Material Handlers on Buckets - Yeh or Nay

[arbor pro]

So, thinking about buying a bucket truck again. (Sold mine a few years ago and bought a towable unit to decrease maintenance and overhead). While I like my 55' genie towable lift, I am leaning towards getting a smaller 40' towable lift for the times I need one and buying a truck with a utility body and rear-mounted boom with material handler so I can do some light rigging from the bucket. While I have all the appropriate rigging gear to do rigging from the ground, there are times when a crane or material handler would come in very handy. A crane is not an option for me at this point so wondering how well a material handler will work.

I do not do utility work - only residential and no huge removals - mostly pruning and small to med size removals. I have been going around and around about whether to get a forestry unit or a rear-mount utility and, while the forestry unit would be great for many reasons, it would also be a drawback from a rear-mount for many more reasons. I do have a ground guy to help drive a seperate chip truck so I do not need to have my boom truck and chipper in one unit. Also, my chipper is an 18" unit so, don't want to be stopping production with the boom to dump the truck every 1/2 hour. I think a rear-mount utility is the way to go for me. The question at hand is whether or not to get a material handler on it.

I realize that most MHs are rated at only 2000lbs or less at the bucket which, I figure that when taking shock loading into consideration, gives me a 200lb or so working strength. 200lbs, while not a lot would be plenty for helping to rig down a few long skinny branches that might be difficult to rig from the ground otherwise. Of course, the lower boom would have a higher working rating and would work nicely for rigging down some bigger wood.

These questions are for those of you who have owned/operated trucks with MHs:

1) Do they work well in the scenario described above - for lowering smaller stuff that might be difficult to rig otherwise?

2) Does the MH jib/winch make the boom more cumbersome and difficult to use in the tree than a standard boom? Will it be more difficult to get into tight spots than a boom without a MH and will I have a difficult time working off of both sides of the boom if it is a single-hung bucket?

3) When making your purchase again, would you choose a MH?

Thanks.

 

[clearance]

I ran a Ford L8000 with an Altec boom, It had two buckets, a hydraulic winch with a 6' jib and other things. The winch worked, but I never used it. Way faster to cut smaller pieces and throw them. Of course I was one handing my 020, but you could use a handsaw for the final cut I guess. The winch is there mostly for lineman, or sign guys.

The two buckets hydraulically rotated, but they were still a pita sometimes. If one of the buckets was gone it would have made it easier most of the time.

I would rather run a rear mounted tree bucket truck. The material handler is not worth the cost for tree work, and the boom to handle it will be heavier and slower. And, of course there is always the temptation to overload it, or use it improperly, like side loading it to pull brush, etc.

 

[arbor pro]

I ran a Ford L8000 with an Altec boom, It had two buckets, a hydraulic winch with a 6' jib and other things. The winch worked, but I never used it. Way faster to cut smaller pieces and throw them. Of course I was one handing my 020, but you could use a handsaw for the final cut I guess. The winch is there mostly for lineman, or sign guys.

The two buckets hydraulically rotated, but they were still a pita sometimes. If one of the buckets was gone it would have made it easier most of the time.

I would rather run a rear mounted tree bucket truck. The material handler is not worth the cost for tree work, and the boom to handle it will be heavier and slower. And, of course there is always the temptation to overload it, or use it improperly, like side loading it to pull brush, etc.

The scenario I see using a MH handler in would be working at the outerreaches of a canopy where my boom is fully extended and I have a 20' x 4" diameter branch that I can't piece down and can't quite man-handle in one piece and it's going to take me 15 minutes to get out my rigging gear and get set up to rig down one branch. In such a scenario and many others, i was thinking it would be slick to use a MH to quickly hook on and lower the entire branch to the ground - especially if my ground guy is busy hauling stuff to the chipper, it would somewhat free him up from lowering stuff - all he would have to do is unhook it from the MH winch.

Is it not as simple as I make it out? Bigger pain than it's worth? There are many other times when I would like to hook a MH onto a 200# piece of wood rather than man-handle it in two or three pieces. Since we don't save firewood, it just takes longer to clean up more pieces vs one bigger piece and, of course, it's more cutting and more wear on my muscles.

thanks for the input clearance.

 

[clearance]

I hear ya. But I believe that the m.h. is mainly for pulling things (transformers, crossarms, etc) straight up.
It is pretty delicate unit if you look at it, and so is the boom (although stronger than a tree boom) when compared to most cranes. Shock loading is very hard on things, thats why yarders and excavators are built so heavy.

 

[TDunk]

My truck has one and i've never used it. Like clearance said, the shock loading is really hard on the boom. I either move the truck, or "butt-hitch" off the same limb to save wear and tear on the boom. I've seen a vid. of someones boom breaking when using the Mat. handler, not something i'd want to experience first hand.

 

[MillerTreeMN]

id opt for using a butt hitch versus putting that load on your boom. you know how bouncy a boom is on its own, and when you start putting weight on there ( moving limbs) then it really gets exciting....

 

[motor]

Here is what shock loading these things does. Never use an aerial device for something it was never meant to do.

 

[arbor pro]

Here is what shock loading these things does. Never use an aerial device for something it was never meant to do.

My thought is, so long as the shock load is under that of the working load, you should be ok. Say you rig a 150' branch and, at the very worst case scenario, it jerks down a few feet and shock loads the MH with a load rating of 10x that of the actual branch weight. The load being exerted on the MH should be that of about 1500#. If the MH is rated at 1500 or higher, it should handle the stress. However, doing the same with a 500# log or branch would exceed the MH's working load limit and could cause damage.

I have no intention of shock loading a MH by allowing a branch or log to drop with slack in the line - a slow hinge and slight swing yes but, no big drop and shock. Anyone disagree with my math and logic?

 

[clearance]

Not really, but things change, are hard to estimate. They are not made for any shock loading. Can you not rig to the tree, let it drop, and then cut smaller chunks?

 

[arbor pro]

Not really, but things change, are hard to estimate. They are not made for any shock loading. Can you not rig to the tree, let it drop, and then cut smaller chunks?

Sure could. That's what I usually end up doing. Or I move the boom so I can reach it better to piece it down. I'm really just looking at what's the most efficient way to do tree work. I thought that, if I'm going to be buying a truck, I should weigh the advantages/disadvantages of having a MH vs not having one.

Never had a MH on a truck so, got to ask questions if I'm going to get some answers, right? On paper, they look like a good thing to have. Maybe not in reality.

 

[gr8scott72]

Sure could. That's what I usually end up doing. Or I move the boom so I can reach it better to piece it down. I'm really just looking at what's the most efficient way to do tree work. I thought that, if I'm going to be buying a truck, I should weigh the advantages/disadvantages of having a MH vs not having one.

Never had a MH on a truck so, got to ask questions if I'm going to get some answers, right? On paper, they look like a good thing to have. Maybe not in reality.

I've got a buddy with a MH on his bucket. He swears by it. I don't know how he uses it as I've never seen him but he says it saves him bunches of time.

 

[JCONN]

I have no experience with operating that kind of bucket however their is a company around that uses one. I see them use the winch with the bucket fully extended and using it as a crane to take down chunks and move them around. I asked them one day if they were worried about damaging the boom doing that. Their reply was we rarely do that sort of thing but I see them all the time. I think it gives a false sense and the temptation to miss use the unit to move material. I can say its amazing how much those booms flx with a load on them.

 

[motor]

I have no experience with operating that kind of bucket however their is a company around that uses one. I see them use the winch with the bucket fully extended and using it as a crane to take down chunks and move them around. I asked them one day if they were worried about damaging the boom doing that. Their reply was we rarely do that sort of thing but I see them all the time. I think it gives a false sense and the temptation to miss use the unit to move material. I can say its amazing how much those booms flx with a load on them.

That is everyone's response, you are dead on JCONN!! "I usually never do this" "I never lift heavy things" I hear that day in and day out and I know the truth is they do this ALL THE TIME! They just don't realize how much stress they are putting on every single component of that lift. Have you ever seen a square boom "diamond"?

 

[arbor pro]

My towable boom is for sale in trading post 'bucket trucks' category

If anyone's interested, I listed my 2005 genie 55' w/h towable boom in the 'bucket trucks' category of the trading post...

 

[Ellistrees]

I sorry to disagree but I have a material handler and love it

I am careful about trying off to it. Always thinking about the shock load.
I only tie off about 80 lb pieces.

Really handy loading them 4-6' diameter logs onto the trailer at the end of the day.

Just yesterday I cut the bottom 8' log x 5' diameter and loaded it onto the trailer. Sure saves on hand lifting and time.

Because of having a material handler, I usually only use one ground man and he's 63 years old.

But please be careful the picture of the cylinder bent scares me.