Gerasimek's Tree-mek

Hahaha I doubt it! I'm just a hack salesman with nice toys!



I do very much want to upgrade the grapple truck when money allows.... but I've spent an obscene amount in the past 2.5 months (almost half way to 7 figures!).


The truck is a Mack MRU with a 400hp MP7 engine and an Eaton 8LL transmission. It desperately needs a pusher installed where the hydraulic/fuel tank is.


IMG_4069.webp
 
So far, it is great. I could see a desire for the SG160 to save some weight for working at a farther distance. I could also see the desire for more boom, but that'll always be the case.


I'll be adding an axle to my truck, perhaps two, to reduce the weight on each axle and make it more driveway friendly.
 
islandedge said:
Glen did you upgrade to the sg280?
Click to expand...
I bought an SG160 to use on my excavator, my little kboom, and my pk33 for really far reaches on a full manual extension. Should be a great addition to my lineup.
I think a sg280 would come in handy for me on my pk33. I'd use the sg220 to remove everything down to 18" in diameter then switch to the sg280 to make the final cuts up to 25" in diameter. My crane should handle it fine as I'd be working at lower heights.
 
Lumberjack said:
Do you see a practical reason for me to have a SG220 and a SG160? My theory is to skip the mid

I'd say definitely get the 280 if you have the pk40. You'll be able to do most trees with it performing fewer cuts. The one drawback of having just the 280 is the length of the bar when removing bushy trees. You have to be very careful not to cut nearby limbs that aren't in your grasp.
The 220 is a good all-rounder. Big enough to do most trees. Not so big that you have much trouble with bushy trees.
Keep in mind how they work. The weight of the saw dictates the weight of the piece you can cut.
The 160 will be great for long reaches and bushy trees, but will be limited by weight. You'll probably want to stick with limbs weighing around 400lbs to be on the safe side.
So you see, using the 280 on a nice open structured tree can probably cut your time in half compared to the 160. You'll be able to grab and cut much bigger pieces.
All 3 of these heads are bigger than the Altec grapplesaw, by the way.
I'm looking forward to getting familiar with the sg160. I'll be making posts on Instagram using it on my excavator pretty soon.
Having 2 is a good idea. I may even get all 3.
Click to expand...
 
Do you see a practical reason for me to have a SG220 and a SG160? My theory is to skip the middle.

I'd say definitely get the 280 if you have the pk40. You'll be able to do most trees with it performing fewer cuts. The one drawback of having just the 280 is the length of the bar when removing bushy trees. You have to be very careful not to cut nearby limbs that aren't in your grasp.
The 220 is a good all-rounder. Big enough to do most trees. Not so big that you have much trouble with bushy trees.
Keep in mind how they work. The weight of the saw dictates the weight of the piece you can cut.
The 160 will be great for long reaches and bushy trees, but will be limited by weight. You'll probably want to stick with limbs weighing around 400lbs to be on the safe side.
So you see, using the 280 on a nice open structured tree can probably cut your time in half compared to the 160. You'll be able to grab and cut much bigger pieces.
All 3 of these heads are bigger than the Altec grapplesaw, by the way.
I'm looking forward to getting familiar with the sg160. I'll be making posts on Instagram using it on my excavator pretty soon.
Having 2 is a good idea. I may even get all 3.
 
Out of curiosity...cuz i haven't seen a vid of it being done...when you get to actual big trees, or very big trees specifically...is the grapple saw setup still efficient? We do a lot of very large trees and all i ever see videos of is of a tree removal involving a medium sized/average size...
 
I already have the 280. You can run a 22" bar on it no problem. The main benefit I see to the 160 is its weight, which is less than the Gierkink GMT035.


From what I've seen of my examples, the design and build quality of the GMT grapples are significantly better than Mecanil's offerings.



Craneguy, what do you call a very big tree?
 
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