I'm very close to buying my first bucket truck. It has a Teco lift on it. A friend of mine is telling me to only buy alter and hi-ranger. Do many of you have bad experiences with Teco? Any advice would be appreciated
Teco buckets?
- Thread starter Coen
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Jlhotstick3
ArboristSite Operative
I never used one , but my father was a lineman for 40 years and they had teco's for a short time and he told me they were fast booms which was nice, but he said they used to creep so they got rid of them and were replaced with altecs and hi rangers. Thats all the info i have for u , hope it helps.
stltreedr
ArboristSite Operative
In my opinion they are junk. Usually the cheapest on the market for that reason. Altec's and High Ranger's have good parts and service availability.
The Teco's that I am familiar with are slow as molasses.
The Teco's that I am familiar with are slow as molasses.
gage52
ArboristSite Member
I had two teco vanguards. one 50 ft the other 55. rearmounts with a giant kidney bucket that was worthless for tree work. they both were early 90s models. had problems with both. both are gone and now I have two hirangers and like them much better. are you looking at the vanguard or other model they had that they made was called a Saturn I think, I believe that was a over center boom. could be wrong
Jlhotstick3
ArboristSite Operative
I personally use a hiranger every day for line work and before that i had an altec, in my opinion i like my hi ranger better than my old altec, but the fiberglass on my hi ranger is alot cheaper than the glass on my old altec. Also my hiranger is over-center which i love, but altec has great quality and theres alot of them around forsale. Ive seen old ones from mu work go for as little as 5k and they still work great.
Teco Buckets
Think about what would happen if you were stuck or if it would drift... Don't buy a low dollar bucket, you will never be able to afford to fix it and it will never feel safe after you have issues with it. Save and buy a Versa Lift if you have to go cheap, Hirangers are great and Altecs are good to if you can afford one. Get it tested before you buy into anything... you don't know how many guys I know out here who have bought buckets then had to retire them shortly afterwards... Huge money pit if that happens...
Think about what would happen if you were stuck or if it would drift... Don't buy a low dollar bucket, you will never be able to afford to fix it and it will never feel safe after you have issues with it. Save and buy a Versa Lift if you have to go cheap, Hirangers are great and Altecs are good to if you can afford one. Get it tested before you buy into anything... you don't know how many guys I know out here who have bought buckets then had to retire them shortly afterwards... Huge money pit if that happens...
gage52
ArboristSite Member
speaking of stuck, the guy I bought one of my old tecos from said the pump went out when he was in the air. not really anything to do with the boom but still...
Teco
Decided against the Teco, started looking at a versa lift, and then a hi ranger fell into my lap just before buying the versa lift. I've been looking a long time, and stressing way too much. A mechanic told me I did good. What a relief!
Decided against the Teco, started looking at a versa lift, and then a hi ranger fell into my lap just before buying the versa lift. I've been looking a long time, and stressing way too much. A mechanic told me I did good. What a relief!
