whadja do today?

[tree md]

Rain here today too.

I got out this morning and bid a storm damaged tree. I mean the top of this thing is hanging by a few fibers over the service drop, cable and phone lines and the house. If you breathe on the thing it will fall. I didn't really want to touch it. I don't want to have to replace the power head nor any other damages. Very likely to come off when it's climbed. I told the HO to get the utility companies out there to drop the service lines and call me back. When I turned around in the cul-de-sac and came back out there was another tree service there looking at it... They were looking at the top and shaking their heads as I went by, lol. Some of them it's better to let them fall instead of chancing shaking a big top out on the house and being liable...

Spent the rest of the morning doing office work and faxing #### to a mortgage company that owes me money on a job.

 

[ozzy42]

Nice AA, looks like you got it going on!!!

that mower should save you a lot of time..:msp_thumbup:

That's an awesome setup.
One mans laziness is another mans inginuity.

A 252 can drag a LOT of tree out of a long back and side yard also.
I know that is not its intended purpose,but it beats dragging 2tons of brush 150 feet to the truck on a hot day.

 

[flushcut]

That's an awesome setup.
One mans laziness is another mans inginuity.

A 252 can drag a LOT of tree out of a long back and side yard also.
I know that is not its intended purpose,but it beats dragging 2tons of brush 150 feet to the truck on a hot day.

I often wondered what a 252 would drag.

 

[mr. holden wood]

Yesterday I bought an aluminum tandem axle trailer to transport my tractor and wagon. I had to put the wagon on sideways to get them both on.

The little wagon can haul everything we put on it, saved a lot of time and effort on a hot and humid day.

This little grassy path is our only access to the trees we are taking down. We'll have some big wood to take out tomorrow so we'll see how well my lawn mower works to get it out over the manicured lawn. The stump grinder and duallys kit is being delivered on Thursday.

I don't like what I see and I'll tell you why without being a prik for once. For starters the pile you are dragging could be handled by two gm's without breaking a sweat and without the waisted time it took to stack and secure on that wagon. Second for the price you payed for the tractor you could have bought a descent bandit with hydro's and mini to boot. To each his own but seems like you could have put that money to better uses. Keep the pics coming though, you may be on to somethin?

 

[tree MDS]

I don't like what I see and I'll tell you why without being a prik for once. For starters the pile you are dragging could be handled by two gm's without breaking a sweat and without the waisted time it took to stack and secure on that wagon. Second for the price you payed for the tractor you could have bought a descent bandit with hydro's and mini to boot. To each his own but seems like you could have put that money to better uses. Keep the pics coming though, you may be on to somethin?

Yeah, plus a guy looks like a downright homo on that thing! lol..

 

[mr. holden wood]

That's an awesome setup.
One mans laziness is another mans inginuity.

A 252 can drag a LOT of tree out of a long back and side yard also.
I know that is not its intended purpose,but it beats dragging 2tons of brush 150 feet to the truck on a hot day.

Are you kidding me, I could drag brush faster in a wheel chair then a sloth 252. 2 tons yeah right, that 27 horse lawn mower engine aint moving 2 tons down a icy escalator.

 

[mr. holden wood]

Yeah, plus a guy looks like a downright homo on that thing! lol..

You and tree md would look super cute riding doubles on that thing.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Hope he keeps posting. I want to see the big wood going out.
Jeff :msp_scared:

 

[tree md]

Now why would I want to ride doubles when I can have it gone in about 10 minutes with a skid steer...

Don't put me in the middle of you guys love fest...

 

[ozzy42]

Are you kidding me, I could drag brush faster in a wheel chair then a sloth 252. 2 tons yeah right, that 27 horse lawn mower engine aint moving 2 tons down a icy escalator.

Not in one pull.Probably 4-500lbs per pull depending on the turf and what the tree is. I didn't weigh it.Not something I do every day.But have resorted to it a few times.

 

[prentice110]

That town got WHACKED!!!!! 80+ MPH winds. I estimate that %25 of the trees were down or damaged. Lots of fun getting to jobs and estimates when every other street has a blow over laying in it. There going to be without power for days. The fire dept even asked me to help clear roads, I had to say sorry, Im looking to get paid. Gonna be out there for a while. Never sold that much work in a day in my life. Oh yeah, Met up with my buddy from the other co that has the clam truck. After what we booked today hes finally going to plate it, so now I dont have to buy it! I love it when a plan comes together!

 

[ropensaddle]

Good gravy lol, I will say the lawnmower is not my idea of best equipment for tree work but if it makes aa happy and takes the load off the back good for him. From what i see it will lift my only deal is if it will lift and dump into my dump bed like my old ass skid steer lol. Anyway when i posted pics of my skid I expected to catch hell for it being a seventies model bobcat lol with no rops. Oh and wood holder I drug logs twenty inch by 6' four at a time with my sloth 252 straight up a goat hill in hundred degree heat and sweating just operating the controls:monkey:

 

[the Aerialist]

You think that was the only load it pulled?

I don't like what I see and I'll tell you why without being a prik for once. For starters the pile you are dragging could be handled by two gm's without breaking a sweat and without the waisted time it took to stack and secure on that wagon. Second for the price you payed for the tractor you could have bought a descent bandit with hydro's and mini to boot. To each his own but seems like you could have put that money to better uses. Keep the pics coming though, you may be on to somethin?

If that was the only pile of brush to be dragged the 100 yards or so to the chipper my 50 year old wife could have handled it. But it was just one of many. We took two dump truck loads of chips out of there, with more to come, and those trees (seen in the background) are even further away. And there's the "big wood" that's going to have to come out of there too.

For all the "muthers" posting here: The "gay" guy driving is a father of five and married to a beautiful woman and wonderful mother. In the tree is my Nephew, he's a trainee climber and is starting to do quite well. But you can see the problem, the only access to the property itself is through the gate that's open in front of the tree. Being an articulated tractor the Steiner can make the turn and go through the gate, even though the bucket in front only clears by about two inches on each side.

The one ton wagon it's pulling has four removable posts that hold the brush in place while moving, even on a grade. No "securing" needed, we just threw the brush over the fence onto it. To unload it we pull two of the posts and push it off in front of the chipper then go back for another load. Actually the wagon came first for another big wood job, but we pulled and pushed it uphill to the truck so I started looking for something to pull it.

I almost traded a tree job for a conventional lawn tractor and a snowmobile on a trailer. The guy got a little wishy washy on me and so I decided to just buy one. Once I started looking I discovered the Steiner and the utility it offered sealed the deal for me. In the end you get what you pay for. I can afford it, so I bought the best "lawn tractor" available. Even if I bought a larger, more capable articulated wheel loader (and I probably will as I grow my business) the Steiner will still have it's place, tight places.

It's also great for setting up the job. I carried all our gear and coolers full of water and ice to our setup area inside the property in the shade of the trees still providing it. They are all coming down to open the beautiful pool area to the sunlight. Barely seen in the photo is the pool house which is also getting renovated. The carpenter and his crew were working on it and when I got there, he was installing a roof vent on it right under the massive tree leaning over it. He asked if we were going to break it and I asked "do you have another one in your truck?" He'd need a lot more than that vent if we had dropped any part of that tree on it. I'll get a photo tomorrow, all we left today is the main trunk to be laid between the fence and the pool house. It's actually pretty tricky, only about five feet from it and on a slope, maybe I should call in LXT to handle it for me?

 

[ropensaddle]

Looks like it may be a little hilly there too thats all i get nightmare grades scary **** lol:monkey:

 

[the Aerialist]

It's a dream job ...

Looks like it may be a little hilly there too thats all i get nightmare grades scary ****...

Yep, uphill grade for the two back trees, and a good slope for the first two. Today's nightmare was the wires we had to negotiate, you can see some of them in the photo if you look close, tomorrow's is dropping the big one without it bouncing or rolling into the pool house.

 

[Florida23]

Honestly I do like the lawn mower that you have, but I really think you'd have been better off getting a bobcat mt 55 or similar.
With a Grapple attachment, you could haul just as much, without having to load it by hand, and you can also get a trailer for it and a stump grinder attachment.

Just my 2 cents

 

[ropensaddle]

Yep, uphill grade for the two back trees, and a good slope for the first two. Today's nightmare was the wires we had to negotiate, you can see some of them in the photo if you look close, tomorrow's is dropping the big one without it bouncing or rolling into the pool house.

I have tricks for that you have got to have a few in the hills. Worse thing you can do is small firewood sections without a barrier. Nuthing worse than dropping something perfect only to have a bad bounce and gravity make you look like hap hazard I sometimes snub them to keep em firm on the hill or build wood and brush barriers, that spar is a problem with the crook, it can want to bounce especially in hard ground found in the hill tops.

 

[the Aerialist]

But will it chuck wood?

Good gravy lol, I will say the lawnmower is not my idea of best equipment for tree work but if it... will lift my only deal is if it will lift and dump into my dump bed ...

[video=youtube;tdzyIIodKco]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdzyIIodKco&feature=player_embedded[/video]

The FEL is far more expensive than the slip scoop and takes a lot longer to mount and dismount than the slip scoop, which can be done in the field without tools. I suppose I'll eventually get one just like I'll get a mower deck. The idea of pushing my commercial Toro around just doesn't appeal to me when I've got one of these things. The mower deck is $2500, more than most lawn tractors cost. I think the FEL is around $5k though, pretty pricy, when I've got guys that can bench press 400 lbs.

 

[ropensaddle]

Honestly I do like the lawn mower that you have, but I really think you'd have been better off getting a bobcat mt 55 or similar.
With a Grapple attachment, you could haul just as much, without having to load it by hand, and you can also get a trailer for it and a stump grinder attachment.

Just my 2 cents

I want a grapple for my old skid but really I seldom hand load it can scoop up 4 foot logs but on the grades I deal with you can lose a piece if not very careful!

 

[ropensaddle]

[video=youtube;tdzyIIodKco]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdzyIIodKco&feature=player_embedded[/video]

The FEL is far more expensive than the slip scoop and takes a lot longer to mount and dismount than the slip scoop, which can be done in the field without tools. I suppose I'll eventually get one just like I'll get a mower deck. The idea of pushing my commercial Toro around just doesn't appeal to me when I've got one of these things. The mower deck is $2500, more than most lawn tractors cost. I think the FEL is around $5k though, pretty pricy, when I've got guys that can bench press 400 lbs.

AA my trucks side boards are around six feet high so you have to get a 1000 lb load to that height and still be somewhat forward of the machine to dump it into my one ton dump!

My skid does it great I can scoop up firewood or logs and dump it into the back then dump it when I get home, making rope a bit more patient with the wifey! Then if its a big job I bring in the calvary!