Beware of Schmidy's Machinery

I spoke to one of the equipment reps at one of the national tree companies and she highly recommended Joe's Auto Sales in Florida and Iron Technics in Washington. Anyone have experience with them?
 
Heard good things about Joe's too. Met a guy who now works locally for Lewis Utility but used to work for Joe's and he spoke very highly of the place. I also called and spoke with him at one point when I was looking and he had good manners and sounded very knowledgeable. If I was to buy from a company again I'd definitely give them consideration.
 
Thanks guys. We were really hoping to find something under CDL with the full forestry body. I think we are doing a straight chip truck and will revisit the bucket soon. In Colorado, we have had a hard time finding drug free employees...period. We are worried about the requirements for CDL, paying for the classes for it and guys leaving or testing positive in a random screening and losing the CDL. I don't want my husband to have to be driving the truck for the guys 24/7, the whole point is so he can get away and work with other customers.

Tree Logic: I spoke to both of the companies. Lonnie (Iron Technic) and Billy (Joes Auto) were polite, knowledgeable and definitely know their facts. I will update later with our experience.

California Tree Equipment: I looked at your stuff yesterday as well!
 
Good call on the CDL treehead. Hit a DOT scale last week and the first thing the officer asked is if I'd been smoking. Chipped a bunch of rotted material and my eyes were RED. He still asked, I'm thinking my class A and no record saved me...
 
I don't know if most know it but Bartlett buckets are over with chips and chipper
Or just sitting empty.......... I wonder if davey trucks are to ...........these trucks there selling had to come from somewhere.........
 
I have bought two buckets from Trueco inc from Kings Mountain NC and they are great people Butch the owner really treats you great! One time Butch Trice sent me a loaner up to NJ free of charge for about 3 weeks till my truck was finished. My latest bucket my 75'ter came from Joe's auto sales in Elkton FL and Bill and Billy are also top notch! And will treat you will class Bill picked us up from Jacksonville airport brought us out for breakfast then brought us for lunch in St.Augustine beach and when the truck was done later in the day we left with the truck and drove straight through back to NJ no problems with the truck have been using it for 2yrs now.
 
To add to the asplund truck ,,check the actual weight verses what weight you can haul,,,pull
My 650 is gvwr is 26000 weight of truck is 13,200 leaving 12,800 for load capacity now apply that to gvwr of 33,000 CDL truck ,,,actual weight subtract 33000 =load capacity if your not the big boys theoretically highwaymen will destroy you.
 
We were told that schmiddys (and others) are buying CDL equipment, then they mess around with the chassis, replace stuff...and resell them as under CDL trucks. This is why multiple people are posting issues with the springs and chassis from trucks bought by them. A simple search on Google brings up court documents in a case against schmiddys!
 
cedar said:
Has anyone bought a bucket truck from BTS Equipment in Michigan? I am looking for a reconditioned rear mount and they have a few available. Michigan is a ways from where I live in Virginia so it's hard to inspect the trucks before making a purchase.
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I have never purchased a truck from them but I had them inspect my bucket when I first bought it. They made it sound like it barely passed the mechanical inspection and failed dielectric. A rough quote of $5000.00 was given to bring it back to spec. The next inspection that was done was by a company that has been working on lifts for years and the guy said I had him scared based on what I told him from the prior inspection. It passed both the mechanical and dielectric without a problem. I do know someone that bought a chip truck from them this year and it seems to be a nice truck. Frame painted up nice, new L shape tool boxes and a brand new chip box. It's been working hard all season and I don't believe he has had any problems at all. My only concern is the capacity of the chip box. I was told that it has 30 yard capacity and it's on a Chevy 6500 chassis. The truck handles a full load with no problem but I believe that it is overloaded. I'm not sure of the GVW rating of a 6500 but I know my 7500 is rated around 29k. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have mixed feelings about them. If they had a truck that I really liked I would consider having my current inspector to go out and check the truck out if possible. It would cost you 300-400 but that is a small price to pay compared to buying something with problems. Good luck truck hunting.
 
Thanks Tim, that is useful information. I bought my last bucket truck through a private sale and it has worked out well for me. I think I will try to do the same for my next truck.
 
If you have some evidentiary proof that supports your statements then it's not libel. Just be sure in your statement that they are fact based and not opinion. If you know a litigation lawyer, run it by them to see what they think.
 
Tim Sexton said:
I have never purchased a truck from them but I had them inspect my bucket when I first bought it. They made it sound like it barely passed the mechanical inspection and failed dielectric. A rough quote of $5000.00 was given to bring it back to spec. The next inspection that was done was by a company that has been working on lifts for years and the guy said I had him scared based on what I told him from the prior inspection. It passed both the mechanical and dielectric without a problem. I do know someone that bought a chip truck from them this year and it seems to be a nice truck. Frame painted up nice, new L shape tool boxes and a brand new chip box. It's been working hard all season and I don't believe he has had any problems at all. My only concern is the capacity of the chip box. I was told that it has 30 yard capacity and it's on a Chevy 6500 chassis. The truck handles a full load with no problem but I believe that it is overloaded. I'm not sure of the GVW rating of a 6500 but I know my 7500 is rated around 29k. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have mixed feelings about them. If they had a truck that I really liked I would consider having my current inspector to go out and check the truck out if possible. It would cost you 300-400 but that is a small price to pay compared to buying something with problems. Good luck truck hunting.
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Couple DOT things I have found out over the years I'll pass along. Some lessons cost me a pile of money. Others just a small pile of money lol:
A truck that was originally built with a GVWR over 26K# then derated on paper is STILL a over 26K# truck. DOT could care less what you want to pay for a tag. Their law simply is if a CDL was required to drive this truck originally as built, even if you derate it to 5,000# ( exxageration but trying to make a point) you still need a CDL to operate it. They will look at the chassis tag as well as your reg papers.
For folks set on ( and Im NOT knocking them in any way) using a under 26K# truck you really need to watch those axle weight ratings. There are reasons why a truck slides in under 26K# and usually the answer is found in axle ratings. Depending on how the truck is configured with toolboxes n chip box placement it is very easy to be under your max GVWR for the truck and WAY overweight on an axle. And thye only give you abt 2 hours to find a way to shift the load ( not unload) to make it right before you get put out of service.
There is a very wide gap in the training law enforcement has for performing a DOT check. I had a buddy get stopped the other day with a 10 wheel dump truck. Cop checked all the lites, 2 totally bald drive tires, and slack adjusters that should have been adjusted. Said the truck was in perfect mechanical order but didnt like the one mudflap that looked like a dog bit the corner off of so wrote him up for that. I ran into another that was checking the tire ply rating on all the tires vs actual axle weights.....go ahead figure it out then please let me know what makes sense lol
The big one anybody driving a chip, bucket etc. should make sure of is that they have a medical card. If you don't its $550.50 donation by the driver and $550.50 donation by the employer.
Also bear in mind we generally only ever discuss proverbial DOT stops. The othe rnasty side of this business is if you have an accident. You could be 150% in the not at fault zone but if your paperwork is wrong or your over on a axle weight or have a lite bulb out etc...you will end up in the AT FAULT zone.
Bottom line: do your homework before you buy
 
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