Bucket truck durability question

[Daddy M Dawg]

I've been looking for a bucket truck the past couple months. I was hoping to find a truck with fewer than 60k miles. So far I haven't, but I found a truck I like with a LR-V. I like the truck it drove good and had a up to date boom inspection. The bad thing is it has 100k miles. My concern is that when these trucks reach this many miles a lot of maintenance/replacing parts is needed to keep it going.

 

[Rftreeman]

Mileage wouldn't be as much concern to me as would the hours on the boom, is the truck a diesel or gas engine, if it's diesel then 100,000 isn't much for it.

 

[lego1970]

As mentioned, hours would tell more. If you can't find the hours, try to find where the truck is from. For example a truck from a small town would take years to aquire those miles unless it has done a lot of cross country storm work. If the truck is from a big city, then it wouldn't take near as long to aquire that many miles. If you can't find out the hours or where or what kind of work it did, then take your time and go over it good. Maintenance can kill you if your not good with a wrench or have cash to get it fixed. A buddy of mine just had his engine and tranny rebuilt on his bucket truck. It cost $12,000.00 after everthing was said & done, not including lost revenue
while it was down for a couple weeks. I don't know on a bucket truck, but on a OTR Semi truck you can expect about 10 to 15 thousand a year on maintenance and repairs for equipment that is out of warranty or over 5 years old. That doesn't include lost revenue or pissing off customers. A good maintenance plan with good inspections can save thousands in down time and prevent lost revenue. Nothing sucks more then blowing a hydraulic line on a customers driveway and watch is spray all over their nice lawn. Good luck.

 

[treeclimber101]

Trucks are plentiful now and cheap , so look at alot before choosing one , and the LRlll is what you want the five is a little short for around here ,100k is a lot of wear and tear I have a 99 with only fifty thousand ...

 

[Daddy M Dawg]

Obviously I don't know a ton about these trucks. I thought the LRIII was the 60' cable version vs. the LR-V was a 60' working height hydraulic version. This truck is from New Mexico, it still has the Asplundh title so it's straight from them. My thoughts is that in NM they would have to drive more miles to work than say Kansas City, so the miles are higher. I have looked anywhere from S. Florida to Pa to Iowa etc... Yes lots of travel, but it's been nice being on the road. I appreciate yalls replies.

 

[Daddy M Dawg]

Mileage wouldn't be as much concern to me as would the hours on the boom, is the truck a diesel or gas engine, if it's diesel then 100,000 isn't much for it.

It's a 7.4 liter gasser.

 

[Rftreeman]

One more thing, if it's an old Davey truck, forget it, they run their trucks in the ground before they sell them.....stay away from Teco Saturn and other obsolete booms, you'll never find parts or people to work on them, the LR-V is an Altec which is a very good boom, the newer Hi-Ranger is good, the old style Hi-Ranger is ok but it doesn't go over center, Lift All booms aren't bad either, I"m sure there's more but that's pretty much from my experience..

 

[Rftreeman]

It's a 7.4 liter gasser.

depending on the regular maintenance (oil change and such) 100,000 is not really bad but as stated above, find out where it's from if you can because 100,000 city miles is harder on it than 100,000 Hi-way miles.

 

[Rftreeman]

Here's some Altec info.

 

[md_tree_dood]

Usually once a bucket is past 6 years you have to start replacing upper and lower cylinder rods, this is very very expensive!!! As others have said, don't worry so much about engine miles, worry more about how the boom has been maintained.

 

[markct]

replacing cylinder rods???? why? i repair heavy equipment and garbage trucks for a living so i see alot of hydraulics everyday and rarely do we have to replace a rod unless it gets bent from damage, or gets a gouge real bad from a rock such is common with backhoe cylinders but on a bucket truck i cant picture how you can damage them very easily way up in the air like that unless ya have very careless operators. small nicks,gouges, scrapes or rust pitting can be repaired with epoxys or with special alloys applied with a tig, replacement isnt often needed

 

[Daddy M Dawg]

Thanks guys for all of your answers. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[mckeetree]

replacing cylinder rods???? why? i repair heavy equipment and garbage trucks for a living so i see alot of hydraulics everyday and rarely do we have to replace a rod unless it gets bent from damage, or gets a gouge real bad from a rock such is common with backhoe cylinders but on a bucket truck i cant picture how you can damage them very easily way up in the air like that unless ya have very careless operators. small nicks,gouges, scrapes or rust pitting can be repaired with epoxys or with special alloys applied with a tig, replacement isnt often needed

I know. Most of these guys that get on here and try to talk about bucket trucks haven't even owned one.

 

[Rftreeman]

I know. Most of these guys that get on here and try to talk about bucket trucks haven't even owned one.

I've never "owned" one but I do have quite a many hours in one and doing the daily inspections, just because you don't "own" one doesn't make you ignorant to them, I've known a few mechanics that didn't "own" a car but are very good mechanics, I wonder if markct "owns" a garbage truck...

 

[mckeetree]

I've never "owned" one but I do have quite a many hours in one and doing the daily inspections, just because you don't "own" one doesn't make you ignorant to them, I've known a few mechanics that didn't "own" a car but are very good mechanics, I wonder if markct "owns" a garbage truck...

Good point. I should have said most of these guys that get on here and try to talk about bucket trucks don't know much about them.

 

[treeclimber101]

I "own " two and "work" on everything except boom repair myself and could do that aswell but for insurance reasons I "choose " not too..

 

[markct]

yea i wasnt trying to imply that i am a bucket truck expert by any meansand no i dont own a bucket truck, and have only worked on one actualy in my life. i was just making a general statement about hydraulic cylinder rods hopefully to either point out to some people that many rods that are replaced could infact be repaired, or possibly someone will point out to me why the hydraulic cylinder rods in a bucket truck are in some way a different situation than most other cylinder rods, either way one or the other of us will likely learn something! and no i dont own a bucket truck but i do own a gradall excavator, john deere 210 loader backhoe, IH td9 dozer, ford 3400 tractor with loader and a few other hydraulic things so i have a little experience on hydraulic cylinders, as well as daily at work on garbage trucks and heavy equip

 

[lego1970]

Likewise, I don't know the annual estimated cost to maintain a bucket truck because I've never owned one. I was just giving some senerios to explain the difference in how mileage may occur, what my friends bucket truck with a Cat diesel and 6 speed transmission cost to rebuild (how in depth the rebuild, I don't know), and the importance of how checking over the equipment frequently can save money in the long run. However, if I did or had owned a bucket truck within the last 7 years I would of been more then happy to share my annual maintenance & repair cost over a 5 year period, estimated lost revenue from down time and even break it down monthly for you. If for some reason you ever buy a used tractor trailer, let me know because I can break that down for you since I owned one. Surely somebody on here has bought an older bucket truck with similiar specs, keeps records, and can give you their annual maintenance cost. That would give you idea on what you could expect to spend over the next so many years.

 

[md_tree_dood]

It's funny that you'd compare the hydraulic cylinder rods on a bucket truck to a garbage truck, last time I checked the rods on a garbage truck aren't holding you up 60 ft in the air. The guide to replacing the rods is from the manufacturer, if you choose to ignore what the manufacturer suggests, thats your personal business, but when my life is on the line, I do what the manufacturer suggests. Keep saving money, it'll be worth it when a rod fails and you're stuck in the air, destroy a clients turf/driveway, or any other number of things.

Let me guess, dialectic tests are for sissies, once a bucket is built its safe to use around power lines forever!

 

[TreeW?rx]

My suggestion if you are going to buy a used bucket truck is to check EVERYTHING. Make sure that all the controls work and that you watch the hydraulic lines when some one is operating it. I bought a used Altec AA600. It has been a great truck, got it for a song. But sometimes you get what you pay for. I have had to replace the fuel pump and a 3/4" main hydraulic line, not to mention the $1k visit from the Altec mobile repair guy to trace a leak in the turret. If you dont know much about either trucks or hydraulics you prob have a friend that does. Take them with you. Or you can have a local dealer check it out for a small fee.