CRANE!! AM I DREAMING?

dmd said:
Why are you going with a stick crane and not a knuckle boom? Is cost the only factor?
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Yeah, cost. I really need a crane that is at least 100 feet. In an ideal world I would buy a large knuckle boom with at least 130 feet of boom. However, those a really expensive. I want to buy a stick crane and run it for a few years and then jump into a knuckle boom with a remote.
You have a knuckle boom?
 
I should have it in a couple months. Westminster hydraulics is building a tree mek for us. I went with the 40. Up until this point all I've ever used is a stick crane so it'll be a little bit of an adjustment for us but we're super excited.
 
dmd said:
I should have it in a couple months. Westminster hydraulics is building a tree mek for us. I went with the 40. Up until this point all I've ever used is a stick crane so it'll be a little bit of an adjustment for us but we're super excited.
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I think that is the future. I was totally against them when they came out. I thought they were not going to be that productive because it would be faster to just pick large pieces with the crane. Now, yes that will still be faster, but with the tree mek you'll now have a more versatile piece of equipment. I would image once the operator gets familiar and the crew gets working together it will be fast than a conventional crane with less people.
Post some pictures when you get yours. You must be wicked psyched!! I have seen some other posters post pictures of some serious wood pieces with there tree meks.
 
ROYCE said:
So in looking at cranes this past week I have kinda narrowed it down between two. My question is though, should I be going for capacity or live boom height? It seams like in my experience it was more important to have the height then the capacity. Now, having both would be great but I just can not afford the 300+K for the larger cranes.
So:

30 ton 105 feet live boom with 115 feet hook height( comes with jib too) OR:

40 ton 95 feet live boom, with 105 feet hook height (comes with jib as well.)

I really would like to not go through the hassle of putting the jib on for every job. Every once in a while is fine.
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I have 30124 Manitowoc for sale here in Ontario It is 2002 with low hours and mileage has jib and aux hyd on boom
 
welltree said:
I have 30124 Manitowoc for sale here in Ontario It is 2002 with low hours and mileage has jib and aux hyd on boom

Is it hard to buy stuff from Canada? Would it come with a tittle? How much? Did you show me pictures of it earlier? The exchange rate now is in my favor!!
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Jeff said:
If the crane is in the driveway and you're reaching over the house (SOP around here), you're automatically at 50' radius or more. Often we're 90', 100' or so out, and the charts really start evaporating out there.
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It's like I was predicting the future the other day! Today we were out with a 4 month old National NBT45-142, a 45 tonner with 142' of stick and a 55' jib. Beautiful machine, nice dark tint on the cab windows and they even splurged for cab A/C. Still didn't get the highly secretive, headache ball heat and A/C option I keep asking for, but maybe next time.

Anyway, did 7 trees, with the first one being around 45' radius (good for 11,100#) and by the time we got to number 7, we were working over the house, 95' out and only good for 2200 pounds. 2200 is still pretty decent capacity for tree work, but if we'd had the 40, 33 or 30 ton machines, we would have only had 1475, 1100 or 600 pound capacity at that radius. Hard to do much with 600 pounds capacity, and that's before you bounce it a little.

Sorry, didn't get any photos of her working, since I was busy on the hook end of it.
 
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I'm just waiting to finish a large job and get paid. Then, I am going to pull the trigger. Hopefully will be the end of this week. I will keep you posted...But until then..
 

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Jeff said:
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It's like I was predicting the future the other day! Today we were out with a 4 month old National NBT45-142, a 45 tonner with 142' of stick and a 55' jib. Beautiful machine, nice dark tint on the cab windows and they even splurged for cab A/C. Still didn't get the highly secretive, headache ball heat and A/C option I keep asking for, but maybe next time.

Anyway, did 7 trees, with the first one being around 45' radius (good for 11,100#) and by the time we got to number 7, we were working over the house, 95' out and only good for 2200 pounds. 2200 is still pretty decent capacity for tree work, but if we'd had the 40, 33 or 30 ton machines, we would have only had 1475, 1100 or 600 pound capacity at that radius. Hard to do much with 600 pounds capacity, and that's before you bounce it a little.

Sorry, didn't get any photos of her working, since I was busy on the hook end of it.
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That thing is sweet. I would like to operate that for a day. That is a very impressive chart to work with. Your right though, you need good captivity where your at for sure!!!
 
It shouldn't be an issue iirc that trucks speedometer was in mph which means it was originally built in the states then imported into Canada. That means for sure it meets American regulations, you will have to pay some fees and taxes to cross the border. If you want I can give you the info for the broker we use, they just helped us import a truck to a tree company in new jersey.
 
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