10 wheeler for tree work?

[treemandan]

treemandan, where did you learn to be an arborist? I'm curious. You sound like someone who was described to me by a good friend of mine.

Where? On the streets, in the neighborhoods, in the trees.
So how was I described? Don't worry, be honest. This should be fun for everybody. As far as I know I don't remember though.

 

[2dogs]

Don't beleive me? Ask the Afghans at the gas station down the road what I spend.
Now for a tangent.
Ban all motorsports and flights to Las Vegas. Show the people who control your lifes you don't need the oil that bad. Stop useing it just for cheap thrills and to be cool. Count it like a fat person on a diet counts calories. It makes me sick the wanton regard for what people are killing each other for, better stop before somone kills you for it. Like sheep to slaughter you run to the pumps to fuel some shiney and glamerous automobile fantasy and spend your lives dreaming of the non-existant open road and call it freedom. Like hell it is.
I heard a radio commercial selling Hummers, they said the gas mileage on em isn't as bad as you think! It makes me mad to know people think I am that stupid.

Tolerant aren't we? What works for you would not work for me. Diesel is $5.06/gallon but bottled water is more than that. I drive when and where I want to and I am willing to pay the price. Cows gotta be checked, hay has to be baled, chipper has to run. I don't like the high price of diesel anymore than the next guy but I can't bring myself to complain about it too much.

 

[treemandan]

Anyone that thinks that knows practically nothing.

Gas is more expensive here and Im running at about $100 a week. Im making good money, keep good gear, get jobs done nobody else would touch and generally do by best to be a good arborist.

Your are probably a successful arborist in your city, but thats just where you live, your making frankly arrogant assumptions based on how you work, you dont know about other guys work environment or how they operate or have to operate.
For example for the first time in 6 months the other day I looked at my first job in which a crane would be useful. I do big trees, its just where I work there is seldom the access for cranes, and only lines clearance companies have bucket trucks, as they are near useless for anything else.
A little while back I had to fell a tree which I had to get scaffolding put around it because the ground was so steep that there was a 6 foot difference in height of the cut to the ground between the front of the tree and the back, and my 42inch bar on my 88 was only JUST long enough to make the back cut. And yet I couldnt use a bigger chipper or truck more productivley than the 6 inch and 4wd 3 tonner I have now.

Dont tell a man about his shoes unless youve walked the same path.

Well put, i knew there were others, not many, but a few.

 

[treemandan]

Tolerant aren't we? What works for you would not work for me. Diesel is $5.06/gallon but bottled water is more than that. I drive when and where I want to and I am willing to pay the price. Cows gotta be checked, hay has to be baled, chipper has to run. I don't like the high price of diesel anymore than the next guy but I can't bring myself to complain about it too much.

The last thing I am compalining about is the "price" and I just think this might be a good time to put the hot rods and sensless mass waste down for a second to see if its even worth it.
I am all for burning for work and stuff that needs done. I drive to the WaWa and use drive thrus. I certainly don't want to haul a boat to the shore every weekend.
one thing I don't get is why an office type dude needs a 3/4 ton to get to his office.
The glory to own a dazzling guzzler is over-estimated severly, the price of 'keeping up' with everyone else seems inconsequential if it goes fast and looks sharp, at least it has to have tons of power!

I just spent 80 filling 5 gal 93 saw gas and 14 gal 87 for the pick up. I aim to get two weeks at least out of both
My tree truck is low and it just might take a 100 to fill it this time. I will do better than a week on that. I think its a 16 gal tank.
I started my dream job with the goal of remaining high effecient and downsized from the word GO!

 

[treemandan]

Tolerant aren't we? What works for you would not work for me. Diesel is $5.06/gallon but bottled water is more than that. I drive when and where I want to and I am willing to pay the price. Cows gotta be checked, hay has to be baled, chipper has to run. I don't like the high price of diesel anymore than the next guy but I can't bring myself to complain about it too much.

NO! A gallon of water is about a buck. I get a three pac for 2.69 with my club card.

Please tell me ALL that you make out what I JUST said. NO JOKE!

 

[treemandan]

Wow a 100.00 per week. If I could do that it would be like winnin the lottery. My fuel bills can be 2000 to 3000 a week. At least when were really rocking. This might make a few people feel better about themselves and their fuel bills. A farmer friend of mine spends on average 2500 per day on fuel. Big farm.


If you compare tandem trucks to 5 ton trucks for tree work fuel mileage is comparible. Its when your hauling heavy loads at highway speeds that the trucks start chugging but even heavy loads at highway speeds with the 5 tons they chug it back as well.

If you spent 100 bucks a week in gas you definatley could NOT run a big farm. I hope you are growing sumpin I can put in my trucks.
I had the time and money to invest I would make make my own but at my size it is not worth it, for many reasons.
I hope things come around. I see a few more of thse SMART CARS people are using to git around in.
I am looking for a moped and an old crate to strap on to carry my gear to the next happy homeowner's house who wants to try his hand at tree work and just needs some HELP.
Is my business recession proof? Hell, I am a tree man. My business grows from the ground.
Is this state of affairs with the oil recession proof? It don't look good.

 

[beowulf343]

I don't know, i pull my chipper with a 10 wheel kenworth. But i just do big removals too. There have been days i've filled it three times in 10 hours. When the dump spot is 15 miles away, a lot more time is saved in three trips versus nine trips with a smaller truck. But the price of fuel is getting crazy-filled my chip truck, chipper, crane, grapple truck, and pickup this morning, and it cost just over $1700.

 

[treemandan]

I don't know, i pull my chipper with a 10 wheel kenworth. But i just do big removals too. There have been days i've filled it three times in 10 hours. When the dump spot is 15 miles away, a lot more time is saved in three trips versus nine trips with a smaller truck. But the price of fuel is getting crazy-filled my chip truck, chipper, crane, grapple truck, and pickup this morning, and it cost just over $1700.

How big are you? Pretty big. I just suck down enough for 2 maybe three guys and alot of times its just one truck and chipper. It does get expensive when it gets heavy but I ain't driving 15 miles ( one way) to dump nothing, ever! not even my mother in law.
15 miles? I don't think i have been out of a 15 mile radius in 3 years AND that's accounts for personal stuff too, not just working. I don't want to go anywhere anymore but my own backyard.

 

[beowulf343]

Yeah, but have you seen the pile of chips a 10 wheeler can dump? Most people don't want anywhere near that big a pile of chips. So finding a dump spot for them can sometimes be a chore.
You want the huge money jobs, sometimes you gotta drive more than 15 miles. What's better, $100 job next door or $9000 job twenty miles away?

 

[ASD]

Wehave trucks from 10yd's (f450) to 40 yd's (ten wheeler's) and rigs that can do 130 yds (18 wheelers) their is a time and place for all differnt types / size of trucks we don't send the 130 yarder to trim a rose bush in a yard but we use the piss out of them when removing orchards and shipping 500 tons of chip a day (20 loads) to the co gen plant

 

[clearance]

and only lines clearance companies have bucket trucks, as they are near useless for anything else.

What?

 

[treemandan]

What?

I can see his logic and have to say that a towable lift of some sort might be more practical in hilly, tight, wet, narrow, low bridge ratings, no bridge ratings low tunnel clearance, long narrow dirt roads... to places a rabbit wouldn't go.
" just put it in the woods" or We'll burn it" is what they say about the mess. Not all, but a lot.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

What?

I SAID ONLY LINES CLEARANCE COMPANIES HAVE BUCKET TRUCKS, AS THEY ARE NEAR USELESS FOR ANYTHING ELSE. Did you hear me that time?

I am of course talking about the local environment here, not where you are. We have bad, tight and often steep access, most trees are out back of properties. I keep getting calls from a seller of a form of spider lifts, but for us even they wouldnt be able to get into 98% places we work. I used the 4WD in my 3 tonne Isuzu tipper 5 times in the dry yesterday without leaving sealed surfaces.

I dont know why its hard to understand that other companies work in different environment, with different economic pressures, different trees, different clients etc.
I seldom work outside a 5 mile radius of my home, I choose where we brought our house for good sheds, easy parking and closeness to my dump and my client base.
I do my quotes by motorbike and group my jobs as carefully as I can. its unusual in peak hour for it to take more than 20 minutes to get to a job unless its across the middle of the city. (most take less than 10) Some weeks when we are doing more big work, we do use more gas of course. I use a stumpmaster which mounts on my chipper so theres no second trip to do stumps, or I can do them on my way back from another job.
My mulch drop is less than 2 miles from my house, and I try to leave as much on propertys as I can, my neighbours on the weeked know the can help themselves to whats in the back. When theres alot of wood I get firewood merchants to pick it up or I have a list of people who are happy to have it dumped in there driveway on my way home or even come pick it up themselves. (I try to avoid that unless the clients completely cool with it)

I dont have big gear, but for my way of doing things and where I work, I dont want it at this point either. Yet I can charge on a hourly rate per man the same as a bigger geared company that is going to spend 2 hours in traffic getting to and from the job, many times more in fuel, machine upkeep, having a secure yard and time lost dragging brush when they cant get as close to the job with their bigger gear. One of my competition has a BC2000xl and according to one of his guys it only gets used once a month.

Different horses for different courses.

 

[TheKid]

timbermcpherson, you took the words directly outta my mouth in your last line. apples to oranges. we are a 3-4 man crew, one isuzu nqr with dump box, one vermeer 935. we contract out the stumps .probably spend around $150-200 week. maybe less. 40 hr weeks. that includes bid rig-nissan 4x4 pickup.

 

[extraspecialman]

I have a fence building business,and I will spend about $250 a week in gas and diesel,and thats just running a 1/2 ton Chevy pickup,a 50 HP Kubota tractor,a 361 chainsaw,and an FS 250 weed eater.I can remember a time when I could run a 110 HP tractor pretty hard for 10 hours a day on $15 worth of off road diesel,and that seemed expensive back then.Now its more like $60-$70.Anyhow,I can make good money at what I do,but a few bad jobs or wash outs can put a small business man in a world of hurt.$250 a week could buy a lot of groceries,or almost pay an employees wages.