Gerasimek's Tree-mek
- Thread starter Gerasimek
- Start date
Gerasimek
New member
- Location
- Western PA
Regardless if the tree is big, medium, or small taking it down with remote control and 1, maybe 2 employees is the way to go.
There are quite a few of us doing this now and if you want to see many examples of big trees being taken down get on Instagram. All of us post about every job we do on there.
#treemek #palfleet #mecanil
Search any of these and you'll find us. This should help you understand very well what the Mecanil can do.
Hope this helps.
Gerasimek
New member
- Location
- Western PA
It's very efficient. Being able to take all of the limbs up to 18" (for me with the sg220, others can go up to 25") without a climber, bucket guy, or rigging frees up those assets to go do other work. Or, if you're like me, you get rid of all of that and just simplify things.
Think of how much money you don't have to make to pay for 2 employees and workers comp for them.
allmark
Participating member
What do you see as better with the GMK?
I have a limited experience with one and what I see as draw backs are:
You can't hold a piece vertical once cut
You can tilt the head vertical with the grapple closed
Lumberjack
Branched out member
The Mecanil's controls are better for knucklebooms on the average has been my long standing opinion.
By design I guess I should have specified the exposed hoses on the Mecanil are a weak point... the GMT's plumbing is far more protected.
The stock chains having to be pried on the bar of the Mecanil isn't awesome by a long shot.
I see no advantage to the belt driven saw on the Mecanil.
Build quality:
My SG280's tines' weldments are sloppy, the bosses are visibily crooked. The tines drag in the body of the grapple.
My bar oil pump on the SG280 was defective when it was made... no one tested its function, I assumed it worked and toasted a bar and chain. Noteworthy point, Tiffin Palfleet had the part in stock and had it to me 20 hours after I discovered the issue, and UPS was ~2.5 hours late on the delivery due to winter weather delays.
You can put a Mecanil on any knuckleboom, the GMT is only available for Effer knucklebooms at this point (through Altec).
The ability to control the tipping of the Mecanil is helpful, especially for standing up limbs near powerlines or roofs, for example.
Cards on the table, I am biased towards GMT after meeting the owner of both companies (daughter and husband of Mecanil). I like the way Michael Gierkink's mind works. Still, I think my listed issues above are objective after owning both brands.
By design I guess I should have specified the exposed hoses on the Mecanil are a weak point... the GMT's plumbing is far more protected.
The stock chains having to be pried on the bar of the Mecanil isn't awesome by a long shot.
I see no advantage to the belt driven saw on the Mecanil.
Build quality:
My SG280's tines' weldments are sloppy, the bosses are visibily crooked. The tines drag in the body of the grapple.
My bar oil pump on the SG280 was defective when it was made... no one tested its function, I assumed it worked and toasted a bar and chain. Noteworthy point, Tiffin Palfleet had the part in stock and had it to me 20 hours after I discovered the issue, and UPS was ~2.5 hours late on the delivery due to winter weather delays.
You can put a Mecanil on any knuckleboom, the GMT is only available for Effer knucklebooms at this point (through Altec).
The ability to control the tipping of the Mecanil is helpful, especially for standing up limbs near powerlines or roofs, for example.
Cards on the table, I am biased towards GMT after meeting the owner of both companies (daughter and husband of Mecanil). I like the way Michael Gierkink's mind works. Still, I think my listed issues above are objective after owning both brands.
I know you have stated this before about saving money. But I would be really interested in looking at this compared to a 3 or even 4 person crew. I am willing to be what your saving in labor costs your loosing in productivity.
Again, this is a great tool for a company that wants to stay small, has a hard time with finding good help, and still wants to accomplish large removals. I have been considering it myself.
I have just found that a 3 or 4 person crew with a crane is the most productive way to go. I believe it was you who were stating that a certain grapple you should keep the pieces at 400 pounds. If a tree weighs in at 15K pounds (thats a small tree for us) Your talking about going back and forth with the grapple 37 times. A crane could pick that is three or 4 and be done.
Again, I am still learning about these and their advantages.
allmark
Participating member
Lumberjack
Branched out member
For use on an excavator, I still think the GMT grapples win hands down.
allmark
Participating member
Royce,
What I saw when I visited Glenn was him taking pieces I would take in 1 with traditional choke and cut in 3 pieces. He was averaging a piece every 2 minutes. Meaning I would need to do 1 every 6 minutes.
I think a company like yours and mine would find this a valuable tool if we didn't limit ourselves to just using the grapple saw. We could choose to use it or not based on the job.
I have heard concerns from others on the number s of cycles but I don't think this is an issue as I do far more cycles whe I set trusses( I have done 220 trusses in a day).
Gerasimek
New member
- Location
- Western PA
Everyone that gets one says the same thing: it's more productive and I'm saving more money. Many of them were doing it like you. Sure, a well trained crew with a stick crane can be very productive, but there are far more advantages going the way of the tree-mek, in my opinion (and everyone that has one will back me up on this).
Just a knuckleboom by itself is more versitile than a stick crane. Set up is a little easier. You can short jack your outriggers on the non-working side, unfolding it requires much less space, overhead wires are less a problem, doesn't have to be perfectly level, can reach under things like limbs and wires, and I'm sure I'm missing some.
The grapplesaw benefits: even though you're taking smaller pieces down you have nobody in the tree, less guys on the ground, less equipment on the job (don't need a mini or bucket truck usually or guys to use them), landing zones are easy, you can rotate the piece in line with the chipper and place it on the ground without any help, it's very fast, you can load logs very easily with it (log loader not needed or driver), and most importantly, all the guys you're working with now are going to get old and, like it or not, your way of doing things will come to a screeching halt if you can't find quality replacements. You are dependent.
The tree-mek, I believe, is the only true and reliable exit strategy for a tree service owner. I can work and be productive doing what I love and not worry about injury, employee problems, tons of equipment, paying ungodly amounts of workers comp, or when you come to work under the weather because a bunch of guys are depending on you to take care of them.
I don't know what you think, but I think this was a great explanation of benefits!
Seriously, I hope this helps. Good luck to you.
That was an excellent reply. I want to see one of these in action. The labor pool is shrinking in my area...or I am just too picky. I do agree that if done properly for me, that being a very large knuckle boom with a place to load logs onto the truck could cut down on a lot of our equipment. Again, sometimes were removing 20 plus white pine trees and filling the log truck 10 times to remove all the wood. I do have to agree, that I think this is the future.
Gerasimek
New member
- Location
- Western PA
Closest one to you would be Doug's Tree Service in NH(i think. Might be MA). Contact him on Instagram. Great guy. You'll love him. He has a PK40 with an SG280 Mecanil.
I looked into them..pretty nice. I am going to reach out to him. One question...whats the most vertical each you can get out of these? We do a lot of 110-140 sometimes 150 foot pines. (not all too often we get into the 150 pines, but they are out their)
Is it possible to get a K-Boom with the grapple saw that can reach 130 feet vertical, or better?
climbhightree
Branched out member
- Location
- Lebanon, Pa USA
Keep in mind your not reaching for the tips, or above the tree, like with a stick crane. With the grapple saw you can be 10-20' below the tips depending on the weights.
Most tree work knuckle booms max out around 115'-120" vertical, with a 100' side reach (both of these are without the manual jibs). Least from I have seen. .
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
True! I was thinking about the option of taking the grapple off and using the K-Boom to remove a tree. Incase that would be needed. I could get by with 110 feet of vertical lift.
Gerasimek
New member
- Location
- Western PA
All depends on how much money you have to spend. I have 98' of reach and can safely handle trees up to 115' (which are few in my area. Doug's has the same, I'm pretty sure, with a little more capacity. You'll rarely take the grapple off and do it the old way unless the tree is super bushy. If you can grab it in pieces without going up the tree, you will every time. There are cranes with more reach if you think you'll need it. Another nice thing is the ability to put a basket on if necessary. It's just the answer to many tree scenarios.
- Location
- pleasant valley
We have a 65 ton 112 foot with a sg280 you are more than welcome to come ck it out I'm near allmark in Upstate New York near Albany
limbcontrol
New member
So Mark ....here's a hypothetical question for you...
Scenario #1
if you had the choice to pick a tree apart using your crane and crew you have now(3-5guys, log truck, chipper truck and kboom) taking big picks...bang out that $3500 job before lunch and take that crew after lunch and pluck an easy another $1800 job on your way back to the yard .
Scenario #2
Or would you rather go out and spend the day making smaller picks with only 2 guys with two trucks, Kboom equipped with grapple saw And chipper truck. Both trucks are now full of chips and wood and there isn't enough time to run to the dump and go bang out another job. So you are done by 2:30pm.
Scenario # 1 your gross income was $5300 and satisfied two customers on your backlog, but had more expenses for that day
Scenario #2 your gross income was $3500 and satisfied one customer for that day, had less expenses for that day. It was a nice relaxing day.
Is less men(climbers/groundsmen) and less drivers on a crane crew more or less profitable? Is your $30 an hour climber and your $15 an hour ground guys capable of "going somewhere else and running a job site" bringing you in more than that $1800. Of course, but they need another chipper too, a loader, and another truck to haul the wood away. So your expenses you saved on the morning job just went back up for those guys you sent somewhere else.
Employees and equipment are all investments, which combination will make you more money a year?
I've thought long and hard about this... I know what makes us profitable. It all depends on your business model and how it's structured.
Lumberjack
Branched out member
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