Bucket or Man Lift?

[Menchhofer]

I am in the process of considering purchasing an additonal bucket truck. However, we all know how expensive these suckers are.

I am thinking of looking in to I believe to be an articulated man lift.
These are 4 wd with the bucket mounted on top. However, it would need to be transported to the job with a good size vehicle.

I understand these units are used in Europe (or so I have read) and wonder of the pros and cons of such a device. Being smaller and weighing less than a bucket seems tempting.

Anyway used one these things? How much do they weigh? Are they any less expensive than a bucket? Anyone know of a distrubutor?

I have seen them being used only in parking lots..putting up signs, changing a light bulb...painting, but never for tree work.

At the last TCI I also saw a bucket unit only with outriggers and small drive engine, towable I think, but not tall enough. Forget what they called it but did not seem too practical...

 

[ramanujan]

most manlifts that i have seen do not have any sort of side to side movement aside from that provided by the wheels. i think that the only practical application in tree work would be boulevard pruning and tall roadside hedges. and perhaps the ocassional excurrent removal.

 

[Dan F]

The only time I have ever used one was last week to prune some very large viburnums. Just happened that the painter was in the process of painting the sorroity house and had it for that purpose. It worked fairly well, better than a ladder would have. I think a bucket truck would have been nearly impossible to use in that situation due to the location of the bushes. This one had side to side swing, 4wd, extension on the arm, rotating platform and a very annoying alarm when it thought it wasn't level.

My suggestion would to be to contact NationsRent or United Rentals (I think they were supposed to be opening a west-side yard last year) and rent one for a job or two and see how it works out.

My only caution would be that they can be somewhat unstable, compared to a bucket truck with outriggers. There was a man-lift that fell over last year at the local university. I would probably feel more comfortable with a bucket truck, however, the man-lift is probably easier to manuever.

As with about everything else, it's all about trade-offs.

Dan

 

[ORclimber]

Don't believe the manlifts I've seen are insulated as they have metal booms. You wouldn't have to pay liability insurance on the manlift.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I've ised several towbehind lifts, I like the Eagle by AmeriQuip for the articulated variety. They have contiuous 360* rotation.

I've looked at Polecat's newer selfpropelled 45ft articulated model, seems nice, but have not had the oportunity to use.

Also used the heavyduty Genie 60ft telescoping booms that you can drive from the bucket. They are great on flat ground, but a slight slope will throw the cutout. I've only used thm for doing deadwood and clearance over roadways and walks.

As with everything there are tradeoffs, you don't have the same range of movement that a good bucket does, but they are lighter and cheaper.

Around here the tow behinds rent for around 110 a day.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I've ised several towbehind lifts, I like the Eagle by AmeriQuip for the articulated variety. They have contiuous 360* rotation.

I've looked at Polecat's newer selfpropelled 45ft articulated model, seems nice, but have not had the oportunity to use.

Also used the heavyduty Genie 60ft telescoping booms that you can drive from the bucket. They are great on flat ground, but a slight slope will throw the cutout. I've only used thm for doing deadwood and clearance over roadways and walks.

As with everything there are tradeoffs, you don't have the same range of movement that a good bucket does, but they are lighter and cheaper.

Around here the tow behinds rent for around 110 a day.