what do you condier high hours for a bucket truck

[Daniel]

early 1990's altec material handler...
has 5,600 hours..
I thought that sounded kind of high...
Wondreing if that's about the time that big things start wearing out..

appreciate your experience

 

[LiTreeService]

Depends on what the boom was used for and how often the material handler is being used. As much as the boom is designed for carrying weight it is still an additional stress factor oppose to a non material handling bucket. 5600 isn't crazy especially for the age of he boom. The proof would be on the wear points and the condition they are in.

 

[DTS]

That's not high at all for that year

 

[ROYCE]

early 1990's altec material handler...
has 5,600 hours..
I thought that sounded kind of high...
Wondreing if that's about the time that big things start wearing out..

appreciate your experience

I think their would be two things to consider when thinking of what is too many hours. 1, the use of the boom and how it was worked. 5600 hours on a boom is just shy of half its life, maybe less if it was taken care of.
2nd, the engine life. Thats all they do all day long is idle. Same thing, if 5600 hours were hours that the machine was taken care of then I don't think that is bad at all. What engine is in the machine?
Now if this was a chipper, which gets the crap beat out of it everyday....I would have a different answer.

 

[LiTreeService]

I agree with Royce. Need to try and find out about the use of the truck. It could be a ex municipality truck that idled for 3000hrs out of the 5600. Also make sure the hour gauge is accurate and hasn't been changed.

 

[ROYCE]

I try and think of it the way I thought about buying my crane....5600 hours on a crane doing tree work is completely different than 5600 hours on a crane setting trusses.

 

[Kyle Hohler]

When I shopped around for my bucket last year I saw many buckets with 5000+ hours on them. I think I even saw one with 8,000. I ended up buying one with 2700 hours on it. Like others have said I think it depends somewhat on what it was used for previously and also who the previous owner was.


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[RoyalTree]

5000 hours does not seem high at all. I don't think 1000 hours per year on a bucket truck is uncommon.

Does anyone know how many hours manufacturers expect out of a boom?

 

[ROYCE]

5000 hours does not seem high at all. I don't think 1000 hours per year on a bucket truck is uncommon.

Does anyone know how many hours manufacturers expect out of a boom?

I believe somewhere in the 20K hour mark. But I have know companies to keep the booms for 20 yeas and then retire them.

 

[Jeff]

Our 2003 has 13k hours. In frame engine overhaul at 12k, but to the best of my knowledge, nothing major done to the boom. No plans to downgrade or retire it anywhere on the horizon. Not a material handler though, and it might depend on how hard they worked it or overloaded it.