Epic VA Treemek Build

Yeah I'm not a fan of downshifting either, took a long time to wrap my head around it (still not the best at it since I don't drive the truck daily).

I tend to double clutch while going up, but no clutch going down (just time the rpms etc).

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It takes time to get to know how the truck reacts to shifting. Soon it will be second nature and you'll do it without thinking. My log truck has to be wound right up and then it shifts into gear very easily. My crane is the opposite. You need to shift quick and not rev every gear. Down shifting is all about matching your RPMs to the road speed. If it wont go into gear....your driving too fast.
 
950112C1-128D-467C-95EB-D7B8E1F08A46.webp 42445E41-D678-4052-98F8-76581A60B017.webp 35FCB284-9EFD-4AF7-B276-6BA74B603BB9.webp F2A4C92B-371C-4812-A5A6-532A81C6280C.webp Well this was the first job ever for me. They sent me out to do this. Tree was 120’ from the pin. Ended up having the climber take it down and I hauled the brush and debris out of the alley. Better than them dragging it through the garage. No room for error. The other 2 jobs today were a nice loblolly all over the primaries and a silver maple full of mistletoe. No pics of those jobs. Everything went great except in a rush I broke the plastic cover on the base of the boom uncradling the boom on the 3rd job. Was too focused on the time. Expensive mistake. I knew better than to not check my notes. First time I tried to hook up the saw I took the ratchet strap off and ended up knocking the saw over. Luckily nobody saw so I hooked up a sling and pulled it back uprite. Learned to take the ratchet off last from now on. Fixed a hydraulic leak on the rotator for the saw. Took some pretty good sized cuts today. Felt good about how It went. Couple snafu situation but all went well. Used everything today including mats, dunnage, and the shovel for the outrigger No complaints. I’m sure palfinger charges an arm and a leg for that plastic cover.
 
Can the plastic cover be welded?

I've read that the Harbor Freight plastic welders do a good job. Thinknof it like any welding. Melt the parts and melt the filler into both sides. Lots like gas welding I understand

Or...find a plastics shop to do it
 
Gongradulations Steve, looks like too much fun. Can it run a wrecking ball too, if you needed that for something? What are the pros and cons of putting the 'finger on the rearend instead of just behind the cab?
 
Tough day working through the learning curve. Set up too close. Mechanical issue and strong winds. First day doing traditional pics without the saw. Pretensioning the boom for a lift is tricky with no LMI. Learned a lot today. 155EA3B0-DF08-4DE7-8E98-606777A56C69.webpC96456B7-DCB0-41D1-AF2F-2C922AA60757.webp3D20D8FC-04C6-4147-8811-BDF897A3D5A8.webp
 
Steve Connally said:
Will reply as soon as I get a chance.
Click to expand...
No wrecking ball. Boom isn't built to swing around like that and I don't have a cable. I went with a rear mount truck to give me the very best reach without loosing boom reach with the truck length. Maneuverability of a long truck is usually better backing in so I felt a rear mount would be best for my situations. If I had cone with a cab mount boom I could have shortened the truck length somewhat but there was a give and take with the decision. I like working over the rear. I'm very stable and don't have debris raining down over the cab. I also have a very nice working platform to pace around on during the operations. The only issue is the saw being stored so close to the boom. Installation and removal are a bit of a challenge. Just something I have to work through. Hope that answers your questions.
 
I don't know about the others but Palfinger has a read out on the controller with led lights. Shows me percentage of load starting at 60%. I'd have to say this is my biggest complaint about this boom and controller. I cut my teeth on the stick side of crane work. I feel much more comfortable with exact numbers. I am going to buy a wireless load cell when I have some money in the bank for traditional pics. Unfortunately there is no solution for the grapple saw configuration. I had initially wanted to see if a manufacturer could engineer and make a load cell pin for the grapple head. It kind of lost headway because I can't provide the information they need. Adding a load cell shackle between the boom and the rotator would create more headspace and also cause a crazy torque that would probably damage something to the point of failure (namely the shackle) and cause a significant loss of control of the saw head rotation due to slop in the system. I can deal with using the load chart to know what i'm good for but I like to know what i've got for repetitive learning and information storage in my simple brain. Most guys think i'm silly and it's not needed but when I estimated a pic yesterday and put way too much pretension on the log I felt like I was going to shoot the log into space. It's tricky and there is some trial by error. I don't like trial by error. I like controlled and calculated learning. I know if I have a 5k log I can pretension about 3 or 4k and still have a controlled lift I don't like ball parking with someone on the spar. With an LED light system I have tensioned to 60% of what the crane senses and then back off until the light does off. Seems to work but it's not exact enough for me because I can't guarantee my guesstimate of the wood pic is on point. Lots of room for miscalculation . Where is the line between too loose and too tight? Is it looking at boom flex? Well depending on how many sections are out I may have no boom flex. I'm hoping to learn the finer points of this next week with @sjtreeguy.
 
Steve Connally said:
I don't know about the others but Palfinger has a read out on the controller with led lights. Shows me percentage of load starting at 60%. I'd have to say this is my biggest complaint about this boom and controller. I cut my teeth on the stick side of crane work. I feel much more comfortable with exact numbers. I am going to buy a wireless load cell when I have some money in the bank for traditional pics. Unfortunately there is no solution for the grapple saw configuration. I had initially wanted to see if a manufacturer could engineer and make a load cell pin for the grapple head. It kind of lost headway because I can't provide the information they need. Adding a load cell shackle between the boom and the rotator would create more headspace and also cause a crazy torque that would probably damage something to the point of failure (namely the shackle) and cause a significant loss of control of the saw head rotation due to slop in the system. I can deal with using the load chart to know what i'm good for but I like to know what i've got for repetitive learning and information storage in my simple brain. Most guys think i'm silly and it's not needed but when I estimated a pic yesterday and put way too much pretension on the log I felt like I was going to shoot the log into space. It's tricky and there is some trial by error. I don't like trial by error. I like controlled and calculated learning. I know if I have a 5k log I can pretension about 3 or 4k and still have a controlled lift I don't like ball parking with someone on the spar. With an LED light system I have tensioned to 60% of what the crane senses and then back off until the light does off. Seems to work but it's not exact enough for me because I can't guarantee my guesstimate of the wood pic is on point. Lots of room for miscalculation . Where is the line between too loose and too tight? Is it looking at boom flex? Well depending on how many sections are out I may have no boom flex. I'm hoping to learn the finer points of this next week with @sjtreeguy.
Click to expand...
Does the computer, on side of crane, give more information?

On my current crane, the computer shows the exact percentage of capacity (not just when preset level is reached). Unfortunately my remote doesn't show anything, so I often stand beside the computer for the pretension and check it after the piece is completely on the crane.

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All jokes put aside, your boom has much more capacity than my Effer but you need to start small! You're not the first one that had an incident lifting spur wood.. A kboom is real good at knocking a climber down if preloaded improperly.
 
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