used bucket truck: good deal?

[pdqdl]

I had a guy come by my office with some pictures of a former utility company bucket truck he was trying to sell: $46,000.00

2003? Freightliner with a Cat engine, 5 speed transmission driving a single axle with a two speed. It only has 15,000 miles, and the truck looks like it is new. Supposedly from Florida.

4 wheel drive on a 36,000 gvwr truck! 30,000lb pintle hitch on the rear! It has a front winch of unknown capacity, this truck was clearly intended to do some heavy work.

It is an over-center rear mount 55' working height bucket, [brand is unknown] and it has a single bucket with a swing-out mount. It might have a winch and a jib on the end, but that is not confirmed yet. 4 outriggers.

I have not yet seen this truck, but the guy is willing to demo it to me.

Our tree work is WAY down, but our work is mostly removals, so we could definitely use it when work picks up. On the other hand, $46K is a lot of money for a truck. If that is too much to pay, I won't even go look. Otherwise I am interested.

Opinions?

 

[Ghillie]

How many hours on the truck? Hourmeter will give you a better idea of how much wear on the engine than a odometer.

 

[pdqdl]

I haven't looked at it yet. It will be about a 45 minute drive, and I have been too busy trying to scratch out an existence to contemplate blowing $46k on a truck. From all the heavy duty features on this truck, I suspect it was used for installing power lines. I don't know if that would lead to more hours than usual or not. Maybe that 4 wheel drive was on the truck just so they didn't get stuck in the all the sand down in Florida?

I sure did like my last bucket truck though, and it was 20 years old when I bought it. I sold it in 2004: we weren't using it enough and it was kind of scary to run. Sometimes bucket trucks put you into a market that climbing just doesn't serve well.

 

[ozarktreeman]

I just came across one the other day,i could not pass up.although little shorter than my other one,
1999 gmc 7500,cat motor,short wheelbase,42ft versalift,165000 miles,exellent shape 7500.00 will takesome pics and post.
came at the right time too,give me a chance to work on the beast.

 

[matt9923]

Sounds like a good deal. A new ones probably 150k.
If you need it and think it will make you more money then its a business investment.
my .02

 

[pdqdl]

An update on the truck: My memory is bad on some of the details, and I spoke to the dealer this morning.

It is a 2000 (not 2003) Freightliner and it has 26,000 miles (not 15,000) with 4000 hours on it. If these details are accurate, that would less than 500 hours of use per year. That is only 10 hours per week!

The aerial device is an Altec AA755 material handler. Searches I have done this morning let me think that this is a 60' "working height" bucket, but that it is NOT an over-center as the dealer claims. He said it would put you on the ground out in front of the truck, but I don't think he knows enough about bucket trucks to understand what I was asking him.

Does anyone know much about these buckets?

 

[Ghillie]

An update on the truck: My memory is bad on some of the details, and I spoke to the dealer this morning.

It is a 2000 (not 2003) Freightliner and it has 26,000 miles (not 15,000) with 4000 hours on it. If these details are accurate, that would less than 500 hours of use per year. That is only 10 hours per week!

The aerial device is an Altec AA755 material handler. Searches I have done this morning let me think that this is a 60' "working height" bucket, but that it is NOT an over-center as the dealer claims. He said it would put you on the ground out in front of the truck, but I don't think he knows enough about bucket trucks to understand what I was asking him.

Does anyone know much about these buckets?

Motor on AS has given me some good info in the past on aerials. He works on them.

Do a carfax search on the truck also.

EDIT: I don't remember much about the cat engines or I would offer more help.

 

[pdqdl]

Here are the Altec spec's on the bucket

This is the product literature on the bucket:

http://www.altec.com/media/products/pdfs/AA755 Specifications.pdf



For you guys that have a lot of experience with bucket trucks, I have several questions:

1. How important is over-center? This altec model has a side reach of 38'. The similar unit (AM855) with over-center has 45' side reach with a much larger envelope. My only experience is with my old HyRanger non-over-center. How important is it for tree work to have over-center?

2. Obviously the material handling capacity makes for a stronger bucket. How useful are the built in winches and load capacity for tree work?

 

[tomtrees58]

the truck is not good four tree work you can get a al of ct four$ 26.000 tom trees

 

[TDunk]

This is the product literature on the bucket:

http://www.altec.com/media/products/pdfs/AA755 Specifications.pdf



For you guys that have a lot of experience with bucket trucks, I have several questions:

1. How important is over-center? This altec model has a side reach of 38'. The similar unit (AM855) with over-center has 45' side reach with a much larger envelope. My only experience is with my old HyRanger non-over-center. How important is it for tree work to have over-center?

2. Obviously the material handling capacity makes for a stronger bucket. How useful are the built in winches and load capacity for tree work?

I've never used an over-center boom, but there's been a few times that it would have really come in handy. The swing out bucket is a nice option too.
As for the material handler, mine has one and i've never used it. I've heard to many people say that it's to easy to shock load the upper boom and break it. But the lifting eye on the lower boom comes in handy. The lifting capacity on your material handler is probably higher, but i think mine is rated at 1000 lbs, and the lower lifting eye at 5000 lbs.

 

[mckeetree]

An update on the truck: My memory is bad on some of the details, and I spoke to the dealer this morning.

It is a 2000 (not 2003) Freightliner and it has 26,000 miles (not 15,000) with 4000 hours on it. If these details are accurate, that would less than 500 hours of use per year. That is only 10 hours per week!

The aerial device is an Altec AA755 material handler. Searches I have done this morning let me think that this is a 60' "working height" bucket, but that it is NOT an over-center as the dealer claims. He said it would put you on the ground out in front of the truck, but I don't think he knows enough about bucket trucks to understand what I was asking him.

Does anyone know much about these buckets?

I know this much. That is a 10 year old electric company truck and you can buy them at auctions all day for $30,000 like that one. It takes me more than 26,000 miles to get 4,000 hours and I am suspect about the miles. Elec. co. trucks don't set and idle as much as a tree truck might and if you figure 25% of those hours moving at average 50 miles an hour that is 50,000 miles.

 

[motor]

As to the above post, check to see if the hours are PTO or engine hours, I was wondering the same thing as mckeetree.

Price is a little high, but I'm sure it's up there for when you beat him down. Although it does have the 4x4 which can be hard to find and a pricey option.

The AA755 is a great heavy-duty unit. Two things when you look at it.

One make sure the upper controls aren't fiber optic (some power co's loved to do this). You can usually tell this by looking to see how many hoses exit the boom tip to the upper controls. If it has it you'll see a couple larger hoses and one small hose. This hose holds you fiber-optic line; STAY AWAY. The first time that system fails you'll regret it...ask me how many times I've seen this!

Secondly try to find a reputible, knowledgeable lift repair company to get an inspection done before you buy, It will be worth every penny.

 

[pdqdl]

That sounds like some good advice. I never heard of a fiber-optic control system. I am sure that there is not a good reason to use fiber-optic, except to make it expensive and difficult to repair.

Wires and hydraulic lines have been serving this purpose quite faithfully for many years, I can't see that a small increase in reliability would be worth the extra hassle to repair.

I will be trying to look at the truck this evening, I'll let everybody know what I find.

Note: the problem with auction trucks is that they are not usually available to thoroughly check out, and you must have your money ready to spend when you bid. This truck will cost more than I can just cut a check for, so an auction truck anywhere close to that value is out of the question. The last 5 trucks I purchased were bought at auction, so I do believe in buying that way.

 

[pdqdl]

By the way...wouldn't it be just as easy to change the hour meter as the odometer? I can't imagine that anyone out to mess with the meters would only change one.

 

[lego1970]

I don't know much about what bucket trucks are worth or what works best, so this is just my recent experience with bucket trucks and maybe some of the info will help you out. I did some tree work with a 2006 4x4 International with a 85' Altec boom doing petroleum pipeline clearance last year. The 4x4 was nice for going over farm fields, but wide front tires alone were often times all that was needed. If it was wet enough to have to engage the 4x4, often times it was too late and we spent hours useing the skidsteer to help get it unstuck. For our application the only real good advantage to the 4x4 and why we rented one was because the terrian was extremely hilly and the crawling gears were needed to climb some of the hills. For residential use, it's overkill, more things to go wrong, and the truck will get slightly less fuel mileage, however I would think it would depend on your usage. For hilly Golf Coarses, and municiple parks the low range on the 4x4 would be helpful. The boom didn't sweep over very far and it didn't seem to hinder our work very much. I'm now in a bucket truck that sweeps way over and for powerline clearance it's been handy. We used a 7' hydraulic saw which is really nice so your not always bumping the bucket against the tree, no messing with gas, less fire hazard while in the bucket, and allows you to make multiple cuts quickly. The down side to the hydraulic saw is that its $2000 bucks, more hydualic lines to get snagged, it gets very hot and your shoulders get a work out. The Cat motors in the trucking industry are highly desired and most big Pete's and Kenworths are spec'd with one. I've had good luck with Detroits and Cummins but if nothing else the cat motor brings more resale value, however filters and such are slightly more expensive. The 4x4 bucket truck that we rented was also fitted with some kind of outrigger pressure or body leveling sensors so if the truck was not completely level side to side or if one of the outriggers came off the ground the bucket would stop flying which was a nice safety feature but at times a pain. This 2006 truck had about 35k miles on it, don't know the hours and Altec wanted $137,000 for it when my former boss asked how much they wanted for it. Sounds like the truck your looking at is a pretty neat work horse if you can utilize it's capacities. Good luck on whatever you decide.