the flashey part that catches your eye should be your business name and logo, not a bright bold color. I like the look, but you want people to remember your buisness name not just be the the guy with the cool bright colored fenders. It'll be hard to look at the truck and only see the crane tho too.

That Scania truck is really nice! I wish they were available in Canada. They are the best winter trucks in the world. Big power too!

 

[Stephen Moore]

Steve, what’s the reach on your crane?

 

[Steve Connally]

Steve, you really need to wear some of that paint off that grapple!

believe me it has dents, has had steel heated and straightened, and has bathed in hydraulic fluid more than once,

 

[Steve Connally]

Pretty tight radius but very impressive steve

with that weight I do have a tight radius, I rarely pic more than 3 to 4 k on a daily basis

 

[Steve Connally]

Steve, what’s the reach on your crane?

roughly 110 vertical and 94 horizontal

 

[Stephen Moore]

roughly 110 vertical and 94 horizontal

Is there much capacity loss at 94 horizontal?

 

[Steve Connally]

Is there much capacity loss at 94 horizontal?

My lowest number on the load chart aka. my max pic at the end of my load chart is 1440lbs all the way from horizontal to vertical

 

[Stephen Moore]

That’s a pretty respectable pick! What’s max at 45 degrees?

 

[Steve Connally]

That’s a pretty respectable pick! What’s max at 45 degrees?

Depends on how many jib extensions are out. From 1500 to 4550lbs

 

[Steve Connally]

By the way the website has been tweaked a bit more. www.craneva.com

 

[Steve Connally]

So a while back I was asked the operating costs for the truck. I had mentioned the loan payment and insurance. I figure I'm about $600 a month in fuel. The maintenance and upkeep of the boom has been $0 other than some grease. The grapple saw has only been lines, bent bars, and chains. All user error. So during my learning curve I've floated about $1000 in repairs of various things. The truck is up to $10k in repairs however the vast majority of that shouldn't have been something I inherited. I can drop that down significantly to little stuff like bulbs and wiper blades, PM every 4 months, grease, ect. I'm thinking on average less than $200 months once everything is up to speed. I've also bought a lot of things, some of those were high ticket items like the load cell and a bunch of rigging items. Due to the truck repairs I'm still in the red on the books. I'm just shy of making what I am spending but all the bills are being paid and I'm not reaching into my own pocket. The numbers are based on the fiscal year so far not a month by month basis. I haven't started paying myself yet. I put fuel in my pickup and pay my cell phone bill. That's my pay so far. My goal was to have a 3 month buffer and then start a consistent member draw. The truck repairs have kept me from doing that as of yet but it's busy so I'm building back up quickly. I have also lost quite a few days for the truck being in the shop. I'm averaging about $15k a month in gross income. Imagine what that would be if I retired from the FD?

 

[96coal449]

Steve, your doing well! A few bumps in the road as far as the truck repairs are concerned. Overall I still think you got a decent truck. The extras you've spent on adding rigging and accessories will pay you back in the long run. You know the old saying ...... takes money to make money.

At the rate your business is growing, you may have to retire from the FD!
Puts a smile on my face every time I catch up with you and see how well your progressing.

 

[Steve Connally]

Steve, your doing well! A few bumps in the road as far as the truck repairs are concerned. Overall I still think you got a decent truck. The extras you've spent on adding rigging and accessories will pay you back in the long run. You know the old saying ...... takes money to make money.

At the rate your business is growing, you may have to retire from the FD!
Puts a smile on my face every time I catch up with you and see how well your progressing.

Thanks so much. It’s been an interesting road

 

[Steve Connally]

Hi I have a video up on Instagram and Facebook. It says the file size is too large to upload on here. It’s only one minute.

 

[jwelchert]

Hi Steve. I've been looking into setting a truck up myself and oddly am in a similar situation as you (working for the local electric utility). Could you share what your final build cost was? I saw somewhere through the thread, you had anticipated $350k. Is that where it came in? How much of that was for the truck, saw, crane, fab etc. if you don't mind sharing. Or if anybody out there has a setup and would share some of that information, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.