# Grapple truck is VERY MUCH loved now!!



## Lumberjack2277 (Jun 12, 2008)

Fellow tree beavers!!! I think i've caught myself from making a HUGE mistake!! I have some of my equipment up for sale, on Ebay, and one of these items is my Grapple self load/unload truck. I figured i'd sell it and just buy me a single-axle, 20' "trash" dump truck, and load with my Bobcat S300 and be fine! NOPE!! It turned out to disappoint me...

I had one of my workers get on the Bobcat, and with a Grapple bucket, made by bobcat, load one of my 2.5 ton duece trucks with some short logs that were cut into about 8' lengths. I left him there, and had to do some running around for a few minutes.

I've never needed to use the bobcat to load with, because with my grapple truck, I just back in and load, plain as day! 
When I returned, he was struggling to grab a few small logs, and the ground was pretty much rutted up past the point of no return!!!!  

I realized then that this idea of loading on the jobsite with this bobcat is NOT an option for me!! I can't rut and tear up ladies back yards and nice looking grass, and still expect all of them to talk great and refer me to their friends for future work!! 
I'm glad that I haven't sold that truck yet.... It NEVER tears up the yards and grass like you'd think, and I can load much faster then that Bobcat anyday!! I think i'm gonna snatch off the aluminum box, and replace it with a good steel dump body, and make myself live three more years from no more added, un-due stress!!!!!!!!!!!! :greenchainsaw:


----------



## ropensaddle (Jun 12, 2008)

Lumberjack2277 said:


> Fellow tree beavers!!! I think i've caught myself from making a HUGE mistake!! I have some of my equipment up for sale, on Ebay, and one of these items is my Grapple self load/unload truck. I figured i'd sell it and just buy me a single-axle, 20' "trash" dump truck, and load with my Bobcat S300 and be fine! NOPE!! It turned out to disappoint me...
> 
> I had one of my workers get on the Bobcat, and with a Grapple bucket, made by bobcat, load one of my 2.5 ton duece trucks with some short logs that were cut into about 8' lengths. I left him there, and had to do some running around for a few minutes.
> 
> ...



+1 a grapple truck is like tree mans heaven except for fueling them
I find it actually saves fuel on large removals one trip instead of four and
time saved is hard to place a dollar figure on.


----------



## Bushler (Jun 13, 2008)

Does Bob make a set of log forks? My experience with grapples v. forks is, the forks work good for loading over the side, and grapples work best for loading from the back, (endo).


----------



## Lumberjack2277 (Jun 13, 2008)

I tried grabbing a pile of limbs with some mixed in smaller logs, and forks did "ok", but not as impressive as the grapple truck. Unless someone pays top dollar (then i'll just buy a newer one), i'm keeping my grapple truck for sure!!! If someone doesn't have a grapple truck and does tree work, I strongly advise them to get one if they have the means to!!


----------



## reachtreeservi (Jun 13, 2008)

Post some pic of your grapple truck when you get a chance.

I'm considering buying one next season.
Any ideas on who makes the best ones?


----------



## ropensaddle (Jun 13, 2008)

reachtreeservi said:


> Post some pic of your grapple truck when you get a chance.
> 
> I'm considering buying one next season.
> Any ideas on who makes the best ones?



Truck or loader? I love my mack but is old but for the money they
want for newer ones I could trick mine out with gold lol. 
It depends on a lot of variables but a peterbuilt or Mack
with at least dual tandems as single you wont be able
to carry a load. I want a pusher and or a tag added to mine.
That gives you an option to haul to the mills without a good
chance of being overloaded. My Mack weighs 29500 empty
and with duals can only be tagged for 44000 so as you can
see It is easy to become overloaded and ideally you want
to be able to load as much on as you safely can without being 
ticketed heavy by the load boys! I know with my setup I have
ran overloaded several times as if you have a 40 inch dbh and
know you can get the whole tree loaded and be done I promise
you will.


----------



## LightningLoader (Sep 5, 2008)

ropensaddle said:


> Truck or loader? I love my mack but is old but for the money they
> want for newer ones I could trick mine out with gold lol.
> It depends on a lot of variables but a peterbuilt or Mack
> with at least dual tandems as single you wont be able
> ...



A normal grapple truck w/ 24 cubic yard body on a 33,000 gvw truck usually weighs about 23,000 lbs empty, so you would have 10,000 lbs haul capacity. 10,000 lbs is enough for your average tree care company to handle removals. Sounds like you're hauling logs though, so needed to be heavier.

New trucks nowadays are about $103,000 minimum. Chassis are so expensive now, and w/ steel prices up, the grapple and dump body are not cheap either.


----------



## redprospector (Sep 5, 2008)

I load my gooseneck with a bobcat all the time. I'd love to have a self loader on a truck, but the Bobcat does so much more than load and I need to upgrade the skidsteer. So untill a self loader becomes a priority I'll keep Bobcatin it.
I don't do backyards anymore, so I don't have to worry about the grass so much.

Andy


----------



## Dadatwins (Sep 5, 2008)

You can't appreciate what a grapple truck can do until you have seen one load a pile of debris. With recycling places accepting larger material and grinding more and more material. Grapple boom trucks will be the future of this industry I believe.


----------

