Wanting to upgrade wood loading equipement.

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truestory

truestory

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Dec 20, 2013
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Hello to all fellow tree care industry workers, i am an experienced arborist and lead climber for a small, growing, 3 man tree care buisness in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. We are currently looking at upgrading our set up for loading the wood resulting from prunings and removals. The owner is an experienced logger and likes to save the wood in lengths that he can then sell, usully 8 foot logs for softwoods, we also salvage the hard wood and make it into firewood. We have a 5 foot wide by 10 foot long dumper trailer with 4 foot high pannels, which is getting close to the end of its days. To load the wood we have a a bar with tongs and pulp hooks. For large pieces we usually make a ramp and roll them in. Very old school, which was ok for small scale but now with way more production its just a no brainer to invest in equipement to save energy and time on the heavy lifting. So my question is, do you guys think its worth having a custom trailer with a winch system to pull the wood into the trailer built, or would it be better to just get a trailer with a clam which is already built for that purpose. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
 
Iustinian

Iustinian

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Des Moines, IA, USA
really depends on how big you guys are wanting to get...trailers are nice for small businesses and easy to sell when youre done with them, and theyre versatile if you guys need it for any other type of work. If you guys are focusing on tree work and you are getting big enough to keep a clam truck running, I would go for the clam truck. Alot of guys around here get work hauling logs for smaller tree services too, so if the owner sells logs, that might be something for you to think about.
 
2treeornot2tree

2treeornot2tree

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Another option is a mini skid loader and a 18' or 20' skid steer trailer. I often take the mini with me and load the log lengths onto the trailer leaving a space on the back of the trailer to haul the mini home. Even if you get a grapple teuck there is gonna be times you can not get the truck to the logs and a mini works great for that

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Lawn Guy 12

Lawn Guy 12

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Dec 21, 2013
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I also Use a mini skid steer its a Toro Dingo it works great but here lately I have been thinking about a log grapple trailer has anyone have experience with these. Are they worth the money


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Lawn Guy 12

Lawn Guy 12

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Dec 21, 2013
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It's a log grapple trailer it has the knuckle boom mounted on a dump trailer or a standard trailer you choice on size, same with the motor I would assume a 20 Hp vanguard. You can check them out on google I was just thinking it may be a cheaper route then having to pay for insurance on a large grapple truck I DONT KNOW what is your guys thoughts....


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treeman75

treeman75

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do you go dump the brush then? you must get charged a LOT less for green waste than I do. We chip everything.
The biggest load I have taken to the dump where they weigh ya was 20000lbs and it cost 200 bucks. I chip alot too it just depends on the tree and whats the easiest way. I have other places to dump also depending on ground conditions. The nice thing about the landfill is the road is always good and can dump year around, with that big truck you need a nice level place to dump.
 
Blakesmaster

Blakesmaster

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I may just upgrade my dingo to a vermeer st800 or whatever there numbers are instead of adding another truck.

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Completely different tool for a different purpose. I wanted to upgrade my mini for years till I bought the grapple truck. Now I am perfectly happy with its capabilities as it is only used for very tight access trees.
 

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