# knuckleboom truck



## treeman82 (Oct 3, 2001)

How many of you guys have knuckleboom trucks? I was wondering how much stuff you do with it, and if it was a smart buy?


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## treeclimber165 (Oct 4, 2001)

I ran one for 3 years at Davey Tree. Mounted on an F-700 dump. Davey didn't use F-800's cause not enough people have an air brake endorsement on their license. Anyway, we used it all the time for hauling wood from removals. Lots of times we were able to get close enough to use it like a crane and pluck the leads off the tree without landing them on the ground. If you have a good operator, it will save you quite a bit of time and LOTS of sore backs loading wood. Good choice if you do a lot of removals (or installations). 
Another option is the 'Lightning Loader'. It won't pick up quite as big of a piece, but they are much faster using the claw to grab logs instead of strapping each one and unstrapping it once loaded. We had one when I worked for a local municipality and used it for picking up damn near anything. Brush, rakings, stump grindings,palm fronds, logs, it didn't matter. It had about a 20' reach.


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## sslester (Oct 4, 2001)

I bought an old derrick digger with the winch, love it. It has a bucket so I use it for low stuff only goes 30 feet or so but I tell ya my back feels so much better after a removal no more cutting it all up into rounds and loading them up just pick up the big pieces and load 'em up, huge time saver I think I'm much more productive when using it. I also use it when doing pruning and deadwooding when possible saves alot of time. I also use it to hoist down big stuff, and I even used it to straighten out this nasty leaner that was over power lines and lower it right where I wanted.

I'm looking at getting a bigger truck maybe, if the price was right. I try to use this one as much as possible to justify having it, everything has to cash flow or you end up going backwards.

But I do like to just be up in the tree and be able to shut everything off and enjoy it for a minute, can't do that with the truck running.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Oct 4, 2001)

I know a few companies and muni's that use them for picking up brush, feeding chippers, moving B&B stock, pulling stumps (reat for autopsies!).

If you can afford the upkeep on the chassie it should be a good buy.


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## treeman82 (Oct 9, 2001)

Would you guys by some chance happen to know how much the knucklebooms go for installed? Or know somewhere I could go to look for them on the web?


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## John Paul Sanborn (Oct 9, 2001)

this should help you out some http://www.treetrader.com/log.htm


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## Treeman14 (Oct 10, 2001)

A brand new one will run about $90,000. I WILL buy one soon, but every time I try to sign the quotation and order it, my brain goes numb and my vision sort of clouds over.


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## LightningLoader (Feb 28, 2005)

*knuckleboom great idea*

I know lots of people who use knucklebooms mostly at cities, but like the other guy said, you can use them for picking up all sorts of stuff like stumps, logs, or huge brush piles. It'll save you alot of time and back aches. A new Lightning Loader will cost you quite a bit of money, but it's always a good idea to give Petersen a call and see if they have any older grapple trucks that someone has traded in. Sometimes they can connect you with a used demonstrator truck from one of their dealers too. Another option is Trucks & Parts. They they have alot of used trucks for sale that have just come off rental. Anyway, if you want to check out pictures online go to www.PetersenInd.com.


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## timbertree (Feb 28, 2005)

*Knuckleboom Trucks*

I bought one last year that is mounted on a 1988 L8000 with a 14 foot chip box that has removal lids. My max. lifting capacity is 4 tons about 15 feet from the truck an 1800 lbs at a full reach of 25 feet. I bought the truck do to the fact that my business consist of about 60% removals. The only draw back is that it will take two people to load logs/wood and truck is extremely heavy (21,491 lbs empty). 

I added some extra since the truck came with air-brakes. Put a small fuel tank on to carry off-road diesel that we can connected to the air compressor to pump the fuel out when needed. We can also attach an airline to the compressor to blow tires up if needed or saws off. 

My truck came for Royal Truck in Pennsylvania, they specialize in Forestry units. You can buy a real good truck with knuckleboom between $30,000 - $45,000. Here's their contact information, good luck.

Royal Truck & Equipment
Pixel Shim 6910 Route 309
Pixel Shim Coopersburg, PA 18036 USA

Pixel Shim U.S. Toll Free: 1-800-283-4090

Pixel Shim Phone: (610) 282-4090

Pixel Shim Fax: (610) 282-8986

Pixel Shim E-mail: [email protected]

Pixel Shim Web Address: http://www.royaltruckequip.com


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## Ny finest (Feb 28, 2005)

Buy an older unit thats been maintained regularly.THE only co with new ones have 5+ crews or they specialize in it.If you can afford to, get a loader(prentice grapple or similar)-it'll save a heck of a lot of time.


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## PTS (Feb 28, 2005)

we do and I really like it. It is an over center boom and when you need to really reach out it is nice. A telescoping boom may be better however. But get out your checkbook. Ours has a jib on it which allows us to hook onto the limbs over houses, fenses or anything damagealbe and cut it off then swing over and lower it down like a crane. This really cuts out a lot of work.

The downside to the knuckle is that the "hinge" contecting the upper and lower booms is always too long and alway in the way of branches on trim jobs. If the tree is coming down you simply cut it out of the way, but if you are trimming that isn't always an option and the telescoping boom would be better.


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## neighborstree (Jul 21, 2007)

i have a gmc 7500 in the classified section of this site. with a prentice log loader and grapple. dump body and all. for 20,000 less then the dealer would charge


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## John464 (Jul 22, 2007)

have considered buying one, but instead got a tracked skid loader with a grapple that dumps into a solid steel bed 14ft just like you see on knuckleboom trucks. Completes the same tasks, but allows you to get into where you gotta go. A knuckleboom truck is too heavy to have the crews using it as a daily truck, would be burning too much fuel and still need to pull the skid loader most of the time due to access.


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## ropensaddle (Jul 22, 2007)

Depends on the motive for buying one I have wanted one for 
over fifteen years and finally bought a tandem Mack with old
grapple and it is great but costs associated have to be thought
of as commercial ins. and tags aren't too cheap. Neither are parts
but oh how my back thanks me it does the work of ten men dosen't
bitc? and gets it done fast! I sometimes don,t like looking at it when slow
but so thankful when the big removals start rolling in. I do a lot of work 
alone as you can stack it and lift the whole pile and be gone in minutes.
Also if ice storm hits you can make some customers by having the tool
to geter done.


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