Bucket truck question

Raven27

Raven27

Participating member
Location
Pittsfield, Ma
We're Looking to buy a bucket truck in the spring possibly. It won't be a new one, but we heard somewhere that in Massachusetts, if it's over a certain age, you can't get the boom inspected/certified?? Any info on this would help. Don't yet know our budget. Have seen a few older trucks thst looked good, but the inspection thing....
 
Raven27 said:
We're Looking to buy a bucket truck in the spring possibly. It won't be a new one, but we heard somewhere that in Massachusetts, if it's over a certain age, you can't get the boom inspected/certified?? Any info on this would help. Don't yet know our budget. Have seen a few older trucks thst looked good, but the inspection thing....
Click to expand...

The first thing you need to do is ask yourself who is inspecting it no matter what year you get? After that has been answered, just call that local guy and ask him. He has to know your local rules if he is licensed to inspect them in your area.
 
Man, i'd be really careful about buying an older bucket. Shop manager at my old Co had a boom fail, swung from almost fully extended into the side of the truck in an instant. Punctured lungs, broken bones and spine damage if I recall right.

Keep climbing until you can afford a fairly new used unit.
 
Not looking too old. Lol I had heard everything from 10 years to 25 years old and it won't get an inspection. We're Looking less than 10-12years old. I Mostly wanted to know because if we find one that looks solid and everything works, I don't want to waste money having an inspection crew come out to check the lift only to find out it's too old to do. We have seen a few '04's that looked good, but it's still early in the process.
 
Another question I had is, what's the yard capacity on most forestry trucks. I believe I've typically been seeing 22' dump beds, but I don't know width or height.
 
Not 22 feet long...with a bucket. That long and 8 foot wide and only 5 foot tall would be a cdl chip truck...and way longer than anyone would want. Most combo buckets are 12 foot bodies...the old asplundh buckets had a mandatory retirement at 20 years i believe...they also had mandatory cable replacements at i believe 5...been a while.
 
What is the payment like on lifts? Buying without abuse, and with a warranty is Good.
Will the outriggers deploy on a slope? I deal with a lot of steep driveways.



Raven, consider what a bucket truck will cost to insure. Consider where you won't be able to use a bucket due to slope, but will be able to use a spider lift.
 
southsoundtree said:
What is the payment like on lifts? Buying without abuse, and with a warranty is Good.
Will the outriggers deploy on a slope? I deal with a lot of steep driveways.



Raven, consider what a bucket truck will cost to insure. Consider where you won't be able to use a bucket due to slope, but will be able to use a spider lift.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. The amplitude offered by the linkage in the outrigger gives you the opportunity to setup in a slope, as well as on top of trailer/truck. A few images to give an idea, provided by actual owners.
 

Attachments

  • Easy Lift 70-36AJ Tree Care 10.webp
    Easy Lift 70-36AJ Tree Care 10.webp
    106.3 KB · Views: 23
  • Easy Lift 70-36AJ Tree Care 2.webp
    Easy Lift 70-36AJ Tree Care 2.webp
    921.3 KB · Views: 26
  • Easy Lift 70-36AJ Tree Care.webp
    Easy Lift 70-36AJ Tree Care.webp
    563.7 KB · Views: 23
We actually really want a tracked lift like an OMME type, but there's no way with us being such a small outfit right now we could afford one. I think if I looked right payments on a unit like that are like $1,300 a month, we are hoping to make the step to full-time next year but there's no guarantees. For us that's a big payment considering we bought our chipper and paid it off in 2 months we bought our dump trailer and have that almost paid off in a few months as well. But both of those are with us working full-time jobs and doing the tree work on weekends and nights and a couple of weekdays here in there. Yes if we were full-time All Summer Long and a couple of jobs a week during the winter we could afford it but that's a big uncertainty living in the Northeast
 
The other thing I considered with a bucket truck or forestry truck is that when we're set up the chipper is right there under the work. At least for the tracked lifts you can still have the chipper and in our case the 14-foot dump trailer off to the side and out of Harm's Way. So unless these tracklist can be financed for like 15 years I can't see us affording one right away but that is the ultimate goal that and a crane
 
I would strongly advise on demoing a lift before you consider finance options. Not my bag personally. A good used forestry bucket coupled with climbing skills (I hope you have some) will make you lots of money and generate more work.
 
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