How many of you rent equipment as opposed to buy?

[Plasmech]

One of the problems with rentals is that the users don't give a crap about how they treat the machine because...it ain't theirs.

 

[JTinaTree]

Chippers around here rent for 1000-1200 weekly for a 12in model, The knives are not maintained properly though.. On a multiple pine take down jobs 10+ it is maybe worth it in a good economy.. But here lately with lower bids were hauling everthing.

 

[Plasmech]

I've got someone who will loan me a "chuck-and-duck". How do these things work, and are they as safe as the other kind?

 

[lego1970]

Unplanned maintenance or breakdown issues like overhauls or breakdowns are costly and have to be considered when buying no matter how hard it is to come up with an estimate. What really sucks is when your making payments on a piece of equipment, but because it's in the shop your still having to rent out another piece of equipment to get the job done. However small stuff like blades, teeth, tires, oil changes are pretty minimal both in upfront cost and downtime. The upfront cost and downtime of routine maintenance is easy to predict and incorporate into the cost of the equipment. Routine maintenance is also easy enough to do in the field. However, you can get nickled and dimed to death if you can't troubleshoot or figure out, for instance why a particuliar piece of equipment is going thru belts twice as much as it should. You can also loose out big time if your constantly taking in the equipment to a shop because you can't get a bolt unstuck or fix things yourself. I owned a tractor trailer for 5 years and when I had the money, I always enjoyed breakdowns. I always liked to figure out why a certian componant failed. Most the times you can trace it back, but sadly most the times it took several failures of the same componant to come up with a answer. For instance I would always get premature wear on my front wheel bearings. I went thru every bushing, had it aligned, etc, etc yet still went thru front wheel bearings every six months. I also noticed that the hub oil would get contaminated with water, but I had replaced the gasket and hub resevior a couple times, yet always would get water in the hubs. I would get my truck washed every other weekend. I never put shiny chrome hub covers on because you can't check you hub oil level with a hub cover so I always felt that guys couldn't do a proper pre-trip inspection with the hub covers on. Well now I know why they put hub covers on.....to prevent water from getting into the hubs. The hubs have a small pin hole in the rubber grommet to allow gases to escape when the hubs get hot. When I was getting the truck washed the pressure washers where forcing water thru the pin hole in the hubs rubber grommets. This caused steam build up in the hubs which also caused premature seal failures on the back side of the hub as well as cause premature bearing failures. Once I put chrome covers on, I went the next three years without having anymore bearing problems and only one or two inner seal failures. There were other problems like that took time to understand but eventually you would figure it out. Stuff like that I enjoyed when I had the money to fix and investigate. Otherwise unplanned maintenance is hard to deal with and plan finacialy.

 

[lego1970]

I've got someone who will loan me a "chuck-and-duck". How do these things work, and are they as safe as the other kind?

I don't believe they have ever had any fatalities from being sucked in because you can pull limbs out even when the chipper is grabbing it. The blades are sometime very hard to get out, if the bolts that hold the wedges are old or over tightened. Other then that they are simple to work on because you have no electronics or hydraulics to work with. They bad thing with them is that they are limited in what they can chip, and when doing hedge tree, honey locust, or black locust, your crew will hate you.

 

[Plasmech]

So how exactly does the work get pulled in with no feed rollers?

I don't believe they have ever had any fatalities from being sucked in because you can pull limbs out even when the chipper is grabbing it. The blades are sometime very hard to get out, if the bolts that hold the wedges are old or over tightened. Other then that they are simple to work on because you have no electronics or hydraulics to work with. They bad thing with them is that they are limited in what they can chip, and when doing hedge tree, honey locust, or black locust, your crew will hate you.

 

[lego1970]

So how exactly does the work get pulled in with no feed rollers?

Just from the momentum of the drum and chipper knives. Once the knives grab the limb, it gobbles it up in no time. In the winter, it will smart as the twigs slap your ears. There is an old time governor on the engine so when the rpms start to drop from being bogged down by a long or fat limb, it will open up the carb and try to compensate but for the most part it's up to the momentum of the drum to drag it thru. They are good ole chippers and I see Asplundh still use and make new ones today. They are simple as heck, but they can't do fat or long linbs like a hydraulic self feed unit can. For example, then can handle a 6" diameter silver maple that's 15' long. They can't handle a 10" log or a limb that's 25' long. It will just bog down the motor too much. As I said, they are simple reliable machines but have limitations.

 

[maloufstree]

Hey, being from around here you can appreciate this. This guy from Phalba over there calls to get a price on removing two stumps. I tell him $175.00 to take them four inches below the existing grade. He tells me too much money he is going to rent a machine and do it himself. While I am there the neighbor walks over and has five or six little stumps to grind and I tell them I am going to Canton in a week or so and will stop in and grind them for $100.00 and they say O.K. Well when we are there later to do it the guy next door happens to have just rented a machine from Groom & Sons and is trying to grind a stump with it and it ain't happening. He walks over and asked me to look at the grinder and I have never seen teeth that dull in my life. I told him he wasn't going to grind anything with that.

I saw one of your trucks the other day with one of those Dosko grinders on the back. How do you like that machine?

 

[maloufstree]

One of the problems with rentals is that the users don't give a crap about how they treat the machine because...it ain't theirs.

I don't know if its so much that or the fact that its someone who dosn't have a clue of to how to use it.

 

[Plasmech]

have a solution

Well turns out I have the answer to my chipper woes, at least to get started. Got a co-worked who was just GIVEN an Asplundh 100-150 HP chuck-and-duck (owner just wants it off his property). Thing is huge, too big really, but it'll do. It needs some work, but he's out of cash (girlfriend stole it all). I'm going to invest some money in getting it running and he's going to be on call for the jobs I have lined up.

I'm told all it needs are new tires and a battery, if this is the case I'm really lucking out here. The rate he would charge me to chip a big pile is so low it's sick.

 

[lego1970]

Well turns out I have the answer to my chipper woes, at least to get started. Got a co-worked who was just GIVEN an Asplundh 100-150 HP chuck-and-duck (owner just wants it off his property). Thing is huge, too big really, but it'll do. It needs some work, but he's out of cash (girlfriend stole it all). I'm going to invest some money in getting it running and he's going to be on call for the jobs I have lined up.

I'm told all it needs are new tires and a battery, if this is the case I'm really lucking out here. The rate he would charge me to chip a big pile is so low it's sick.

Good luck with it and if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them, although it's been awhile since I messed with one.

 

[Plasmech]

Good luck with it and if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them, although it's been awhile since I messed with one.

Thanks. Do you have any links to manuals for those things? I'll get more specifics on it soon.

Luckily I won't personally be feeding it most of the time, using a more expendable guy for that. LOL j/k, really the guy who's used it before and will have it stored on his property will be running it for me.

 

[lego1970]

Thanks. Do you have any links to manuals for those things? I'll get more specifics on it soon.

Luckily I won't personally be feeding it most of the time, using a more expendable guy for that. LOL j/k, really the guy who's used it before and will have it stored on his property will be running it for me.

No I don't. The guy I used to buy my knives from on ebay was named.....
Gabdon1 I beleive he has a website too, but you would have to google that. It should be something like "Gabdon Industries" and I think he's out of Salt Lake area. He may have or know where to get a manual.

Those chippers normaly have I-6 fords but I've seen all types of motors from Chryslers 318 V-8 to older I-6 Chevys. As long as you can mate the clutch houseing to an engine you can put about anything in there. Once you get to looking at it more, you'll be able to figure out how to adjust the anvil, replace the bearings, etc, etc. Taking out the knives is a little tricky especially if they haven't been replaced in a long time or you've never replaced these types before. I can't remember excactly how to do it without seeing one in front of me. Somehow you unscrew the bolts on the wedges that hold the knives in, then re-screw back into other holes to push the wedge out. Hopefully someone else can chime in. Getting those bolts out can be hard in they've been in there awhile. I would always soak them the night before and apply a little bit of heat before trying to get them out. When putting it together I always put a little anti-sieze on the threads and I normaly replaced the bolts everytime. The anvil it a square bar down below and it's important for the edge that meets the knives to be sharp. You have 4 sides to play with so odds are that one of the edges is sharp. Make sure you have the right belt tension or you can prematurely wear out belts if loose and bearings if too tight. A local belt shop should be able to tell you the approximate slack. Keep the radiator and air breather clean. That's about all I can think of that needs checked frequently or info that may be of help. Good luck, hopefully others can chime in about manuals or the exact way to change out the knives.

 

[48"BAR PINCHER]

No arguement from me that you can get junk from a rental place. Been screwed plenty of times. I rented a chipper one time that the previous renter used to chip up a deck from his house--nails,screws, plates and all!!
I finally found a FEW places with good reliable stuff. I pulled the managers aside after a few rentals and thanked them for providing good reliable equipment. I also go out of my way to take care of theirs and clean them good before I take things back. You would be suprised how far out of their way they go now to make sure I get chippers with fresh knives, all the lights work, etc... when they see you take care of their stuff. I'm by no means their biggest customer. It also gives you some leverage in the fees they charge. I don't pay the advertised rates. we negotiate them. They know I'm not gonna beat up their eqipment. I think Blakes said he pays 1/2 of his profit to a rental co. Your right that's nuts. I sure don't and I won't. That is money wasted like he said. It just comes back to what works for your business. There is no right or wrong answer to this question IMO.

 

[mckeetree]

I saw one of your trucks the other day with one of those Dosko grinders on the back. How do you like that machine?

They are about like all those 20 H.P. walk behind machines. If you have a lot of stumps to grind they are not enough grinder. But, they are cheap at $6,950 or so new and they are handy to keep on the bed of the truck. I have bought probably a dozen of them over the years. I have a tow behind grinder for bigger stumps.

 

[Mikecutstrees]

No arguement from me that you can get junk from a rental place. Been screwed plenty of times. I rented a chipper one time that the previous renter used to chip up a deck from his house--nails,screws, plates and all!!
I finally found a FEW places with good reliable stuff. I pulled the managers aside after a few rentals and thanked them for providing good reliable equipment. I also go out of my way to take care of theirs and clean them good before I take things back. You would be suprised how far out of their way they go now to make sure I get chippers with fresh knives, all the lights work, etc... when they see you take care of their stuff. I'm by no means their biggest customer. It also gives you some leverage in the fees they charge. I don't pay the advertised rates. we negotiate them. They know I'm not gonna beat up their eqipment. I think Blakes said he pays 1/2 of his profit to a rental co. Your right that's nuts. I sure don't and I won't. That is money wasted like he said. It just comes back to what works for your business. There is no right or wrong answer to this question IMO.

yeah be careful with rental places. I had a stumper throw a couple teeth. Took it back and the mechanic used a 12" socket wrench to tighten them back up. I asked if that was correct and he said ohh I made them "Real tight" haha. Guess they have never heard of a torque wrench or a manual..... Mike

 

[Bermie]

sounds like an oxymoron to me. lol.

Ha ha...look guys everything is relative...INCLUDING size!
Over here, a 6-8" chipper is as big as they get, sorry, I forgot you all are into size envy...we don't do the whole tree ####, we truck out the big stuff. On a LOT of my work the stuff is left on site or the gardeners take it away

A chipper is NOT a must have piece of equipment for me, neither is a stump grinder, I would barely use a chipper once every two weeks, and I can't remember the last time anyone wanted stumps ground. 'Renting' or subbing works for me in my work range and market.

If I need the equipment I know where to get it, not from a rental outlet but from a professional who has the equipment standing in his yard anyway!

 

[Plasmech]

I wish I had a squad of gardeners follow me everywhere, like my posse. Even come to work with me during the day and everything.

Ha ha...look guys everything is relative...INCLUDING size!
Over here, a 6-8" chipper is as big as they get, sorry, I forgot you all are into size envy...we don't do the whole tree ####, we truck out the big stuff. On a LOT of my work the stuff is left on site or the gardeners take it away

A chipper is NOT a must have piece of equipment for me, neither is a stump grinder, I would barely use a chipper once every two weeks, and I can't remember the last time anyone wanted stumps ground. 'Renting' or subbing works for me in my work range and market.

If I need the equipment I know where to get it, not from a rental outlet but from a professional who has the equipment standing in his yard anyway!

 

[maloufstree]

They are about like all those 20 H.P. walk behind machines. If you have a lot of stumps to grind they are not enough grinder. But, they are cheap at $6,950 or so new and they are handy to keep on the bed of the truck. I have bought probably a dozen of them over the years. I have a tow behind grinder for bigger stumps.

Who around here is a dealer?

 

[mckeetree]

Who around here is a dealer?

I don't know I buy mine directly from David Doskocil in California. He is an old Texas boy that went to California to find his fortune. His number is 909-885-0988. Tell him that damn Charles McKee sent you. He knows me well.