75’ Elevator Truck...buying advice?

R

Rangerbait

Location
Shepherdstown
Looking to buy a 75’ forestry truck, and looking to crowd source some advice on what’s good, what’s crap, and what to look for in a used (10-ish years old) rig. Thank you in advance for your wizened and constructive input.
 
Stay away from Terex booms from 2001-2004 as they had problems cracking booms. I really like my buddy's rear mount Altec elevator. About the only thing I don't like about it is the location of the controls is on the right side of the bucket. I like it being in the front so I can use either hand to control it depending on what I'm doing.
 
Gorman said:
You might have a problem finding a good used elevator. Most guys who run them treat them nice and hold on to them until they’re shit. If you find a nice used one the price is going to be close to a new unit. Best of luck.
Click to expand...


I totally agree. I think it’s very difficult to find a quality used lift. Our company bought a lift at the beginning of this year and we decided to buy a new freightliner with rear-mount Terex boom from Custom Truck. We just didn’t feel comfortable with any of the used lifts we had been looking at.
 
Personally I like Altec but their build time is around ten months for a new unit. Everyone uses terex for the turn around time in their lifts. I know nothing of their reliability.
 
For us one of the big deciding factors on a big equipment purchase is SERVICE. We have a Custom Truck service shop 30 minutes from us. They’ve been great to work with. It’s nice to know that if we have an issue I’m not driving the truck for hours just to get it worked on. I think a lot of people overlook this and just buy what they want. Inevitably our equipment will have issues at some point, and I don’t know of many companies that have a bunch of extra equipment lying around that they can use when their other stuff is being worked on at the shop.
 
HigherGroundArborist said:
For us one of the big deciding factors on a big equipment purchase is SERVICE. We have a Custom Truck service shop 30 minutes from us. They’ve been great to work with. It’s nice to know that if we have an issue I’m not driving the truck for hours just to get it worked on. I think a lot of people overlook this and just buy what they want. Inevitably our equipment will have issues at some point, and I don’t know of many companies that have a bunch of extra equipment lying around that they can use when their other stuff is being worked on at the shop.
Click to expand...

That’s a solid point...if (when) my Morbark ever has issues that are beyond my abilities to repair, I’m about 5 hours away from the nearest service center. Fortunately I have a kickass Cat shop right down the road, so I’m covered from that angle at least.
 
The vast majority of the used trucks I’m finding are either at Tri State, or Schmidy’s...are there any reputable dealers out there that sell used forestry trucks? I realize equipment in our industry gets ridden hard and put away wet typically, but is there anyone out there doing a decent job of refreshing trucks in preparation for the used market?
 
Altec sells their own equipment used. It's not going to be cheap but they know the equipment and stand behind it. It was certainly a good amount cheaper than a new one. That's where my buddy bought his. What he did was call them and tell them what he was looking for. Even though they didn't have exactly what he wanted, they kept him in mind and called him when they had a lease turn in that was what he was looking for. When they got the truck back off lease, they serviced and inspected everything before selling it. Based on how good an experience he had with them, if I decide to upgrade my 60' ft truck, I'll probably buy from Altec.
 
Last edited:
I looked into buckets before mek life and came up with the conclusion their not really worth buying used unless you are buying an older one just starting out. The cost vs a good used one compared to a new one is very similar.
 
Mek life was awesome till the trans went on the truck in the shop awaiting a 20k rebuild. Ahh I always wanted a new trans for Christmas hahahha. I’m not upset about the rebuild just the downtime. I have jobs that I am pushing off until I have it back as once you work with it you don’t want to go back to the old way. It was great meeting you as well as some of the other guys on here as well.
 
You want good trucks contact either of these guys.

Specialty Trucks and Equipment in Marshaltown Iowa
Or
Specialized Hydraulics in Zanesville Indiana

They both purchase mainly from Wright Tree Service. We have bought two trucks from Specialty and one truck from Specialized. They are solid trucks. 15-20 years old.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Baja Mike said:
Mek life was awesome till the trans went on the truck in the shop awaiting a 20k rebuild. Ahh I always wanted a new trans for Christmas hahahha. I’m not upset about the rebuild just the downtime. I have jobs that I am pushing off until I have it back as once you work with it you don’t want to go back to the old way. It was great meeting you as well as some of the other guys on here as well.
Click to expand...
Oh man bummer! Sorry to hear that. You probably wanted something other then that for Christmas !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom