Invest in Crane or New Bucket Truck

[Thor's Hammer]

Gicon, notice you said CAN make... it sounds like its getting very competitive for that kind of work.
cranes are very cheap to hire over here as there's so many of them.

 

[KentuckySawyer]

What are the pros and cons of different types of buckets? By this I mean, center mount with a chip box versus a dedicated rear mount bucket. One minus I see, is that a bucket/forestry box truck costs about 20-30k more than a rear mount.

 

[Menchhofer]

Last year we purchased rear mount unit new. Forestry unit new was priced either identical or $10,000 difference, cannot remember.

Rear mounts will get you in places the forestry unit will not.
Almost all work is done from the rear of the rear mount thus most debris stays clear of the truck.

Forestry units are nice, it just depends on the type of set up you require. The rear mount and separate chipper truck works best for us. However, we do occassionally miss the extra space in the forestry type.

 

[lxt]

crane or bucket truck? Im with koa man get the spider lift(nice machine`s) cranes,mmm I just think for tree work renting would be better #1 CDL , commercial insurance, maintenance and inspections(if applicable in your state). tire`s price those babies and with a crane my understanding is you replace often!!! and if your like every tree guy your gonna test it!!! bend that top stick just slighly and your in trouble seen it done, ugly very ugly!! was a competitor so I didnt feel too bad. good luck.. be safe LXT...............

 

[KentuckySawyer]

I'm not familiar with spider lifts. Can you post a picture or a link?

 

[BakerTREE]

http://www.teupenamerica.com/
This site -- cited from a different thread -- quenched my interest...WOW! This type of equipment would be great if you can justify it.
(you can justify anything if you want it enough....this equipment might make you want something new)

 

[KentuckySawyer]

Never mind. I found a couple of good links. Those things look pretty slick, but they said the spider lift will make you never want to climb a tree again... thats no fun.

How much does one cost?

 

[BakerTREE]

http://arborist.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=12960

This was the thread where I saw the above site linked from... its from the large equipment forumn.

 

[lxt]

ahh theres the real beauty, kentuckysawyer the leo 25 with a lil over 80 ft of reach is just a mere $109,000.00 i believe? when i got the brochure there was no pricing so i called he quoted me several prices for a couple units but this is close!!!

 

[Koa Man]

MSRP for the Spider Lifts are as follows:
LEO 15GT (50 FT.) 30.75 in width $56,443.01
LEO 23GT (76 FT.) 38.50 in width $109,634.24
LEO 25T (82 FT.) 70.00 in width $125,220.42
LEO 26T (86 FT.) 62.00 in width $158,832.27

All heights when collapsed are same, 78 in. I need something that can go through
a 36 in. gate so I am limited to the 50 ft. I wish the 76 ft. came with the real narrow chassis.