Million dollar question. Bucket or lift ?

[bck]

I have a very nice 65 foot hi-ranger on a pretty clean 92 F-700. Both the unit and truck are in very good condition. The truck gets you up there at a 70 fwh but it definitely has its limitations. It’s more nimble than you think but it’s not going every where. However, if I can get the truck to the tree it can do some damage. Seriously considering selling it and buying a lift although I do like the bucket. There just seems to be more and more scenarios where I say man I could use a tracked lift.

 

[tree MDS]

Can you keep the bucket and get the lift too? I use the bucket to tow the lift sometimes. That way you have the best of both worlds if you’ve got driveway trees, or whatever, and trees in the back yard too. Plus it just looks cool lol.

 

[bck]

That would be nice but definitely not. It’s an old 210 Cummins. Runs great but doesn’t have much power. That’s nice having both to the job though. How’s the omme !?

 

[bck]

So it boils down to, if you had to have only one or the other, the lift or the bucket? Sleep on it . Haha

 

[tree MDS]

I have to say I’d go with the lift over the bucket. But then I’d hate myself every time I needed the bucket to kick some tree ass real quick like. But yeah, if I wanted to downsize overhead I could shed the bucket. But **** that, it’s getting closer and closer to being pay off-able. And I know I’ll probably never have another (at least not that sweet) if I did let it go.
The omme has been great so far. About 950 hours on it now.

 

[bck]

I feel ya, the bucket can get sh!t done. But the lift can get everything done. Keep on gettin er done. I think the weather is only getting crazier .

 

[mike515]

Until recently, we had 2 lifts. One with tracks and one 4x4. In our area, we just don't use them enough to justify having 2 of them so we sold the 4x4 unit. Some of us like the lifts. A couple of our guys would almost rather climb. We definitely use the buckets a lot more. That being said, we don't have a 90 ft WH like MDS. We actually would never use that much height where we live but it would be sweet to have.

 

[ATH]

..... We actually would never use that much height where we live but it would be sweet to have.

Side reach counts for a lot too!

 

[mike515]

Side reach counts for a lot too!

I totally get that but is flying that thing 90 feet off the side something I really want to do?

Edit to say....that would actually be pretty damn helpful once in a while.

 

[tree MDS]

Side reach counts for a lot too!

Exactly. What really shows the importance of side reach is the fact that you can cut at 75' with the machine 35' away. Side reach is actually 50/52 (working), but it's not only that (though that is amazingly handy), it's how sneaky it is without that big elbow like a bucket. You can get 50' of side reach while going under another tree, etc. I use the height all the time up here too, (especially with the ash borer, but even just in general).

As far as pruning goes (if I did more of that) I would still have to climb the interior to get things up to MDS specs. But regardless, even if you just used the lift to make precision end reduction cuts (etc.) on prunes that still needed to be climbed, it'd still be worth having around. It's 90'x52' and only uses 2.5 gallons of fuel a day!! Lol.

A good bucket is a whole nother beast though, and totally bad ass at what they do, just not the same. I find the lift more useful in general, even if the bucket is more fun. Just different animals.

 

[mike515]

After this thread....of course we have a job tomorrow where it sure would be nice to have that 90 ft lift. Taking off a larger limb on a red oak over the house. The tree is behind the garage so we have to fly over the garage from the driveway. I don't think we're going to reach it. I think we can reach the top 18' of the lead with the bucket from the driveway and we will have to climb the rest. I'm sure of that. Having that lift would probably be perfect. Hmmmm.....

 

[miko0618]

Does the boom move as fast on a lift?


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[ATH]

Lifts tend to be slower than traditional buckets.