# Why I buy Bandit!!!!



## outofmytree (Jan 21, 2010)

If you own Bandit gear you will already know why a tree company would buy their machines. They make the best equipment for our trade and are always improving the designs without cutting corners. These machines are tough.

What happens after you buy a Bandit in Western Australia is the other reason why I love this gear.

Imagine waking up to this.












It is pretty tough to tow a 4 tonne chipper with a draw bar that looks like this.






Mind you. I think the Ford got the rough end of the stick






So this is the time line.

6.30am Car hits chipper

7.45am We drop chipper at Bandit Sales (Bayswater)

9.00am We drop truck at A&A Sheetmetal works (to repair broken tow hitch)

12 noon Bandit call to say they have stripped HB20 stumpgrinder, checked all systems, reassembled and given it the all clear.

4pm A&A Call to say the custom tow hitch has been cut off, rebuilt, fitted and painted.

5pm Bandit call to say chipper is all done except for draw bar.

12 noon following day. Bandit call to say chipper has been fitted with new draw bar, apron has been patched up ready to use and new apron is on order. Chipper is ready to go.

In our industry where time is money I lost exactly one day of income from this accident. If the chipper was not ready to go Bandit assured me they would have a loan chipper available that day free of charge. (I have been given a loan chipper in the past where repairs could not be completed immediately.)

To cut a long story short, if you work in the tree industry, buy Bandit. If you want a lesson in customer care, call Glenn or Jim at Bandit Sales (Bayswater). In the same breath, thanks to Andy and the guys at A&A sheetmetal who dropped all their work and fitted a custom tow hitch made from scratch in one working day. Simply the best service. 






It isnt as new but it is ready to chip brush again.


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## mndlawn (Jan 21, 2010)

Looks like you made out well. Is insurance going to cover it?


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## outofmytree (Jan 21, 2010)

Yes the insurance will cover it. As unbelievable as it sounds, this is the second such collision in 12 months. The first time the guy claimed the setting sun blinded him. This time the guy said the rising sun blinded him. Both times the truck and chipper were parked safely and legally kerbside and thankfully no one was using the chipper. The thought of that makes my skin crawl.


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## VA-Sawyer (Jan 21, 2010)

"Blinded by the rising sun." How long between the accident and taking that first picture ? Looks like overcast sky to me. No shadows visible until the last photo. Maybe the driver had X-Ray vision like Superman, and could see the sun through the clouds. I think it more likely he was dialing his cell phone or putting a cd in the player. 
Might want to adopt a company policy of " nobody feeding the chipper during the first or last hour of daylight".
Glad to hear nobody was injured.
VA


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## JTinaTree (Jan 21, 2010)

VA-Sawyer said:


> "Blinded by the rising sun." How long between the accident and taking that first picture ? Looks like overcast sky to me. No shadows visible until the last photo. Maybe the driver had X-Ray vision like Superman, and could see the sun through the clouds. I think it more likely he was dialing his cell phone or putting a cd in the player.
> Might want to adopt a company policy of " nobody feeding the chipper during the first or last hour of daylight".
> Glad to hear nobody was injured.
> VA



Either that or outofmytree works too Early and too late  Ah man that Radiator and AC condenser is trashed on that car to say the least.. Plus it popped both driver and pass air bags thats over $1000 right there...


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## VA-Sawyer (Jan 21, 2010)

I would say more like $5000 damage to the Ford. 

Just before the first photo he says" Imagine waking up to this." I was under the impression that the truck/chipper had been parked there overnight. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

Anybody else see the problem ?......... The truck/chipper is parked on the left side of the street. 





Of course, it should be on the left side in Aussie land.

VA


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## pdqdl (Jan 21, 2010)

Shucks! That ain't nuthin.

We rolled our Bandit 200xp back in 2003?, did a little sheet metal fixing, re-cored the radiator, and put it back to work. No other problems. 

Considering that it was upside down on the discharge chute, that isn't too bad. Especially since nothing structural has gone wrong since then, either.

By the way: How does that work with the little stump grinder? It looks like you load it and secure it with the chipper winch. Ramp or muscle to get it over the lip of the infeed chute?


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jan 21, 2010)

outofmytree said:


> Both times the truck and chipper were parked safely and legally kerbside



I was driving home one afternoon and saw this lady who had driven up the gate ramp of a lawnjockies trailer and smashed into two hydrostear PTZ machines. He was in a no stopping zone with no cones and only flashers going  I wanted to stop and tell the lady to stick to that when the constabulary showed up, but had a walk-n-talk lead get to. Hope the lawnmower man got hit for at least part of it.


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## gr8scott72 (Jan 21, 2010)

John Paul Sanborn said:


> I was driving home one afternoon and saw this lady who had driven up the gate ramp of a lawnjockies trailer and smashed into two hydrostear PTZ machines. He was in a no stopping zone with no cones and only flashers going  I wanted to stop and tell the lady to stick to that when the constabulary showed up, but had a walk-n-talk lead get to. Hope the lawnmower man got hit for at least part of it.



Maybe he shouldn't have parked there but if it was someone broke down on the side of the road with his/her flashers on? The lady is still in the wrong for running into him whether or not the lawn guy should have been there.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jan 21, 2010)

gr8scott72 said:


> Maybe he shouldn't have parked there but if it was someone broke down on the side of the road with his/her flashers on? The lady is still in the wrong for running into him whether or not the lawn guy should have been there.



he is a professional driver, which is why i think he should be partly liable.


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## jefflovstrom (Jan 21, 2010)

John Paul Sanborn said:


> I was driving home one afternoon and saw this lady who had driven up the gate ramp of a lawnjockies trailer and smashed into two hydrostear PTZ machines. He was in a no stopping zone with no cones and only flashers going  I wanted to stop and tell the lady to stick to that when the constabulary showed up, but had a walk-n-talk lead get to. Hope the lawnmower man got hit for at least part of it.



What is a 'constabulary' and was the truck parked over-nite on the street? Just curious, I don't understand about the part - 'Woke up to this', was the truck and chipper not brought back to the yard at the end of the day? Maybe a big job and kept truck on site? 
Jeff


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## EdenT (Jan 22, 2010)

outofmytree said:


> Imagine waking up to this.



By the lack of skid marks I would say that is exactly what the car driver did!

Hey was the driver OK? Should have checked before making silly comment.


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## TimberMcPherson (Jan 22, 2010)

jefflovstrom said:


> What is a 'constabulary' and was the truck parked over-nite on the street? Just curious, I don't understand about the part - 'Woke up to this', was the truck and chipper not brought back to the yard at the end of the day? Maybe a big job and kept truck on site?
> Jeff



Constabulary, constables, cops.

Guess he might park on his street, I do with my trucks and chippers.


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## outofmytree (Jan 22, 2010)

Ok in order of importance then.

Driver was ok. He went to hospital just to be sure and they sent him home after diagnosing minor whiplash.

Damage to truck and chipper should come out around $3000. The new hitch for the truck alone was $1320 inc tax. Insurance will, as I said earlier, cover everything.

My guess after realising there were zero skid marks and that the car went into rather than under the apron is that for whatever reason the driver did not see the chipper and truck at all until *after* the crash.

The Ford will be written of imho. The engine mounts are designed to shear off in serious accidents and the transmission was partially forced under the "passenger cell" almost touching the ground. 

The truck and chipper were parked out the front of my leading hands house overnight. It is legal to do so and usually safe as this is a short street with only local traffic. The driver of the car lived about 100 yards down the street.


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## outofmytree (Jan 22, 2010)

pdqdl said:


> Shucks! That ain't nuthin.
> 
> We rolled our Bandit 200xp back in 2003?, did a little sheet metal fixing, re-cored the radiator, and put it back to work. No other problems.
> 
> ...



Yep. Bandit make some awesome equipment!

The stumpgrinder has its own ramps which are the timber boards you see in the 1st photo. We drive it straight in, lock it in place with a 20mm reo bar (also in picture) then strap it down with 1/2 tonne tie downs. I did consider using the winch but decided ramps and straps were the better option. I really love being able to get all the tools and 3 workers to a job site in 1 vehicle.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jan 22, 2010)

jefflovstrom said:


> What is a 'constabulary' and was the truck parked over-nite on the street? Just curious, I don't understand about the part - 'Woke up to this', was the truck and chipper not brought back to the yard at the end of the day? Maybe a big job and kept truck on site?
> Jeff


*C*onstable
*O*n 
*P*atrol

So you are actually using the word on a regular basis 

On the one I saw it was late afternoon and the crew was mowing a lawn with smaller units.

Jim, ya need more cones, running in an arc towards the curboke: Barricades with flashing lights might help too.


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## treemandan (Jan 22, 2010)

I don't know about the landscrapers BUT even they don't leave the #### parked on the street all night.
Now "now loosing it it the sun" is a valid point though its still the guy who hit who is at fault I suppose.
I leave a machine on the street I cone it and that is just to dump and go it off the street. Not saying that coning it would prevent any one from hitting it. 
I have trouble understanding how ( and at what speed) the thing was hit.


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## gr8scott72 (Jan 22, 2010)

treemandan said:


> I don't know about the landscrapers BUT even they don't leave the #### parked on the street all night.
> Now "now loosing it it the sun" is a valid point though its still the guy who hit who is at fault I suppose.
> I leave a machine on the street I cone it and that is just to dump and go it off the street. Not saying that coning it would prevent any one from hitting it.
> I have trouble understanding how ( and at what speed) the thing was hit.



It's a residential street. So any of the other neighbors that have to park on the street for whatever reason (there's a car parked on the side in one of those photos.) overnight needs to put cones around their car?


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jan 22, 2010)

Cones well behind the chipper may help, since they would get hit first and the driver may notice the sound of the hit and drag across the pavement.


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## outofmytree (Jan 22, 2010)

Like I said, it was legally parked. Adam has become paranoid and now runs cones out an extra 20 metres if he parks outside of his own house.

I am no major crash investigator but I would say the car was doing at least the speed limit (60kmh - 39mph) upon impact. IMO it is the utter lack of braking that caused so much damage insomuch as there was no transfer of energy downward at the front and up at the back. Lacking that normal vector the entire force created was parallel to the road and as you can see there was a lot of force. This is the chipper draw bar. They are made of two pieces of 3/8 thick 3" x 6" angle welded together around a solid steel core.


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## fishercat (Jan 23, 2010)

*we finally agreeon something OoMT..........*

Bandit is the best.

see,once in a while I do agree with a liberal.


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## outofmytree (Jan 23, 2010)

fishercat said:


> Bandit is the best.
> 
> see,once in a while I do agree with a liberal.



WTF are you calling liberal!! The only thing I am liberal with is the measure of bourbon in my glass!


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## fishercat (Jan 23, 2010)

*just ribbing you!*



outofmytree said:


> WTF are you calling liberal!! The only thing I am liberal with is the measure of bourbon in my glass!



making sure you're awake! should be bedtime soon over that way!

:greenchainsaw:


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## Hddnis (May 11, 2011)

Just a WAG based on pictures, but speed was probably under 25mph if there are no skid marks. Even 10mph is a huge amount of force when cars are involved. I investigated crashes for a number of years and the damage a moving car can do, even at low speeds, is amazing. 

As a side note, the impact that a tree can withstand is really something too. When cars hit trees people die. Trees just don't give.



Mr. HE


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